The idea is intriguing.  I wonder how different it is to the Perfect Pitch training of Right Brain Kids?

I have done 10 mins of searching on Google and this is what I've found out.

There is a music school homepage in Japan which teaches the Eguchi Method
http://www.ichionkai.co.jp/english/english%20page%20-%20top/english%20page%20-%20top.htm

They have a page stating they plan on doing an online programme - but I can't ascertain how old the link is.
It says to contact 1000<at>ichionkai.co.jp for more information
http://www.ichionkai.co.jp/english/english%20page%20-%20perfect%20pitch/english%20page%20-%20perfect%20pitch.htm

Another website has cited an Eguchi research paper for it's technique
http://www.aruffo.com/eartraining/software/etchopper.htm

Oura, Y. and Eguchi, K. (1982). Absolute pitch training program for children. Ongaku Kyouiku Kenkyu (Music Education Research), 32, 162-171
- I wonder if anyone is able to get a copy of the paper and if it's in Japanese if they can translate it into English??

Hi Waterdreamer,
Canada and Australia aren't oon the front page.  If you click on one of the countries it will take you its page.  Alongside is a menu for countries according to letter.
http://www.countriesfactbook.com/canada.asp  <- in case you want to look up Canda easily 
mtb999

Splitting the DVD into 10 min blocks is an excellent idea.  My DD would wander off after 5-10 minutes ... and the only word she will read out aloud is "Hi", despite using the flash cards ...  which is why I like LR so much as she can tolerate the 5 minutes of the English Curriculum in one sitting and asks for more.

Hi Joha,

It doesn't appear that there is audio on the CD-ROM.

"Text-on-Disc for all our titles makes learning and teaching a foreign language easier.  The text of over 1,000 phrases is just a stroke away on your keyboard once the Text-on-Disc is inserted into your computer." to quote the website.

You could contact them at [email protected] (they were most helpful when I orderd my books).

I think the best thing about the books are that they provide conversational sentences for you to use with your child.  I have found most language textbooks not useful in learning a second language for the purpooses of trying your best to immerse your child.  Most books teach you how to get directions, catch transport, order in restaurants etc- which are useful to get around in a foreign country.  Kids Stuff <language> gives you day to day phrases/sentences that you use in the home.

I hope other people find it as useful as me ... and saves you trawling through amazon and bookdepository using the search term "chinese"!

Cheers, mtb999

Aangeles - thank-you for the review of the Tag pen!  I hadn't even thought about Tag Spanish books to expose DD to Spanish sounds/words ... I will have to go and investigate ... Thanks mentioning it   Have you got any recommendations of titles that your DD has enjoyed?  Also I was wondering - is there an option to use the Tag pen to read the whole sentence out instead of touching word-by-word?

Tag Jr can be used for Tag books but it won't read words one by one.  It will read out full sentences due to the way it is programmed.

Also - if you upload French books, you should got to the website as the French books are stored in a differnent file to the English books on Tag jnr, not sure about Tag.


I guess it really depends on your child and how you want to use the technology.  For those people who want to use the pen to read stories to their kids at night in a foreign language then Tag Jr is probably what you want.  If you want to use it to teach words and then Tag is what you want. 

My under 2 year old child will shred pages with the Tag pen stylus even with supervision because she is so strong willed and tries to use her E-bookpen as real pen to draw on the e-book flash cards/books she has.  So the Tag Jnr is better for a child like her (even though she is great with paper books) - at least we've had 3 months of her playing around with the Junior blob/pen and books without having to worry about supervision :-)  Also when the Tag Jnr is on special it's around $30 in Aus .. so it's not too expensive to have to upgrade down the track!

I stumbled across Kids Stuff Chinese: Easy Chinese Phrases for You and Your Kids by Herese Slevin Pirz (translated by Chiang-Nan Chen) for Chinese books.

It is part of the Bilingual Kids Series - in Chinese, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russiona, Ingles, Angliiski, Yingyu.

The chapter headings are:
Greetings
Bathroom
Getting Dressed
Mealtime
Conversation
Helping at Home
Words of Praise
Shopping
Fun!
Saturday Afternoon
Exclamations
Birthday Party
Bedtime
Weather
Time
Quantities
Proverbs & Prayers
Pronounciation Guide
Vocabulary list - which is broken down into categories
Index

I have found it useful to learn simple phrases which you would use with your baby/child at home which you can't find in adult language phrasebooks / language books- which typically have phrases aimed at getting around as a tourist or business person.

