Learn English by Singing!

Overview

This week's blog post is again about another tool for autonomous language learning, for I am continuously receiving questions from friends and students about how they can improve their language on their own without having to go to language classes. They always expect me to recommend websites and applications which teach them the language through explicit instruction, yet my answer is always that they need to find ways to use the language to accomplish tasks that they enjoy doing without receiving explicit instruction of language structures. In this post, I will be exploring how one's second/foreign language can be enhanced by using an application for karaoke singing. 

Personally, I do enjoy singing despite not having the "talent" which will enable me to sing in concerts or participate in singing competitions; therefore, the best place for me to sing is karaoke parties. I also use a mobile application called Sing Karaoke by Smule to sing and to share my songs online with a community of karaoke singers. However, this particular mobile application can also be used for developing second/foreign language on various levels.

How can Sing Karaoke by Smule develop autonomous language learning?

First of all, language learning is best achieved when learners use the language in activities they enjoy doing. Learners can opt for singing their favourite artists' songs, and the lyrics will be displayed on the screen as the song goes on. In this way, the students encounter many familiar words in new contexts and get introduced to several new words that they can either guess from the context or will need to check in a dictionary. Therefore, the songs function as excellent contexts for introducing the students to new vocabulary and learning the spelling, pronunciation and usage of the vocabulary in context. Learners also get the chance to speak language at natural speed since the music is what controls when and how the words are said.

In addition, this application enhances learners' motivation through making singing a form of social interaction. Users of the application have the option of joining someone for a duet, and each participant can sing part of the song. In this way, the learners will be motivated to sing the song with the partner as well as to listen to it afterwards to evaluate their performance and that of the other participant. Moreover, some famous singers have accounts on this application, and they invite users to sing their songs along with them. For instance, here is an example of a duet that can be done for free with Ed Sheeran: (What can be more motivating than learning the language to sing a duet with Ed Sheeran!! 😜)

Users of this application can also be involved in real authentic communicative interactions where they are able to share comments and to read other people's comments on the songs that are shared with other users. In this way, users get involved in authentic language use where language production is the means of communication rather than the purpose of the interaction.

As a language teacher, I can encourage the students to practice their language through using this application by choosing to teach a particular song and then inviting them to sing it with me on an individual basis. In this way, the students' level of anxiety will not be high because they are unlikely to feel embarrassed to share their songs when the teacher is doing the activity with them. The students' understanding of the songs and the words in it will be maximised because their songs will be used for teaching in the classroom as well.

Any concerns?

despite the great advantages of learning language from songs, one might also argue that the language that is used in real-life communication is not always similar to the language of songs for two reasons. Firstly, some words might be pronounced differently in songs in order to suit the rhyme and the rhythm of the song. Secondly, some songs include poetic language that is full of similes, metaphors, personifications, etc., and this is not how daily language exactly sounds like.
In addition, Sing Karaoke by Smule does not offer all of its features for free. Users are allowed to sing an unlimited number of duets with other users, yet if they want to share a song to invite people to sing with them, they will need a premium account. Therefore, when I decide to invite the students to sing a song with me, only I will need to have a subscription while they can join me for free. However, the features which help the students to develop their language, i.e. learning vocabulary, speaking, listening and interactive skills, are offered for free.

All in all, in addition to being a very popular fun activity, singing karaoke songs on Sing Karaoke by Smule can develop the students' language through introducing them to new vocabulary, teaching them pronunciation and allowing them to interact with other users through singing and posting comments and feedback.

Modern and Interactive Lessons with TES TEACH with blendspace!

Teachers as well as students who only depend on PowerPoint for designing lessons and making presentations probably have wished that it offered more options such as adding YouTube videos to the screen and making a short quiz to start or end the lesson with in order to increase students' level of engagement with the lesson. Well, now there is an easy and free option for making powerful and interactive lessons which will enhance the classroom environemnt. This tool is TES TEACH with blendspace. 

First, it will be so helpful to see this tutorial video which introduces the tool and offers a step-by-step guide to how it could be used:

What is special about TES TEACH with blendspace? 

An example of the options that TES TEACH offers

When you use Tes Teach with blendpace, you will easily support your original lessons with online content to effectively illustrate your points and to give examples of what you are teaching. For instance, while designing the lesson, you can easily search online to find information, pictures and videos to support the content of the lesson. These online resources can be attached to the slides directly in a neat way without having to download them to your device first.

I have designed a lesson using Tes Teach with blendspace to teach Macbeth. The lesson can be viewed simply by clicking here. I attached pictures from Google and videos from YouTube to illustrate the lesson further and to increase the students' engagement and understanding.Moreover, it linked me to 'Tes' where I could view what teachers have prepared and published about Macbeth, and many of the materials are free to use.

In addition, the students can join the lesson using their computers to take a quiz which can test their preparation for learning about a certain topic and their understanding at the end of the lesson. Also, as a teacher, you can evaluate your students' engagement with the lesson or even with Tes Teach as a tool for teaching through the interactive options of 'like and comment'.  Therefore, the teacher will be better able to plan for the next step after tracking the students' development and engagement through the various options that Tes Teach offers.

Some Pedagogical Underpinnings behind TES TEACH with Blendspace

Using computers along with the web supports blended learning, which is a term that refers to integrating technology with the traditional methods of teaching to give the students more space to work collaboratively and eventually independently. For instance, instead of telling the students the play of Macbeth and delivering all the knowledge by him/herself, the teacher can include what he/she expects the students to learn in the slides and ask them to watch the videos, read parts of the lesson together and share the knowledge with one another. In this way, the students work collaboratively to scaffold one another while doing the task, and with his/her observation of the students' development, the teacher can intervene to scaffold the students when he/she thinks it is getting too challenging for the students. As a result, the students' level of autonomy will increase, for they practice the skill of exploring knowledge by themselves. The teacher can also assign some tasks to be done as homework, which will give the opportunity for more engagement and interaction during the class.

Suitability for Palestinian Teachers

As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, the Ministry of Education in Palestine supports the use of technology in the classroom and is constantly providing more facilities and freedom to teachers to effectively use technology in classes. Hence, teachers can make use of Tes Teach with blendspace and design their lessons to enhance the students' understanding and engagement. Palestinian students are generally literate with technological tools and will easily accept and appreciate a tool such as Tes Teach with blendspace. However, English teachers will not be able to manage all their classes in the computer lab to make the students interact with the lesson. Nevertheless, this tool can still be used in the classroom with one computer device and a projector, and a smart teacher can make it as effective as when each student is using a computer. For instance, the teacher can divide the class into groups and make the quiz as a competition between the groups.

Any concerns?

A teacher needs to track his/her students' development and to see to what extent using the tool is efficient in order to know how to use it in future lessons. The students' response will determine how the teacher should use the tool and should determine the explicitness of instruction. Furthermore, teachers and presenters should be careful when using the online resources to design their lessons. These resources should be used to support the lesson and to make it more interactive and engaging; however, the teacher should keep the original content of the lesson and not over-depend on online resources to achieve the general outcome of a lesson.