You might have often heard people say that they have enjoyed watching kids shows and recommend them for learning language, but perhaps you haven’t really sat down yourself to give them a chance, or you haven’t known where to start. Here I’d like to dig into the topic a little and provide my perspective as a language teacher of 11 years and as a keen language learner as to what their benefits are.

I’ll put it out there right away that I think children’s shows are extremely useful, yet highly under-rated for learning languages. If you haven’t been watching any kids shows in your target language, I hope these 10 reasons will motivate you to find your new favourite kids show in your target language.

#1. Kids shows are made for viewers with developing language awareness.

You may not have realised it consciously, but I’m sure now I mention this you will most likely see why I make this point. Children are constantly learning about the world, and their language development accompanies and facilitates this learning. Kids shows are made to support this learning.

In order to ensure children understand the what they are watching, there are many more non-linguistic clues provided to support meaning. Features such as gesture, expression, extra visuals, tone of voice, intonation, all support viewers' comprehension of what is going on in context. These features of communication tend to be much more prominent in shows made for kids than shows made for adults.

#2. Kids shows use more exaggerated intonation.

When learning languages, intonation is one of the most important aspects in sounding natural, and certain phrases have specific intonation patterns which are widely used by most native speakers in a predictable way. Such phrases also feature heavily in kids shows.

Here are some examples of phrases with predictable intonation patterns:

English

• You’re telling me!
• You’ve got to be kidding
• It’s not about who you are, but who you know.
• I was just about to say that!
• That's exactly what I said!
• Cut it out, would you?
• Mission accomplished.

German

• Sowas sagt doch keiner!
• Sag ich doch!
• Mach was du willst.
• Wie geht's denn dir?
• Das würde mich sehr freuen.
• Das hab ich akustisch nicht verstanden.

Some phrases may even change their meaning depending on the intonation pattern, such as

• whatever you want - said in a sweet loving way or a dismissive, frustrated tone
• I’m fine! - said with either a big smile or with gritted teeth

Imagine you are sitting in a loud bar or restaurant, and talking to a friend, you don’t hear an important word in one of these longer phrases. Are you still going to understand? It's very likely you will, because you are so familiar with contextualied common phrases and their intonation patterns, that even when information is missing, your brain is still able to fill the gap and communication doesn’t break down. This is one reason non-native speakers struggle in loud environments much more than native speakers, as native speakers can more easily deal with information loss and “fill in the gaps”.

Intonation is hugely important for communication and kids shows are a great way to gain rich exposure to common intonation patterns used by native speakers.

#3. There are extra contextual and visual clues.

Imagine you hear a phrase in your target language such as What’s he going on about? / Was labert er da? and you haven’t heard this phrase before, you wouldn't already know that the meaning is somebody is talking a lot of nonsense.

If you're watching a show which is designed for language learners (e.g., a kids show), you would have the tone of voice of the speaker, the intonation, the facial expression and the response of the other speaker and other contextual clues. All of these together might even mean you don't need to look up the phrase because you have simply understood it in context.

In a kids show, there are endless visual clues which can help comprehsion. These can be expression of the speaker's face or body language, or other clues such as what else is happening in the scene.

This is a scene from Thomas the Tank Engine (narrated by Ringo Starr). Immediately we can see that the train, Percy, is upset and in distress as some kind of accident has happened which the men are attending to. This is all strong visual information which effectively supports comprehension. The facial expressions of the trains in this are a key element which make it so watchable for kids.

#4. The imagination of kids shows means they can be fast paced and contextually varied, covering many linguistic fields.

In a kids show, the context could conceivably jump very quickly from space travel to bed time, or from winning gold in the Olympic Games to burying a pet which has died. All of this within a few minutes, and all containing a rich array of language and structures presented in context, providing learners an opportunity to retain that vocabulary.

Some teachers may shy away from using such content in the classroom out of fear that learners may inappropriately use “childish language” in other more “adult” contexts. Here, I think we need to give learners credit and trust them to decide for themselves which structures are appropriate for which context.

