Convinced mom (76) on the Dreaming Spanish method, and observations of a super-beginner

I've been helping my mom learn Spanish, and for awhile, she would only do flash cards (Barron's 201 Spanish Words - technically my birthday present early this month... it's the thought.). I did sit her down to watch a few Dreaming Spanish videos last year, and a few this past week, but she couldn't get past 5 minutes (2 videos tops), especially if it was Pablo. (My mother is a very orderly Swabian-German, was greatly influenced by her step-grandfather's (also German, but in the US, unlike his cousins...) military upbringing and orderly lifestyle. All beds must be made military style!). She thinks Pablo's 'disorganized' (because he fumbles with his image cards, changes thought mid-sentence) and doesn't like his sense of humor. She literally gets a headache after watching Pablo. Granted, she's like 2nd generation German-American. You realize Germans don't have a sense of humor, right? ;) ).

Anyway, I got her hooked on Andrea's videos, and she finally watched 30 minutes of Andrea talking about Calcetin, New Year's resolutions, and favorite Mexican drinks. She had such a good time, I don't think she noticed how long she was watching. But, I noticed a few things after she's watched about 10 videos -

  1. My mom has trouble learning the verbs on the flashcards, but picked up a few verbs after hearing it in a few videos.
  2. She did well with the nouns and adjectives on the flashcards, since they have pictures (except for the guy with the plaid shirt for the word short. This confused her to no end.), but would complain about things like, "PALABRA!? I don't know the word "PALABRA!", that means nothing to me! It's a strange word. "PALABRA!"). 😂 (the irony of her constantly saying "word", too)
  3. Adverbs on the flash cards are a bit harder, and verbs are next to impossible. (certainly a point or two again flash cards!).
  4. She confuses some words with the French words, or French pronunciations. (expected)
  5. She really wanted her hand puppets. (Andrea to the rescue!!!) We watched Pablo's version and she wasn't impressed. Mom: "A giraffe? How is that a giraffe?". Me: "Ummm, it says so in the title...".
  6. She did pick up on some verbs (like venir, but doesn't know "ven" is a verb conjugation yet).
  7. She quickly learned some new words (like azucar) because it sounds similar to French. She took 4 years of it like, 60 years ago. Proof that you really don't forget it, especially if it means something to you.
  8. It still took her a little while to stop talking over the video, or "shadowing". ("Why is he saying that word?", "What does this word mean?", "But I thought that word means this!", "Why did this person say "ven" and that person say "ben"?).
  9. She really, really enjoys Andrea, Michelle, Agustina and Alma.
  10. She's visibly confused by the jokes geared towards the younger generation. heh.