Rock your classroom!
Source: http://lyricstraining.com
Songs are common on textbooks of general English such as Headway and New English File. Some research experiences proved the effectiveness of songs on learning vocabulary (Coyle & Gomez Gracia 2014), while others indicated that listening speed, weak/strong forms, ambiguity of words' boundaries and immediate decoding are common challenges for beginners during listening activities (Renandya & Farell, 2010). However, dialogues and songs on textbooks are designed for a learning purpose, which is fine, but this adaptation makes them more artificial. For more authentic listening input, news reports, interviews and songs from the real life would appeal to students. Songs can particularly be a good choice if learners are acquainted with the melody and want to know what it means.
What is Lyricstraining?
Lyrics training is a FREE websites where you can find songs in different languages. The website provides a wide range of real live music according to their types and the level of your learners. Songs are offered as they are; with their original videos, singers and speed. The videos below shows how to use Lyricstraining.
Video 1: Getting started.
Video 2: An example of activity in the writing mode.
You can try any song, any level and anytime by clicking here.
Lyrics Training and Language Learning
You can choose some songs and present them in the classroom then ask students to dictate to you the missing words. This will be a good break from the course materials and motivate them for the course. Moreover, it will give them a chance to listen to different 'Englishes' that you don't teach such as British and American English. Since songs are similar to every day spoken language, students will be exposed to features such as omission which is common and formal classes tend to ignore it and focus on the full form. Songs can be a good source of vocabulary because they contain not only words in isolation, but junks of words such as similes, proverbs, phrasal verbs and idioms. You can even extend the activity by making related tasks; you can pre-teach some key vocabulary, discuss the theme, ask them to use 10 words in a paragraph, etc.
The site is accessible from everywhere, which makes it a good tool to initiate learner's autonomy. Audio, visual and music addicted learners can work on their own by listening to songs and get new input. They will also look up new words in dictionaries as they will be eager to know the meanings of songs. Then, hopefully, the language they learn there will be a part of their linguistic knowledge which can help them in their classroom, work or real life.
Consider these facts
Lyrics training is an online website, so you will need internet access if you decide to use it in your classroom. You will also need a large screen and speakers because if your learners are not able to see the lyrics and listen to the song, the whole activity will not work.
Another important fact for us in Sudan is the religion and the culture. Not all the online videos match our beliefs, norms and tradition, therefore make sure you pick APPROPERIATE videos to use in the classroom. Appropriateness also extends to language context. Some songs contain unsuitable language, for instance, taboo. So it is worth considering these aspects and be well prepared before using the website in the classroom.
I love the idea and I think its really fun... thank you for the effort.
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