The Best Websites for Learning a Language with Music

Using music to learn languages can be a fun and effective method which will help you memorize phrases and expressions. It will also help your pronunciation and listening comprehension.

In a prevous blog, I outlined how music help you learn a language.

There are some websites that make it easier by offering free lessons and games to practice your language skills using music. So I decided to analyze some of them for you:

Lyrics Training

For me, this is the best site for learning languages with song lyrics. After choosing one of the many videos available, you must guess the missing words while listening to the music in order to move on to the next part of the song.If you don’t give the correct answers in time, the music will temporarily stop. This method is quite fun and makes us put in effort to continue listening to the song.

 https://lyricstraining.com/

My Lingo

My Lingo has great graphics but little interactivity. It lets you watch music videos with subtitles in other languages. The site focuses mainly on Spanish, but certain videos have subtitles in other languages. In order to use the site, you must first register for free online.

http://www.mylingoapp.com/

Tubeoke

Tubeoke was designed for singing along to a song while reading the lyrics. It’s very similar to Lyrics.com, but it has many more videos. Actually, the site has a search engine linked up to YouTube and finds lyrics from all over the internet. This makes it possible to listen to many songs in different languages.

http://tubeoke.com/index.php?lang=

In conclusion, I think Lyrics Training is the best site to help you learn foreign languages, but the other sites are helpful as well, especially for their specific purposes. As you’ve seen, we continually test the best resources available on the net to help you in your task of learning a foreign language.

Learning a Language Through Music

Can you learn a language through music?

Of course you can! From slow, crooning love songs to the latest boy band hits, music is a really useful tool for language learning.Pop music isn’t the whole story, though. Any style of music, by any artist, as long as it has lyrics, can be useful in language learning. You just need to approach it the right way, and make sure you choose music you enjoy.

How Songs Help You Learn a Language

Learning songs in your target language is an incredibly useful tool for your language goals because…

• Music is Sticky: Most people who enjoy music listen to their favourite songs over and over until they know them by heart. This repetition, accompanied by a catchy tune, is the perfect formula for getting new words and phrases stuck in your brain so you can’t get rid of them. No grammar charts required.
• Music is Portable: You can take music with you to listen to anywhere, unlike textbooks, movies or conversation partners. Keep a playlist handy on your phone to listen to your favourite songs in your target language anytime you have a few minutes free. 
• Singing Songs Improves Your Pronunciation: The joy of singing along to songs you love makes it easier for you to pick up correct pronunciation.
• Song Lyrics Help You Learn Vocabulary in Context: Learning how vocabulary is used in sentences is a key part of learning how to speak a language in the real world. You can’t learn isolated words in your target language and expect to get fluent.

Learning English with Movies and Film

Why Learning English with Movies and Film Works

Here are three reasons I believe it works, and why I recommend learning the language this way.

• You’ll get to learn real English… not textbook English. The English you learn through textbooks or in ESL class is not what you’ll hear people say on the street. For example, in beginner English classes, you might have learned how to say “nice weather we’re having” or “it’s raining cats and dogs.” While these phrases are technically correct, we almost never say these in real life.

In contrast, the English spoken in movies is very natural. It’s also very close to what you’ll hear if you speak with native English speakers too. This will help improve your spoken English.

• You learn English words in context. This is one of my favorite aspects of watching movies. Let’s say that you like watching crime films (these are great!). After watching 10 or 20 movies, you’ll start to learn vocabulary related to the context, or subject, of crime.

Usually, when we learn words traditionally (e.g. in school), we study things like vocabulary lists. The problem with learning new words with vocabulary lists is that you can learn what words mean, but not where and how they are used.

For example, let’s say you learn the new word “detective.” From the dictionary, you’ll know what that it means “a person who investigates crimes”. But unless you use it, it can be easy to forget. It also doesn’t give you an idea where the word is used most frequently, and how it is used.

On the other hand, if you learn the word “detective” through watching crime films, you’ll know “detective” can mean many things. For example, it can be a title in front of a person (e.g. “Detective Beckett”). Or maybe it’s the noun referring to the job (e.g. he’s a detective). And maybe you’ll even hear things that will let you form opinions about the word (e.g. “you lousy detectives”).

This way, you won’t only learn what each word means, you will also know how it’s used.

Well, it’s all about how you say it. You know, things like your body language, your expressions (like a smile, a frown) and your tone of voice (like when you sound angry, or when you sound sad). As you can guess, the how is often more important than the what to English people.

Learn English with Movies and Film: The Popcorn-ready Guide from “Finding Nemo” to “Terminator”

https://youtu.be/3JnKU9Stmyw

https://youtu.be/Hz5q1Sv0-2I

exercises with hot potatoes

Hot Potatoes

Summary

Hot Potatoes software allows you to make interactive assessments for students.  The quizzes are made on your local computer and then can be imported into Moodle or shared on websites.

• JQuiz - multiple choice and short answer
• JCloze - gap-fill exercieses
• JMatch - Matching and Ordering Questions
• JMix - jumbled sentence or jumbled word exercises
• JCross - crossword questions
  

Create word clouds with wordle

WORDLE

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to your own desktop to use as you wish.

5 Simple Ways to Improving your Writing

Many people have problems with writing in English and it seem like a real difficulty to improve . Don't worry. Take a quick break. Here are some steps that you can improve your writing skills.

1) Expand your vocabulary

To express yourself better, you need to learn many words.Vocabulary can make your writing more powerful and more effective and help you say what you mean.

2) Master English spelling:

You should know how to spell words correctly. Incorrect spelling changes the meaning of the For example: ‘bare’ and ‘bear’ sound the same but ‘bare’ means naked and ‘bear’ is a large animal. Additionally, incorrect spelling makes it difficult for the reader to understand what you’ve written. Tip: Practice your spelling using flash cards and test yourself whenever you have some spare time. 

 3) Read regularlarly 

Reading in English is useful in many ways. It is a great way to get an idea of the different styles of 
writing and see how to use words appropriately. 
 Tip: Choose books or articles with topics that interest you : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Habits-Highly-Effective-People/dp/0684858398/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1455124355&sr=1-1&keywords=The+7+Habits+of+Highly+Effective+People

4) Improve your grammar

 Grammar is one of the most important things because it improves the quality of your writing. Always use the appropriate tense and remember to use punctuation. Punctuation is a great way to make your writing clear and fluent.

5) Just do it! 
Writing can be daunting. However, the best way to improve is get a pen and paper and write. Be prepared to write several versions of each text because even for professional writers, the first draft is never perfect.
 Remember, practice makes perfect, so now is the best time to sit down and get started

The audio-lingual method

Audiolingual Method by sedef özbek on Scribd