Kid Crew - YouTube channel

#5. Kids shows heavily feature weak forms and stress contrast, which give you exposure to authentic, natural speech.

Weak forms are often prepositions or small grammatical words like WUZ/TAH/MA in the following two sentences. “I wuz GOing tah WORK, when ma CAR broke down” or “WHA dah YOU goin’ tah DO aBOUT it?"

In German, examples of weak forms include: “HOLSte mal bitte ‘nen STUHL f’ mich?”

I've had plenty of adult learners claim that these features are only for advanced learners, but I would argue that it helps a lot to listen out for features like these early on in your language learning journey. If you do this, even if you only speak a little of the target language, you are able to master what you do know and sound very natural with only a few phrases.

Additionally, as many speakers use such features frequently in their speech, not being aware of them means you simply won't understand a lot of people.

"They all speak too fast! They always mumble!"

You see, as adults, we tend to be more analytical about things when we are learning, which draws our attention more to the written form of the language and away from the actual sound of the language. Luckily, kids shows have the opposite effect, as they draw our attention back to the sound of the language.

#6. The contextual relatability and simplicity make comprehension easy, allowing for a richer interplay of grammatical structures.

This would have to be one of the most important points. Quite often in the language classroom, grammar and vocabulary structures are analysed out of an authentic communicative context. Or, in a fabricated context to highlight a certain grammatical point which also likely does not contain many if any features of natural spoken conversation.

Additionally, speakers in coursebook audio rarely feature more than 2 people, and the relationship between the two people is usually not important as this would just get in the way of the language being presented. If a reading text is used in class, it is often just an informative article about a certain topic, lacking natural features of spoken conversation and interaction of grammatical patterns.

Now consider this excerpt taken from this episode of Bluey.

• Bingo - Mum, what are we doing today?
• Mum - Nothing until you’ve cleaned your teeth.
• Bingo - But I don’t want to clean my teeth, it’s boring.
• Mum - Boring things are still important.
• Bingo - No they’re not.
• Mum - You sound like your dad.

This brief interaction contains a lot of language to be explored which can be extrapoloated for learners. This might all get a little teacher-ey now. Apologies in advance!

First, we can easily say that the context is immediately understandable and relatable; We have a parent discussing cleaning teeth with their child and a light-hearted jab at stubborn dad when their child is reluctant to follow mum’s wish. This provides a clear context for learners who will likely very easily understand the language in context.

In the first two lines we have present continuous for future plans—what are we doing today—followed by present perfect for outstanding actions—nothing until you’ve cleaned your teeth. I can’t remember ever seeing these two grammatical structures presented together in an English coursebook despite the naturalness of their usage in this context.

Then we have a use of still; emphasising one’s opinion despite another’s objection; which is also rarely taught in coursebooks, if at all. Leaners are most likely already familiar with the usage of the word still for remaining time/quantity (e.g., we still have 2 hours/Do you still have much work to do?) but would probably have never seen it used in this way.

We then have a pronoun, used in a natural way in order to object—no they’re not. This kind of pronoun usage is hard for learners to master, perhaps because they don’t watch enough kids shows!

And finally a very idiomatic—you sound like…

Again, as the context is clear, it becomes much easier for learners to understand and grasp the usage of these structures, and there is a lot of structures working together here in a short space.

#7. Many items of language are visual in nature which can more easily be depicted in children’s shows.

Here are just a few phrases I was able to come up with which have a very visual component:

• courageous like a lion
• sly like a snake
• to see red
• to be skating on thin ice
• he looks like he’s about to charge
• to be over the moon
• to hit a home run
• he couldn’t believe his eyes
• take one step at a time
• a fish out of water
• the ball is in your court
• when the going get tough, the tough get going
• we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it

Because the producers of children’s shows are aware that their audience may not be familiar with common phrases such as these, they might go the extra mile to ensure that the meaning is clear in the context. This removes the need for learners to stop and look up the phrase, as they might otherwise have to when reading a book or watching a show for adults.

