Youtube and Lyricstraining to Develop the Skill of Listening

Listening Practice

The importance of good resources to provide input 

When we talk about listening reinforcement one of the first resource that we keep in mind are scripted dialogues in which people talk about specific topics. Nowadays it is almost a need, to provide authentic material that connect with the students’ reality. The authentic material allow students connect with the language in real contexts which is beneficial for practice intonation, pronunciation, rhythm and acquire vocabulary.   

Despite authentic material has a variety of forms such as movies or series, one of the most important is music. 

In recent years, studies have emerged around the use of music for teaching english and it’s benefits in the improvement of their skills, such as one that was made by Helen Doron English Academy which mention that music could help students in their process because “the rhythm of music, as well as the repetitive patterns within the song, help us memorize words.” But in addition to this, music also helps in the pronunciation of new words by imitation, even when the words are unknown. Finally it was demonstrated that the brain is completely active when it is exposed to this stimulus.

Directly related to listen music, singing is even more beneficial in learner’s process because it allows them to practice, recognize and imitate the movements of mouth and tongue for each sound in deferents rhythms. 

 To this now we have different platforms that provide a significant input on diverse ways.

One of the most common platforms for access to input is Youtube, a video platform in which you can find all kind of video that you could adapt to your needs, level and tastes. 

Another resource that is focused on skills like listening, writing and speaking is the website lyricstraining.com which is an amazing option to give input in a funny way helping with the engagement of students. 

This is a website in which students have the option to access to hundreds songs to sing karaoke and write the lyric at the same time. With this dynamic you can reinforce their listening skills and practice vocabulary using friendly resources for them. 

A simple way to apply this tool in class is preparing some options of different styles of song so the students could choose one to practice on different levels. First the student could try to complete the song in the platform, to next continue underlined key and new words. Finally student could write a reflection about the meaning of the song and try to write some parts without the lyrics using just their memory.

This type of activity is adaptable for different ages and levels of L2.   

 

How might you use it to foster language learning? Think about your target audience.

What limitations can you see with the use of this technology for the purposes of language learning?