Learning Games - FabuLingua

My 6 year old is in Spanish immersion school and we’re using this app to supplement her efforts. We really like the concept, but it also needs improvement. The first level was really good, she loved it and couldn’t wait for the next story. The stories were great and the artwork with interactive elements makes it fun. Unfortunately, it steps up quite quickly at the following levels. Long stories, very complex words. I think there needs to be more incremental steps. Also, the matching game only tests on the vocabulary in the current book, it would be good if you had to match more than 6 words and if it included past vocabulary from other stories. The long stories are fine to sit through the first time, but when you have to record in short bursts and then record reading the whole story, kids lose interest. It just goes on for too long. Or they just record “blah, blah, blah” to get through it (FabuLingua does not listen for accuracy). Overall, we like the app, but it would be better with more incremental steps, shorter stories, more games and cumulative testing on vocabulary.

I am 26 and I got this Spanish Learning Game for myself to learn Spanish as a third language. I know about 50 Spanish words at the time I reviewed this app, so I’m still a beginner, I think. I thought it would be a point and tap adventure game where you would have to solve puzzles to progress, but the puzzles would all require knowing the Spanish language to solve. I also thought from the screenshots that I would have a player level associated with my file and have achievements to collect after starting a free trial. I was disappointed when I signed up for the yearly subscription with a week free trial and the gameplay was just reading a collection of picture books with audio recordings and there were no levels or achievements. There were mini games, but I felt like they were not part of the game flow at all. The matching games and spelling games which require understanding the story do not give any in-game rewards. When reading the books myself, I can say all of the words aloud to myself, but that does not necessarily mean I understand the content I’m reading. I get rewarded for reading the story, but not for proving I understood it through the mini games. I ended up deleting my account and cancelling my free trial after playing for about an hour because I did not feel like I was getting rewarded for the hard parts like the matching and spelling games. Also, why am I collecting cards and stickers anyways? To study more words for the sake of it?

My 9 year old daughter has no prior Spanish experience, and she has already learned so much! There are so many layers of engagement written into this program that seem to approach all different types and ages of learners. The lessons are well-paced, and children of a variety of ages have opportunities to uncover more sophistication in all of the embedded vocabulary and usage hidden through the program. There are some games to check on your child’s overall comprehension in each lesson. And my daughter really enjoys the feature where she can practice her oral skills and record herself reading the stories in small chunks following the narrator. The story narrator has a clear voice with lovely pronunciation that seems to inspire my daughter to perfect her accent. The stories are very sweet with great illustrations and animations, and my daughter often laughs out loud at some of the characters and occurrences in the stories as she is learning. I highly recommend this educational app for children in a wide age range. This would also be a fantastic app for homeschoolers looking to incorporate Spanish into their curriculum.