Testimonials

Great product, first of it's kind!  Love the fact that it teaches Mandarin with English.  Was actually expecting an all Mandarin DVD, but with the English explanation even I could understand what was being said.  Cute upbeat repetitions of various Mandarin words in sing song style -- I remember them at the grocery store and sing them back to my daughter!

Pamela
New York, NY
Aug 26, 2008

Very unique and effective product.  The 4 and 11 year old were both spouting Mandarin at us after watching to together a few times.  I was especially surprised when my son, who is older, was willing to watch since the animation does not stack up to his Haruto-standards.

Lilian
New York, NY
Aug 25, 2008

The DVD is very good!  We've watched it twice so far and both times my son paid attention to it the whole time.  I liked the way the new Chinese words are emphasized and used repeatedly in songs and later on in the story to solve problems.  I also liked the litte history lessons given at the end of the important cities in China and the Terracotta soldiers.  My son really liked the Chinese music that is played at the main menu screen.  He would smile and clap to the Chinese music.  I thought that the words and phrases taught were all fairly basic and used in everyday life, so that they are useful to learn. 

Mary
San Diego, CA
Aug 17, 2008

The video was very effective in helping the students review and learn new Chinese phrases and words.

• Good review of the basic colors and every day used Chinese
• All the students were able to follow along with the introduced Chinese phrases, mostly due to prior learning during class
• Students actively participated with the video characters, but do need encouragement
• The review at the end was very helpful (Creating the Journal) 

The culture lesson was also very illuminating but was hard to follow for the younger students.  The older ones enjoyed it.The songs were especially effective in helping the students learn.

Angie (Chinese language camp counselor. 5-7 year olds.)
San Diego, CA
Aug 12, 2008

The video was very effective at keeping the children interested and capturing their attention. 

The interesting story and the different parts of the video that interacted with the audience helped to make sure that the kids payed attention the entire time. Having the kids repeat the words multiple times not only helped to keep their attention, but also helped them to learn and remember the words. 

The different Chinese words and phrases were very effectively intertwined with English in a way so that the kids weren't overwhelmed with too many new words at one time. The songs in the video were a fun and effective way for the kids to remember the different colors and body parts. 

It was also very informative about Chinese history and culture that was incorporated at the very end.

Eric (Chinese language camp counselor. 5-7 year olds.)
San Diego, CA
Aug 12, 2008

For more reviews, please visit Journeys to the East - The River Dragon King on Amazon.com.