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Teacher’s a doll "Bonjour, hola, ciao!"
The soft-bodied 16-inch dolls help
children learn Japanese, Chinese,
French and moreBy Nancy Arcayna
narcayna@starbulletin.comIf parents want their children to grow up to be successful in a multicultural 21st-century world, they'll probably need to know English and at least a second, if not a third language. But how does a kid get started when mommy and daddy speak only English?
Children can now learn international phrases from cuddly companions. Language Littles are dolls that were created to expose youngsters to language.
The soft-bodied, 16-inch dolls include French-speaking Jolie, who loves shopping and strives to be a fashion designer. Spanish-speaking Lizzie counts and talks about her love for animals, while her male counterpart, Ricky, names the days of the week and discusses sports. Yumi, who speaks Japanese, explains how she loves to go to school. Italian-speaking Sophie loves soccer and talks about her family. And Ling, who speaks Chinese, talks about friends, playing games and dancing.
Sarah, who speaks Hebrew, will be available in stores soon. German and Russian dolls are also in the works. The accessory line now includes a Chinese cheongsam and a three-piece pajama set.
"Japanese kimonos should be on the market before Girls Day. We have also had a lot of requests for Hawaiian, Tagalog, Korean and German dolls," said Wendy Chinn Vance, the local representative for Language Littles.
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Geri Grobman, who created the dolls said, "Unlike many European countries, in the United States foreign languages are not typically introduced until high school. Studies have shown that children are more adept at acquiring new language at a younger age."Nowadays, children come from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds, especially here in Hawaii, which makes it an ideal place to share customs and language. Unfortunately, language studies are not generally made available to public school students until they are in high school, even though experts agree that the best time to pick up a second or third language is in early childhood.
Grobman said introducing children to other languages opens the world to them and teaches open-mindedness.
"Language Littles were designed to represent many different backgrounds, as opposed to the blond, blue-eyed prototype so often seen on the toy store shelves," said Grobman.
Vance added, "Our children should be fluent in many languages to be effective in the business communities of the world."
Preschool teachers are buying them to be used in the classroom, said Vance.
Cynthia Kim, director of the Toddler Program, uses them in her classroom of 2- to 5-year-olds. "We originally bought them for the school, but the parents liked them so much, they purchased them from us. I need to go buy more."
"This is the best age to teach a second language. ... It comes so easy to them. We only had the dolls in the classroom for one week, but they started to repeat what the dolls say," she said.
All the dolls are girls, except for Ricky, the Spanish boy doll. Buyers of Japanese heritage frequently request a boy doll but settle for the girl doll, cutting her hair themselves. Vance said children don't seem to notice "since all young children have high voices."
Language Littles are available at Ala Moana Gift Lode, Bambini, Child's Play, Education Works, Iida's, Teachers Plus, Thinker Toys, and Toyrrific on Beretania Street, Shirokiya and Toys n' Joys. Dolls cost $40 to $43.
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