The songs are all upbeat and familiar, so the desire to sing along will be there from the beginning. That desire will help motivate your child to learn the French words so they don't have to pause and wait in order to sing. Between songs, there are also short lessons where children are teaching one another French words. They cover the name of animals, locations, numbers, and other material related to the song lyrics for the next song. This is to help listeners interpret and pronounce some of the words they will be hearing in the upcoming song. The songs also include interesting sound effects that add fun to the song and will help engage the younger listeners who are still working on basic English; Frere Jacques includes birds chirping in the background the whole time, It's Raining, It's Pouring begins with the sounds of real rain coming down, She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain begins with animals sounds - particularly chickens, and Row, Row, Row Your Boat begins with the sound of running water. Other interesting sounds effects are created with the unique instruments of a Zither and autoharp (both string instruments), singing in rounds, and the expected sounds for Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald Had a Farm. There is also some hand clapping, "la la"s, and laughing in The More We Get Together. The songs do a great job of mixing French and English, as they will sometimes sing an entire verse in one language before repeating it in the next, sometimes they alternate languages each line, and a few songs mix French and English within the same line
Children love to repeat new sounds, so their natural response will be to imitate the French words that the children speak to one another between tracks. Hearing the words come from a tiny voice, like their own, may also help encourage them to learn. Encourage your child to join in and find those same sounds/words in the songs. Can they hear the French word for 'rain' in It's Raining, It's Pouring? The lyrics are printed in the cover booklet, so if you child ever misses the translation and asks you, "What does that mean?" you can respond confidently. This CD works wonderfully as a play-time game with just you and your child, among siblings, or when your child's friends are over. If your child is not in the mood for learning new words one day, they can still have fun singing along to the English words they know, and the various animal sounds throughout the songs. Two whole verses of Happy Birthday are sung in only "meow"s and dog barks!
My three-year-old friend, Sam, has the first two albums in the Uni Verse series (French and Spanish), and listens to them with his mom in the car. She said that although Sam knows more Spanish words, he likes the French album more because, "The words sound so funny!" Sam's favorite song on this album is Wheels on the Bus because there is a verse where he gets to fill in the blank. Since he's always in the car with his mom when he's listening to this, he likes to fill in the blank with "The mommy's on the bus go 'inside voice', since Sam usually likes to scream lyrics, more than sing them.
--Audra