Kids loved this tender goodnight story as Mochu, the penguin, lies in bed with eyes wide open, trying to get to sleep. I chose to listen to the story in Spanish, from a field including French, English, and Italian as I was showing it to 2-year-old twins who are being raised bi-lingual, with English as their primary language and Spanish as their second language. It’s helpful to see the English text below so parents or grandparents can understand the story, and in my case, brush up on some old Spanish skills! Minke the seal, suggests counting the stars, 1-5, which brighten one by one but they are a bit too bright for shut-eye, so a lullaby sings, “Start Light Start Bright, Can you turn your light off tonight?” Mochu and Minke make their way through mountains (montanas) and sea (agua), to say goodnight to Bamba, Toki, Bella, dolphins, and Morris, while their activities are described to further build vocabulary. Kids quickly learned to tap the screen for simple interactions–turning off the lights as they are counted, rock Toki’s cradle or hear a picture identified such as mountain, moon or clock as the hands move. The concise number of possible interactions, keeps kids’ attention on the unfolding of the story to build comprehension. Children are amazing little scientists who have the ability at a very early age to listen and take apart language, hearing and discriminating between fine differences in sounds, recognizing the rhyme and rhythm of a language, and eventually understanding the meaning of words. Language learning is particularly stimulated during a window of opportunity, the first 3 years of life, by hearing sounds and words in the context of everyday experiences, including books such as this relating to a very familiar activity for young kids, going to bed at night. Children have the propensity to learn any language when they are born, so immersing them in a second language is a gift you can give your child, as far as I am concerned. And speaking of gifts, Kadho Inc. is providing this e-book as well as other apps and games free so that ALL parents have the opportunity to enrich their child’s early language learning.
Kadho’s founders, both PhD’s inBiomedical Engineering with emphasis in vision and neuroscience, are doing it right, developing apps and e-books grounded in the science of communication, backed by a team of experts in the field.
To download “Mochu Says Goodnight,” Click here.
