Let's get lyrical, lyrical, I wanna get lyrical, lyrical

*insert shameless sexy dance here*

Today I'm taking a look at https://lyricstraining.com/ and as you might have guessed from the title, this is a music based website. But what does it do?

Well firstly, as a language teacher or 'instructor' if ya nasty, we can't just consider what happens in the classroom,  we also want to both consider and promote autonomous learning. The more autonomous a language learner becomes, the more likely they are to achieve high language proficiency . Lyricstraining is exactly that, a tool we can use to promote autonomous learning outside the classroom. To use the lyricstrainer, the user simply inputs missing word from music videos that are being played. 

When you first go to the lyricstraining website- you will note from the picture below, you can download it as an app to your smartphone or tablet device (very handy)

However, I proceeded to the website version of Lyricstraining, and hit sign up for a free account:

You might note here that you can use an email to sign up, or simply connect it to your Facebook. You can also utilise the site as a guest, so there is no pressure to sign up for an account. However if you do sign up you can  have your high scores saved, see if you can make the leader board for best scores and compete with friends who have also signed up.

Obviously you can't judge something without trying it out yourself, so I signed up and took my shot at (naturally) 80s rock gods Bon Jovi's 'You wanna make a memory'

Crashing in at number 13, behind people who no doubt speak my native language better than me - it's fine I will apply some ice to my bruised ego.  So let's formally review Lyrics Training

Organisation and Layout

The site is organised really well, it has a really simplistic feel (in a good way) the layout is perfect for what the site wants to do. With Top lyrics, and recent additions shown on the homepage and a search bar at the top. I can't fault at all how it's laid out.

5 Nik-Knacks

Content and Features

The content is vast, with a wealth of songs, far more than I was expecting. You are able to search by genre, or as I did, hit a specific band in the search bar at the top, giving the user the option to search for their favourite songs.  But it's not just the amount of songs, this tool is adapted to assist in the learning of several languages, with the user being able to select the language they are learning. Simply hit the flag, as shown below, select your language, then select your song:

Now when I first signed up as a user, it asked my role, and when I put 'teacher' it showed me the following screen:

Currently testing a feature which allows the teacher to select which words from particular songs they want the students to practice, very handy for possible home assignments. It's also very good to see that they have not just made the site and that's it, but are continuing to try and adapt, and improve the exercises available for language learners..

One final feature to note is the fact the user can select the difficulty level, from 4 standards: beginner, intermediate, advanced and expert. This is very handy for the autonomous learner to track their progress.

Whilst there is only 'so much' you can do feature wise, I feel that the wealth of content makes up for this.

4 Nik-Knacks

Ease of Use and Navigation

I already noted the layout was very good, and this feeds into the ease of use, you can clearly see what you are clicking on. The first time you open the website, it's fairly obvious what you will be doing, navigating from song to song is easy, searching for different songs is simple. Absolutely no problems here.

5 Nik-knacks

Target Audience

Well, the target audience really, is the aforementioned autonomous learner, the learner who want's to go home and keep practicing their language, whilst at the same time enjoying their favourite music in the target language, to a lesser extent- it's aimed at the teacher (given the recent features test) and hopefully this will become more of a tool in the future that teachers are able to edit and set assignments on- I feel there is a lot of scope within this website to do a lot more.

5 Nik-knacks

Summary

I'm liking what I'm seeing from lyricstraining, it's fresh, it's fun. It can appeal to all ages (who doesn't like music right?) it covers all tastes from pop to rock to dance and as I already mentioned, I feel there is a lot of scope for this website to get even better than it currently is in terms of teachers setting assignments (or at the very least practice tasks) which could be monitored. It's also very impressive that it's available as an app, so students could download this, practice on the bus or train (provided they wear headphones of course- got to respect others) 

I like this a lot- but there is room for improvement- so it's the first ever 4.5 Nik-Knacks rating

That's it for this weeks blog and look at lyrics training, and as Moira Rose once said "You are bored, lethargic, and practically dripping with ennui."

So shake off that lethargy, - Download lyricstraining today!  Me? I'm off to go and score higher than 13th Place. 😣