Why Karaoke?
Pop songs from the western world are something in which many students have an interest. The same student who may or may not say "I like listen the music" when asked about hobbies or interests probably knows the complete lyrics to the latest Backstreet Boys hit. Tim Murphey coined the term "the song stuck in your head phenomenon" several years ago to describe the amazing way in which people learn and remember song lyrics. More than this, songs are a very powerful teaching tool through which students can learn many aspects of English including grammar points,vocabulary, idioms, intonation, accent, word imagery, and cultural themes.
How Karaoke??
My presentation featured a video of me using a pop song with a class of students ten years ago. Although I've made some procedural changes over the years, my basic method remains the same. Karaoke Day begins with the VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION: "What day is it today?" This becomes a regular "schtick" which students enjoy. I introduce the KD song by introducing the artist-perhaps writing his/her/their initials and giving the students clues. I then introduce the song and tell students to sit back, relax, listen carefully, and see how many words they can catch.
Following the first listening, I distribute cloze lyrics. It's important not to overwhelm the students so I delete no more than two or three words per line. When doing the second listening and fill in, I proceed line by line, giving students as many clues as possible such as hangman "word frames" with the first and/or last letter given, the Japanese equivalent, and so on.
After the students have a complete set of lyrics, I discuss the story or message of the song with the students and introduce new vocabulary, images, etc. Figure l shows some of the possible teaching points from the English version of the classic "Sukiyaki". Choral reading with expression helps the students to get a feel for rhythm, intonation, and accent.
Before finally singing the song, I focus on the mechanics of singing. These include sitting straight with the feet flat on the floor, holding the song sheet properly (at a 45 degree angle not too close or too far away from the face), using the diaphragm to breathe, and opening up the mouth to let the words come out. I encourage my students to be a chorus group and not to be self-conscious.
To Sing Or Not To Sing?
An overwhelming majority of my students over the years have given me positive feedback about Karaoke Day. I try to make it "their day"-even asking students to record and write cloze lyrics for a song they like. I have noticed what I call the "spillover effect". The enthusiasm and excitement of Karaoke Day spills over into the more mundane aspects of the class.
Is Karaoke Day worth the work involved? Yes! Give it a try!
Karaoke with a Social Network
Well it had to happen! As every other kind of site these days has a social network attached to it, why not karaoke too?
The site I've been looking at is called RedKaraoke and it has quite a few useful features. There isn't a huge range of songs there yet, but users can upload their own, it also has a web cam feature so for potential singers who want to be seen as well as heard you can have your web cam hooked up while you sing.
As with most karaoke, there are background tracks and you see the words of the lyrics highlighted as you are supposed to sing them. You can rate other singers too and have your own profile as well as take part in forums (mainly used for technical support by the looks of things) and there's also synchronous chat too.
The high ranking singers get pushed to the top, and if you like someone you can leave encouraging messages of support.
So why use this with EFL students?
Anyone who has ever taught a EFL / ELT will know how powerful and motivating music and song can be to help students acquire language, so sites like this can be really useful.
- If your students are interested in music and singing, you can get them along to the site to record a few of their favourite songs (Onlye the more confident students though)
- You can get students to listen and rate other singers too and leave messages for them if they like them (though don't encourage messages to singers they don't like)
- The site has the words and music to quite few songs, so even if your students don't feel confident enough to record themsleves, they could still get some practice in the privacy of their own homes.
- If students do record themselves you can get them to rate each other and see if any of your students can get into the top ranking list.
What I like about it
- Well as ever for me the first attraction is that it's free.
- There are a range of songs and it's not all in English, so if you are teaching or learning other languages then there is potential material here.
- I like that you can have the web cam recording too.
- The interface is quite easy to get around simple to use.
What I wasn't so sure about
- I think this is going to be pretty bandwidth hungry, especially if you are using a web cam too, so only one for broadband users working alone from home.
- The quality of some of the sound files wasn't so great, but that's always going to be the case with Web 2.0 type content.
- Looks from the forum like a few people have had problems with getting their recording synchronised, though I'm guessing that switching off the wqebcam would help with this.
- As with any site where students are asked to register and add a profile, be sure your students know how to protect their pivacy and personal information.
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