GoGo Lingo Blog

This morning I woke up to a great review of GoGo Lingo on Wired.com’s Geekdad blog.

I met Brad Moon a few weeks ago at InPlay and was very impressed by him. Unlike so many other bloggers, Brad doesn’t write about things because companies pay him to review them. Instead, he genuinely seeks things that are interesting and sufficiently “geeky”. It’s so refreshing to be appreciated for all of the hard work, research, and brainpower that we put into making GoGo Lingo an entertaining language learning tool.   (A lot of people just ask us to “dumb it down”.) Thanks for the love, Brad.

It’s the 5th of May, and whether you are learning Spanish or not, many of you may participate in a Cinco de Mayo celebration.  Before I had a baby, this usually meant a few margaritas and some great Mexican food (we’re trying to keep Tali off the alcohol for a few more years so no margaritas for me this year).

One thing that I love about Cinco de Mayo, is that it is more of an American holiday than a Mexican one.  Contrary to popular belief, it is not Mexican Independence Day. It is a celebration of the Mexican army’s victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.  Granted the French came back and occupied Mexico only a year later  (they stayed for three years before withdrawing under pressure from the United States).  But that’s not the point.  The Battle at Puebla was significant because the Mexican army was outnumbered by the French 2 to 1.  Yet they still won.  So, I like to think of Cinco de Mayo as a celebration of the underdog being victorious in the face of a huge challenge. Even if you think you might lose, you gotta at least put up a fight.

But really, why I like Cinco de Mayo is that it is a true demonstration of how life is better because the world is becoming a smaller place.  Americans have embraced this date as a chance to celebrate our Mexican brothers and sisters. And to that, I raise my virgin margarita.

Last week, I went to Washington D.C. for the National Chinese Language Learning Convention.  Unlike the Latin conventions I used to attend in high school (I know how dorky can I get?), the NCLC was an inspiring, eye opening event. Chinese language learning in America is growing like wildfire- from 2004 to 2008 Chinese language learning grew over 10% per year and it is on track to be more popular than German and French. It turns out that the Chinese government has been sending Chinese teachers to America and subsidizing their salaries. Of course, this definitely helps the growth of Chinese but even still we don’t have enough qualified Chinese teachers to keep up with the demand.  I could feel it too.  As I sat through the various sessions of the conference, I couldn’t help but notice that the majority of the attendees were Asian.  In fact, I found myself feeling shocked when I saw a non-Asian there who could speak Chinese.

I realize that perhaps for many of us, there is a psychological barrier to learning Chinese.  It isn’t an alphabetic language and it just feels too foreign.  I’ll admit one of the reasons that I chose to start GoGo Lingo with Spanish instead of Chinese is because deep down I was a little afraid of Chinese.  During the conference, someone was trying to help me practice the 4 tones. After about 20 minutes he goes- “perfect! you got it!” Unfortunately, I didn’t think I was saying anything differently.  I could not even perceive the differences in the tones, so I am sure I couldn’t replicate it. For a perfectionist like me, that’s tough.

But the truth is, that we have got to get over this fear.  China’s position in our world and more importantly, China’s complex and fascinating relationship with the U.S. isn’t going anywhere.  I think about my baby and realize how much more she will be able to accomplish if she can speak Chinese. And what an opportunity I have in my hands to start teaching her now, when she can perceive the different tones and doesn’t know to be afraid of the language. (Actually, some studies suggest that that window for perceiving the sounds may already be closing for Tali.)

Unfortunately, I don’t have the  funding to develop GoGo Lingo Chinese right now. But I am going to start working with Tali to learn Chinese and I will start sharing the resources I find and the experience that we have. So yes, now we will be teaching Tali English, Portuguese, Farsi, Chinese and Spanish. She’ll either love us or hate us when she grows up…I’ll keep you posted.

Thank you to Common Sense Media for writing such a great review on GoGo Lingo. We are huge fans of their site and really respect their opinion so we were thrilled when they gave us 4 stars and 4 A+ for the educational value of our site. They said, “This site is all about finding new and fun ways to learn a new language, which sends a positive message about learning how people communicate in other languages. It encourages kids to broaden their horizons and expand their knowledge” You can read the entire review here.

Thanks so much Common Sense Media!

It may sound like an alarming question but I can’t help but wonder about the future ability of our kids to participate in our global world.

Four European countries (England, Germany, Belgium, and Sweden) have partnered to create ELIAS: Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies. ELIAS aims to advance Europe-wide establishment of bilingual preschools and collaboration with non-academic educational institutions. Last year, they received a grant of 300,000 Euros (~$450,000) by the European Union to research bilingual education and intercultural awareness in children in 6 bilingual preschools. All of the preschools studied in Germany, Sweden and Belgium use immersion for teaching. Staff members are teachers that speak the language of the respective country and at least one native English speaker. I suspect this is because for kids this age, you can’t completely eliminate their native language because comfort and familiarity are key. However, the kids are addressed in each language by the respective native speaker and asked to respond in that language.

Researchers did observational studies and language assessment tests for 266 kids between the ages of three and five. They have found clear evidence that preschool age children can start to learn a second language in a preschool context. You can read more about the study and ELIAS at Science Daily.

In general, kids in Europe are studying foreign languages much earlier than kids in the United States. You could argue that it is more of a necessity in non-English speaking countries because English is becoming a lingua franca. But even the British government announced last year that by 2010, every child in England will start learning a modern foreign language in primary school from the age of seven.

Unfortunately, in the States, we have not yet caught up to what I think is becoming a new standard in the rest of the world. Until our schools make foreign language learning mandatory, it is up to parents and advocates to give this gift to our children. That’s why we created GoGo Lingo- to provide a fun way for young kids to start learning a foreign language. And so far, it’s working. I get many emails and phone calls each week from parents telling me their kids are learning Spanish by using GoGo Lingo- and having a great time doing it. Hopefully, we’ll be able to expand to additional languages soon and there will be many more resources in addition to GoGo Lingo to help parents raise active global citizens.

Earlier this week, I visited with a local preschool that has been using GoGo Lingo materials. They were so sweet to invite me to their Thankgsgiving party. Dressed as little turkeys, pilgrims, and Indians, these 3 and 4 year olds were fascinated by me. “Are you the cowgirl?” “Can I come to your farm?” “Where is your horse?”

They took me to their classroom to show me their artwork and danced with pride to our music. They took turns demonstrating their knowledge of different languages. I was truly touched.

This GoGo Lingo journey has not been the easiest that I’ve ever taken. Starting a company in good times is hard; in the midst of a recession, it definitely has its moments. But today, all of the sleepless nights and anxiety filled days were worth seeing these kids glow as they showed me their moves and sang to me in English and Spanish.

This Thanksgiving, I am so grateful for everyone has joined me on this journey. Thank you Jason, Dylan, Sarah, Dave, and Patrick. Thank you to all of the amazing advisors, mentors, friends and family. You know who you are. We are making this world a better place by teaching kids, and showing them the joys and richness of having an open mind towards differences. Gracias, mi amigos!

We just got a great review on KidGlue. Check it out: here.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post ranting about marketing that takes advantage of parents’ desire to have smart children. You know, the promises that this educational DVD is based on research and will turn your child into Einstein. Well, it seems that things are about to change. Disney has recently announced that they will refund $15.99 to anyone that has purchased a Baby Einstein DVD between June 5, 2004 and September 4, 2009 - no receipt required. I applaud Disney for making this bold move - hopefully others will follow in their footsteps and not over-promise what their products will do.

Read the New York Times article here.