Learning a foreign language does not have to be that dry and boring memorisation (a traditional way of learning a language). It is found that listening to songs is a great way to help students in learning a language. Since youTube is one of the most recogniseable and widely used resources on the web, Lyrics Training seems to be the first dedicated language learning website that realises the popularity of youTube and use it in educational context. Therefore, I would introduce you to this useful website today!
What is Lyrics Training?
It is a website that uses current popular youTube music videos to give learners a fun way to practice their language skills. It sorts videos by fluency levels and language. The site offers six languages(Dutch, English, France, German, Italy and Spanish) currently.
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| Screenshot 1: Home page |
How to use it?
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| Screenshot 2: Select the level |
- Search for a youTube-hosted music video and select one of three mastery levels: (1) Beginner; (2) Intermediate and; (3) Expert. (Screenshot 2)
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| Screenshot 3: Fill in the blanks |
- Lyrics appear underneath with several words missing as you play the video. Therefore, your job is to fill in the missing words. (Screenshot 3)
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| Screenshot 4: See translations in your own language |
- You can also select your own language if you want to see translations of the lyrics in your own language. (Screenshot 4)
- The video stops playing if you get stumped and continue to play as you come up with the word. Don't take too long because the tool keeps track of the time that you take to fill in the blanks.
- You can press 'backspace' key to replay the line if you don't really catch up the missing words. Click 'withdraw' button to see the words that elude you.
- Your score will appear after you finish playing the songs.
How can teachers use Lyrics Training?
Teachers may find the Lyrics Training is more helpful and exciting for a spelling quiz rather than using the traditional dictation. It is also suitable for teaching vocabulary and pronunciation. This is because lyrics training applies the concept of behaviourism that believes repetition is important for language acquisition. The more the students repeat, the better they are in grasping the language. By repeating certain vocabulary items through songs it helps students to memorise and remember better and store them in their memories in the long term. Thus, lyrics training would be a good tool for teachers to teach vocabulary!
Other than that, teachers can use Lyrics Training for a listening activity in classrooms. What can you do to make the lesson interesting is getting the students to work in pairs and they have to compete each other by listening to the song that they choose on their own and fill in the blanks. The students who got the highest score is the winner for the activity.
Advantages
- Free and Fun- It is fun as you can sing along and choose the song that you like. It is also free and does not require registration, but it is better to sign up for an account so that you can save your score marks.
- Skills training- It helps to train listening and writing skills as you have to listen carefully to the song to write the correct words in the gaps.
- Autonomous learning- This website helps students to practise their listening skill, spelling as well as pronunciation during their own free time. This may encourage autonomous learning among students.
Disadvantages
- Colloquial Language- Some of the lyrics use colloquial language such as 'gonna' and 'wanna' and that can be confusing to the students that are in basic levels.
- Inaccurate Translations- This website does not have dictionary and the simultaneous translation is not very accurate.
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