Between the Lions - Get Wild About Reading

Killing time at the mall with the family today, I spotted an educational VCD called "Between the Lions - Getting Wild About Reading". Since the title is too darn long, I'll just shortened it to BTL.

A short note on the back-sleeve said "...Independent studies show that kids who regularly watch BTL learn key reading skills faster than kids who don't watch." and "The National Education Association endorses the series, saying, "We strongly urge parents and caregivers to guide children to BTL".

With such exhortations, no kiasu-labelled parent will want to pass up the chance to grab this golden tool. So my wife paid the RM14.90 even though the label said that this is for kids 3 to 9. Carbo Kid is only 19 months old. After viewing it back home, I'd have to say that it's a certainly refreshing piece of education program. Much of the content pay attention to phonics. The video has animations, puppetries and real-life folks teaching the various themes to the viewers. I particularly liked the songs.

It'll be some time before I know if this program achieves for my kid what the reviewers claimed it can. But for RM14.90, this 30-minute-only VCD which won 4 Emmys and 2 Parents' Choice Gold Awards (2000 & 2002) better.