Compelling Content is King

The one question that our students ask us all the time is, “How do I REALLY learn a language? How can I become fluent?”

And we always like to share this simple rule: “What goes in, is what goes out.”

In other words, in order to be able to produce language, first you have to develop strong receptive language skills. We can formulate this idea in different ways, like Stephen Krashen did with his theory of "comprehensible input." Less technically, it means we should be asking our students to read and listen in the target language–a lot.

Your brain is magical. It can take other peoples’ words that you hear, and then mix them up, reorganize them, turn them into your own thoughts and words. Your brain is like a transmuter of language. But, just like an alchemist, your brain can’t do any magic if you don’t supply it with the right ingredients. Comprehensible input creates comprehensible output. If your starve your brain, or if you fill it up with nonsense, you’re not going to be happy with the result.

What goes in is what comes out.

For learners, it's often the case that our reading is better than our listening, especially for people who learn through classes or apps. So we really need more listening practice. And that's where Roxxem comes in.

Instead of just flashcards, Roxxem focuses on teaching meaningful chunks of language in context--with real music. Train your ear, and voice, on the real phrases and expressions being used in the world's most popular songs. Hear language at the real speed that people speak.

That's how to really improve your listening skills. And you'll have fun while doing it :)

Language Is the Gateway to Culture

Why learn a new language? Because we want to use it. To talk to people in another country. To read great literature. To listen to great music.

That's what learning language is all about. But sometimes--too often--that gets lost. We've seen way too many students bored out of their minds doing grammar worksheets. We don't think this is the best way to learn. But even more importantly, we don't think it's what truly matters.

Ultimately, we believe that language isn't an end in itself, but a means to a much more fundamental end. Language is a key. We can spend years forging that key, but it’s wasted if we don’t use it to open the gate of the treasure house. The treasures are culture and community.

They are the songs we sing, and the stories they teach us.

Learning Should Be Fun and Joyful

We think this is huge. Learning should be fun; not only does fun motivate, it also make learning more effective.

Music is inherently compelling. Instead of doing rote exercises in a textbook, sing along to "Despacito", "Papaoutai", or "小苹果". That's already awesome.

But with Roxxem, you don’t just listen to music. You are immersed in it; you interact with it. That's because Roxxem is designed from the ground up to be a game.

Each Roxxem song and lesson is actually an arcade-style game. Win the song by remembering the lyrics… or lose it by saying the wrong things. Use power-ups at crucial moments to pull out a victory or save yourself from defeat. Master the song to get a high score, and compete with other players on the leaderboard.

Eventually, we want Roxxem to be a role-playing game where you take your character on a music learning journey. Level up your character along with your listening. Customize your character to be like your favorite pop star; gain language-related powers and items.

We think that's going to be so fun.