subject: How to Listen to Songs and Practice English [print this page] How to Listen to Songs and Practice English
Everybody loves to listen to songs. Many of the songs we listen to are in English. When we listen to them and we don't know English, we appreciate the melody and the music, but, of course, we miss out on a big part of the song, which is the lyrics. Lyrics are the words that are used to express whatever the song wants to express. It can be a love song, a song of protest, a song about natureyou name it, there probably will be a song about it!
So, since you listen to songs in English because there are many that you like, why not take the opportunity to practice your English at the same time?
This is what you can achieve when you practice with songs:
you can improve your vocabulary
you can learn new expression that will make you more fluent
you can get to sound more natural with better pronunciation and intonation
you can appreciate the natural melody of the English Language
you can train your ears to understand meaning even without all the words
all this while enjoying your favourite songs!
Follow me and continue reading for the easy strategy you need to apply to achieve the desired results:
Without Video (preferred choice)
choose a song that you know very well when your ears already know the general sound of the words the progress is quicker
find a moment when nobody will interrupt you
take pen and paper
play the song once
write what you think you understand in the general sense, for example this song is a love song, it's about
play the song again, bit by bit, and write the sentences Tip: write what you hear and leave blank spaces when you don't get the words
read what you wrote and see if you can fill the gaps the way you think it makes sense
play it again and read your version at the same time still a lot missing? It's ok, that's why you are practicing!
play the song again and try to complete it do it until you are happy with the results
at the end of this process Tip: please, only at the end so you don't ruin the process! find the lyrics on the internet (if you've never done it before, just type the song name followed by lyrics' in the search box) and compare.
With Video (not recommended)
Sometimes you don't have the song you want to do, but you can find it on the Internet, on YouTube for example Ok, but make sure you don't get distracted by watching the video!
choose a song that you know very well when your ears already know the general sound of the words the progress is quicker
find a moment when nobody will interrupt you
find the relative video
don't look at the screen when you play the song Tip: even better if you switch off the monitor so you're not tempted
proceed as above
Enjoy the results! The more songs you do, the better the results, of course Try, you will be positively surprised!
For more advice on how to practice your English, visit Lovenglish Caf an find lots of activities and resources!