#8. Even though the content is intended for kids, the majority of grammar and vocabulary is 100% suitable for adults.

Adult learners may not wish to watch a kids show because the content is boring or uninteresting as it is made for kids, not for adults. This may be the case in one's own first language, because we no longer require the extra non-linguistic support for understanding (facial expression, exaggerated intonation, scenic clues etc.), but unforuntately this means there is a lot of great input we are missing out on.

Although the content itself may be for designed kids, most phrases and vocabulary are still 100% suitable for adult learners. Take for instance these phrases from a scene from Finding Nemo, a movie for kids. Think for a moment about the idiomaticy of the bold parts of the sentences and ask yourself if you think these phrases are only suitable for kids, or if they would also sound very natural for adults to say.

(idiomaticity=commonness/familiarity to most speakers)

I highly doubt that.

If I ever meet a sea turtle, I’ll ask ‘im (how old he is), after I’m done talking to the shark.

You’re not going to freak out like you did at the petting zoo are you?

These phrases are suitable for learners at all ages, not just for kids, and because the context is extremely clear (nervous father dropping his son off on his first day of school), we perfectly understand the phrases in context which reinforces our learning and gives our brain a better chance to remember the vocabulary. Now think for a moment about Duo Lingo, which tends to present sentences completely out of context. What gives our brains a better opportunity for learning? Kids shows? Or Duo Lingo?

#9. The music supports our comprehension of less familiar vocabulary by guiding our emotional response.

Think about a colourful bright, cheery opening scene, or a dark gloomy scene in which the evil character is introduced. In these cases, the music will accompany the mood of the scene, further reinforcing the meaning of the language used in the shows. This makes it easier for our brains to "categorise" the vocabulary and recall it in a similar situation in future.

#10. Kids shows often feature a more varied range of emotion in shorter periods, providing rich language input.

In the language classroom, students and teacher often remain in one context for an extended period, if not the whole lesson. For instance, when talking about topics like recent holidays, or current projects at work, it might take up to 45 minutes before the context moves on at all.

Kids shows like the famous Australian cartoon Bluey (below), might exhibit happiness, joy, pure sadness, anger, frustration, heavy disappointment, despair, love, hate, grief and many many more, perhaps all in the space of a 5-minute episode. All of these emotions bring with them language which is heavily associated to those emotions, giving viewers exposure to natural use of language in context, and each encounter in context then strengthens the connection of sound and meaning in our brains, supporting retention and future recall.

Here are some shows I would personally recommend for both English and German learners.

English

Bluey - This award-winning Australian cartoon about a dog family (of blue healer dogs) has become an international phenomenon, popular in many countries around the world and translated into countless languages.

Peppa Pig - This is a British show for younger, pre-school aged children. It is also extremely popular and has been broadcast in at least 180 countries.

Thomas the Tank Engine - This English classic is one I personally grew up watching. It is narrated by none other than Ringo Starr, so you can practise listening to his soothing Liverpool accent.

Other recommendations:

Kid Crew, Blue Peter, Mr Benn, Mothergooseclub, Blue Peter.

German

Tom und das Marmeladebrot mit Honig - I love this show's musicality. With every step Tom takes, you hear a musical shaker, when he high-fives his friend you hear a cymbal crash. The epidodes are just 5 minutes long and readily available on YouTube.

Kleiner Roter Traktor - a stop-motion show which is a few decades old now, but which contains rich, authentic language use with natural reductions. I personally wached a lot of episodes of this show when I was learning German.. and its theme song is a real earworm!

Benjamin Blümchen - a likeable cartoon elephant who teaches kindness in his community. Loads of music and use of varied intonation to support comprehension of more diffucult language structures.

Löwenzahn mit Peter Lustig - This show is for older children who are curious about the world. They can follow the host Peter Lustig on his discoveries.

Other recommendations: Die Sendung mit der Maus

There you have it! Do you have a favourite kids show that you have learned with in the past? What was it? Why did you like it? Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear it!