Lingo Dingo and the Story Powered Learning Method

by Stuart · November 11, 2022

When we first read ‘The Fabulous Lost & Found and the Little Dutch Mouse’ my children and I instantly fell in love with it. It was the first book in the Story Powered Learning Method and luckily the series now continues with two new entries.

‘Lingo Dingo and the Dutch Chef’ & ‘Lingo Dingo and the Dutch Astronaut’.

In both stories we meet a young Dingo called Lingo who loves being helpful. As the opening of the story tells us, she does what she can to help anyone, anytime, anyhow. Unfortunately things are not always that straight forward. Sometimes the animals that Lingo meets speak a different language. It can be very difficult to help someone if you don’t understand what it is they need. However, that does not stop Lingo from trying her best.

Just like in the previous book the Lingo Dingo stories blend language learning with storytelling to make it a natural part of the story. It’s entertaining for children while also cultivating an interest in learning a second language. As a bonus it also teaches empathy towards people who we might not be able to understand at first.

Even as an adult I find these stories very relatable. Okay, I’ve never had to help a monkey who is a famous Dutch chef bake a cake or aid a turtle who is a Dutch astronaut repair a space station. However, much like Lingo Dingo in the book, I have had to use trial and error to navigate many Dutch conversations. That part is very relatable indeed.

That is the charm of the story powered learning method. It puts learning a language (in this case Dutch) into a story that is relatable even within the fantastical context of the situation.

If you have young children and would like to get them interested in learning Dutch (or you just want to read them something funny and fun) I can recommend the Lingo Dingo series.

My children and I are looking forward to what adventures Lingo Dingo goes on next.

You can buy the Lingo Dingo books from these locations:

The first book ‘The Fabulous Lost & Found and the Little Dutch Mouse’ is now also available in Dutch (with the mouse being English):

The Fabulous Lost & Found and the Little Dutch Mouse

The books are written by Mark Pallis, who was part of the Emmy winning writing team for Peter Rabbit, and illustrated by Peter Baynton, who animated the TV version of The Tiger who Came to Tea.

There are also different versions of the books available that teach different languages. For more information check out:

www.markpallis.com/lingo-dingo