The book can be purchased at www.bilingualkids.com , amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com  - the advantage of purchasing from the authors is that you can buy it as a CD-ROM or pdf.  The problem with the PDF book is that the formatting is terrible and quite annoying to read.  It's not much more to buy the book and have it mailed to you.  <<AMMEND to - is potentially annoying if you want to print out the pages as the pagination of the text in the pdf format doesn't line up with the text eg. title of the pages is on the last line of the page before.  Reading it on your screen is fine>>

Tag Jr is is definitely for your son's age group.  I bought one for my DD, who is 19 months.  She likes playing with it but doesn't quite get waiting long enough for the sentences to finish or the extra noises/phrases on each page before touching the pages again.

The Tag Junior books are hard cover - which means they don't get wrecked by little ones easily.

From reading the Leap Frog forums I get the impression that you can use the Tag Junior hand control for the Leap Frog Tag books - but the handset is not programmed to read word by word - so it will read the whole sentence out, unlike the Tag pens.  However it does mean that the number of books your child can use the Tag Junior controller with many more books.

If you have Canadian friends you can get them to send you French Tag junior books! 

Hi - I am keen on meeting other like-minded parents in Adelaide.  Is there anyone else out there??

Thanks Sarah108.  I actually pressed the button in the middle of the DVD box really hard to get it to come out.  It was as if the middle button was jammed .... I hadn't had the problem with any of my other Wink to Learn DVDs.  Such a shame cause they are expensive when you add P&H to the cost of the DVD.  I don't know why customer support didn't answer back.  I will try the email you've supplied.
Cheers

Hello - I was wondering if any one has ordered tuning forks from Right Brain Kids?  Do you know if they mail to Australia?  I noticed that they mail in the Asia region, which Australia sometimes counts as part of, and other times doesnt.  I tried emailing their support address to ask them, and also ask about if it's possible to get a replacement for a broken DVD (it split in half when I was taking it of its case!!) - I think I must've emailed close to 2 months ago with ZERO response.

would love to buy it, but I'm not in singapore.
Why are you selling it - if you want to continue pitch training it would be much better to use the glockenspiel.  Piano constantly need to be retuned as they lose pitch!

Hi Amy,
I spoke to someone earlier in the year - and they said that Alphatykes was coming Term 1 next year to Adelaide, and that you just had to find a venue to hold the classes.  I was wondering if that is definitely the case or not?  Our kids are not getting any younger and I'm really keen to get my daughter into some sort of fun language class (still deciding on a language!)
Cheers

Just to add to the previous message (Thanks Kimba15)

For people in US or where your local currency has a better exchange rate with USD than Pound - www.bookdepository.com now exists too.

The free shipping is pretty much world wide.  The delivery is reasonably fast for standard international delivery (from an Aussie perspective)- but obviously if you need something in a hurry you'll have to use a supplier with expedited delivery.  Also I'm not sure how it compares with ordering from Amazon using standard shipping if you live in the USA.  The only delay I had was when Europe was covered in volcanic ash and all planes were grounded

For Aussies - if you know what you want - try the following search engine which trawls through online book stores and calculates in Aussie Dollars the cost of the book including postage and handling:   www.booko.com.au   They get a small commission if you click on their link and you purchase the book.

Hi - I discovered a website www.bilingualkids.com - which is the website of Therese Pirz who is the author of several language books - KidStuff Chinese/French/ESL/Russian/Italian/French/German

The books look fantastic.  I've orderd Chinese and French.  They contain useful day to day phrases eg  greetings, bathroom, getting dressed, mealtime, conversation, helping at home, school at home, shopping, fun!, bed time etc.  You can see the inside of their books on amazon.com or their website.  The best thing about ordering from their website is you can order a CD (easier to search) or e-book or the original books.  And the books are cheaper than amazon/b&n.

Hope other parents find it useful!

Cheers, mtb999

Dear Hazel,

Thanks for the 1-for-1 replacement for us!  I have sent an email to customer service :-)

I think the change to a song at the end of the lesson is a fabulous addition.

Is it possible to update the download section accordingly too please?

Thanks - I'm looking forward to exchanging and using the new product!!