ChatterBox is a fun and immersive language learning app. Instead of endlessly translating vocabulary, ChatterBox uses good pedagogy and cutting edge technology to enable users to have a conversation in their newly acquired language from the very start. Chatterbox originated when founder Tal Sigal made a series of video games for a leading Hebrew curriculum in the U.S., and found that a lot of the Hebrew curriculum out there is grammar based, which is not a natural way to learn a language. “The opportunity arose to make an online course in beginner Tanach and Hebrew,” says Sigal. “I took a natural learning approach, based on the way DreamBox Learning uses software to teach mathematics, and started finding ways to support students in using a foreign language from the get-go.”
Without students having to spend time learning the grammar and extensive vocabulary, they were able to “dive into meaningful texts”, and pick up the language.
Currently, the game is in its development stage, and requires at least 3 more months before it will be complete and ready for launch. Sigal’s current focus is on refining the user experience and user interface, nailing the best design language for the character style and getting the game into the hands of as many testers as possible to see what works, and what does not.
*Fun Fact- Tal is a Rabbi, and has also developed a curriculum for Talmud that has been used in South Africa, Australia, Canada, and in the U.S.. Sigal enjoys writing, and is currently working on a book about how to keep Judaism relevant to a new generation.
