Workin' Jet
Oct. 14th, 2002 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liralenWe got Jet BabyWow, which is toddler software. It does simple, any action driven stuff, mostly connecting pictures with spoken words and a little music. There are probably several hundred word-picture pairs. It does it, however, in eight languages, done by native speakers, and we can add what pictures we want in association with some of those words.
He loves it.
He has always liked sitting down to a computer and banging on the keyboard or mouse to see what happens, but with this software something always happens and it's not always what he expects. And now he not only gets English words but also Mandarin. It's something I'd worried a little about, as my speaking tones aren't nearly as good as my understanding of the language, and for Jet's ear/brain to develop, at all, it has to be spoken correctly. So now he's getting good doses of Mandarin every day.
It's very interesting. I should probably turn on some of the other languages as well, just to increase his ear's exposure. But it's kind of cool to hear the computer speaking a familiar language to me, and I'm learning quite a few words as well. I like that. I'd forgotten that the same word for line is also the word for rope, string or thread in Chinese.
Now, when he wants to play, he'll actually drag a bar stool over to the desk John uses or climb up into the chair to the home computer in our office, and he'll ask me to turn it on. When he goes too fast and the program dies a horrible death, or the machine keels over, he'll say, "Oh oh!!" and look for me to help him out. He's learning that the direction keys are a little less fraught with crashes than the alt, ctrl, and Window keys. A good distinction to be making.
Still, it's funny to have him 'working' in the office while I'm working, too. Jet's so proud to be doing it while I am it's very cool.
He loves it.
He has always liked sitting down to a computer and banging on the keyboard or mouse to see what happens, but with this software something always happens and it's not always what he expects. And now he not only gets English words but also Mandarin. It's something I'd worried a little about, as my speaking tones aren't nearly as good as my understanding of the language, and for Jet's ear/brain to develop, at all, it has to be spoken correctly. So now he's getting good doses of Mandarin every day.
It's very interesting. I should probably turn on some of the other languages as well, just to increase his ear's exposure. But it's kind of cool to hear the computer speaking a familiar language to me, and I'm learning quite a few words as well. I like that. I'd forgotten that the same word for line is also the word for rope, string or thread in Chinese.
Now, when he wants to play, he'll actually drag a bar stool over to the desk John uses or climb up into the chair to the home computer in our office, and he'll ask me to turn it on. When he goes too fast and the program dies a horrible death, or the machine keels over, he'll say, "Oh oh!!" and look for me to help him out. He's learning that the direction keys are a little less fraught with crashes than the alt, ctrl, and Window keys. A good distinction to be making.
Still, it's funny to have him 'working' in the office while I'm working, too. Jet's so proud to be doing it while I am it's very cool.
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