TalkBox.Mom Review for Kid-Friendly Language Learning

I am briefly returning from a year-long hiatus from blogging to review a product that has brought a new pep in our language learning step the last five months. 

TalkBox.Mom was developed by a mom who, like many of us, wanted to teach her kids a second language. It has grown into a thriving business with programs for eleven different languages, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian (what we are learning), Russian, German, Hebrew, and Japanese. The programs are each translated by native speakers, which makes it dependable.

So what exactly is it? 

TalkBox.Mom is a subscription service of boxes sent at selected intervals (such as every 3 months). Each box has three challenges to be done over and over until the phrases are understood and used with fluency. Rather than mimicking solitary vocabulary words, families start with useful phrases they already use everyday in English. For example, in the first box, which I have, it is all about snacks and the kitchen. You'd agree the kitchen is a pretty popular place for a family, so it's a great space to start practicing the new desired language. Future boxes include chores, bathroom, hygiene, weather topics. HERE is a list of the specific boxes available for each language. They go in the specific order listed on that page. You can pause the subscription if you need more than three months, like we did. 

HERE is good break-down and explanation from the website about how the program is structured. The boxes are $90 each, but a discount is applied if you sign up for multiple boxes. See HERE for price info. It seems steep, but when compared to having a tutor, it can be a cost-effective and more reliable option since you can weave the activities in your day. It took us about four months to feel conformable with the three activities in the firs box, so $90 over a four-month period isn't too bad. And I have to be totally honest here: I didn't buy the first box. A friend met the creator of the program at a homeschool conference and bought me a box as a gift along with one for herself!  But after using it these past months, we will definitely buy our own boxes and continue to use the program. See below for a reference code that can get you $15 off your first box. Also, They have stand-alone products that are a fraction of the cost of the box (like the phrase book and homeschool phrases), so that is a good start if you're interested in TalkBox.Mom, but can't yet commit to a $90 box.

Our language learning journey

My kids knew some basics of the Romanian language since I have been (slowly and inconsistently) teaching them phrases and vocab since they were babies. But I often felt I needed more structure and consistency. I bought the $35 phrasebook several years ago when I first heard of TalkBox.Mom, but wasn't ready to invest in the whole box yet. It was a good way to inject new phrases in our day-to-day activities. I wrote phrases from the book on note cards and put them in the kitchen and bathroom to remember to use. The phrasebook was for me, whereas the boxes are designed with kids in mind. I was also reading and interpreting picture books we purchased from our trip last year to Romania, occasionally watching short Romanian videos for kids, and trying to introduce a few words whenever I thought of it. 

Here is how we have been using TalkBox.Mom for the kids to upgrade their Romanian learning: 

The first box, as mentioned above, is the Snacks & Kitchen box. The first challenge was all about asking for food, declining and accepting, etc. The program comes with an app that has audio of each of the phrases, which can be helpful for families learning a whole new language. I already knew how to say the phrases and I try not to use my phone a ton around the kids, so I haven't really used the app much. But it is helpful for tracking the phrases practiced to track success.  This was a perfect box to start with since we already had a Romanian learning block set for snack time (around 9:45-10) with reading books and doing Romanian learning activities I planned myself. So, every day, we were doing some structured Romanian learning during our Romanian Snack Time. But now I had more structure and resources rather than piecing things together myself! We started with learning the phrases from the first challenge. We said them in funny voices, we used puppets, and we tried to generally just make it a fun learning time. Then, throughout the day, I would try to have them say those same phrases (like "I'm hungry") in Romanian instead of English.  The list is shown below on the right (there's a back side as well).

The second challenge was about using specific names for food when we used the requests and questions learned from the first challenge. So, my kids would ask (in Romanian) "Can I have an apple?" and I would respond "Yes, here is your apple" and hand them the apple. Since there isn't a ton of variety in our snacks, I often pulled out our pretend food to diversify the foods we were talking about. The colorful food posters (one page shown above) has been very fun for the kids and we use it quite often, especially with the games I mention below. It's displayed on my fridge so we can access it throughout the day.

The third challenge was about things in the kitchen, like appliances, silverware, and furniture. There are a ton of cards in this challenge that I taped onto their respective furniture or appliance in our kitchen to learn the names and then to play games, like I Spy.

Although we learned and practiced the specific challenges during our daily snack time, I tried to incorporate the phrases we were learning throughout other meal times, to further solidify them. 

A few games I made-up to practice the phrases from the three challenges include:

Playing store and restaurant: The kids had to either buy or order food in Romanian

What's Missing: I had a basket of 5-8 items we'd learned in Romanian and told them to say each one's name, such as pretend food or doll house furniture. Then with their eyes closed, I removed one item, and had them guess what was missing. They had to respond in Romanian.

Mystery Bag: I placed pretend food and silverware (on different days) that we'd practiced naming in Romanian in a bag. Without looking in the bag, they had to feel around for the food or other toy I called out, in Romanian, using the food poster or flashcards  from the challenges and they'd feel around the back and try to find it.

We played with Daniel Tiger and doll house furniture: I would hold the Daddy Tiger or Mommy Tiger and would ask (in Romanian) for one of the kids who was holding Daniel Lion to open the fridge door or put the cake in the oven. Then they'd do it. Or I would ask where a certain things is, like the table or the stove.

I Spy and Go Touch games: I would play I Spy in Romanian with food items and furniture. Other days, I would tell the kids to go touch certain appliances and furniture in Romanian. 

We've also been enjoying the free games suggested in the Extra section for my specific box, found on website once signed up. There are games like memory and bingo, plus a fun board game. All are printable and easy to play with kids. There is also a document with more game ideas submitted by families who used that box. These extra games have given us fun ways to continue practicing the language in fun ways. 

TalkBox.Mom has helped me have more confidence and consistency in speaking Romanian with the kids. We've had a lot of fun together learning phrases we use everyday in the kitchen. I've seen a lot of improvement in their Romanian and they are using the phrases more often on their own.  I am looking forward to continuing with more of the boxes within the program.

If you want to give a box a try, please consider using my personal reference code (REFJ8MRK4FZB9) to get $15 off your first box. Full disclosure: if you do go ahead and use the code, I also get $15 off my next box, which I am hoping to buy very soon! 

Or if you have more questions, text or message me on social media  if you know me in real life, or leave a comment below. For more specific questions about the program, their customer service has been excellent with any of my questions.

I hope this new year is a great opportunity for language learning with your kids!