LyricsTraining is a device-agnostic tool to learn and practice world languages and engage multilingual learners. This free resource offers an extensive collection of videos that can each be gamified into multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank questions. The game removes words from songs or videos, and players need to use context clues to figure out what word fits the best. Each game can also be differentiated into four different difficulty levels. As the difficulty level increases, more words are missing from the video/song. The languages offered include English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, German, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Finnish, and Catalan. There are many genres, including Children’s Music, Soundtrack, TV Shows, Pop, Country, and others. We recommend reading the lyrics before sharing to ensure the content is appropriate for the grade level that you teach.
You do not need to register for this site. However, if you register, you can save your favorites and create your own LyricsTraining games using uploaded songs/videos. Since this tool is available on any device, these activities would be ideal for blended and flipped learning.
Applying the Triple E Framework
The Triple E Framework, created by Dr. Liz Kolb, believes that “effective technology integration begins with good instructional strategies and not fancy tools” (tripleeframework.com). Dr. Kolb wrote a book on the topic, Learning First, Technology Second (ISTE, 2017), that lays out the three main uses for technology in education: to Engage, Enhance, or Extend learning goals. We can use this framework to decipher why we use specific classroom tools. Here is a rubric based on the Triple E Framework you can use to evaluate whether LyricsTraining (or any other technology) is a good fit with your learning goals and whether you should use it in your lesson.
- Engage in learning goals: The students are motivated to begin learning as LyricsTraining allows students to complete listening comprehension questions through videos and game-based questions. LyricsTraining helps students focus on the content (learning goals) with minimal distractions, as there are very few advertisements or other distractions.
- Enhance learning goals: LyricsTraining creates paths for students to demonstrate their understanding of the learning goals in a way they cannot do without technology. For example, students can view videos and answer interactive questions in multiple languages.
- Extend learning goals: Dr. Kolb describes extended learning as an opportunity for students to learn, connect, and collaborate outside the regular school day and bridge the school day and real-life experiences. The site would also make an ideal asynchronous learning experience, as students could do practice videos at home assigned by the teacher.
SAMR Connection
The SAMR Model, by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, suggests that technology implementation has four levels. Therefore, we can use this model as a guideline to analyze how we use technology tools in the classroom. For example, using LyricsTraining can be at the Substitution and Augmentation levels.
- Substitution: The substitution level is the most basic level of SAMR and refers to when technology acts as a direct substitute without any functional improvements. An easy example is if students watch and listen to the video/story on this site instead of listening to the teacher share the story.
- Augmentation: At the level of augmentation, the technology acts as a direct substitute and includes some functional improvements. LyricsTraining allows students to replay the video or use the dial to slow the speech; you can also differentiate between the four difficulty levels and the options for multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank questions.
Please take advantage of Part 2 of the Tech Tool of the Month: LyricsTraining, where we’ll discuss using the tool and classroom ideas. In the meantime, let us know how you have used LyricsTraining in your education setting in the comment section below.