LyricsGaps: Listening Cloze Exercises with Popular Music Videos

Details

Activity Description

Use this site with students for practice of listening skills and vocabulary building through music videos by popular artists with accompanying listening cloze activities. For this activity we have chosen the song "Upside Down at the beginning level, but if your students are at another level, feel free to choose another level or another song that fits more closely with your vocabulary objectives or topic of study.

Preparation

1. Make sure that the site is not blocked at your school before using it in class or having students use it.
2. Make sure that speaker volume is set at an appropriate level.
3. There is no need to register to use the site, but to get some features, fill out the simple registration form and then retrieve your assigned password in the confirmation e-mail using the e-mail account you used to register. Use your e-mail address and the password you receive in the registration confirmation to log in.
4. Once logged in, you can change your password by selecting Change Password in the dashboard at the top.
5. If the Upside Down song does not meet your learning objectives, feel free to select another music video that suits your students’ level and needs, your class content, and your course objectives.
   

How-To

1. Open a Web browser and visit the Example Web Site (above) for the song/music video suggested, or visit the Lyrics Gaps home page and choose another. (See Teacher tips section below for ways to search.)
2. Demonstrate for students how the site works and then make assignments based on a students level.
3. There are four different activities for the music videos. Have student complete the ones you find most useful: Karaoke, Quiz, Beginner, Intermediate, Expert. (Note: You need to select the word itself, not the button as the button does not seem to respond.)
   • Select Karaoke to see and hear video with lyrics. Students can select any word in the lyrics, choose their first language from the drop down arrow in the pop-up window, and see a translation of the word in their chosen language. Select Worksheet to download a PDF of the lyrics, but you need to have registered and be logged in. Select Word to Word to select words as they are heard in the song when it is played.
   • Select Quiz to for a listening cloze exercise in which you need to select from multiple choices the words that are removed from the lyrics.
   • Beginner is a cloze listening with drop-down arrows to select the missing lyrics.
   • Intermediate is also a listening cloze, but with form fields to type in the missing lyrics.
   • Expert is same as intermediate, but with more words removed.
4. Each exercise provides a percentage correct when Score or Check is selected, and correct answers are provided. Select Reset to do the exercise again.
5. To change to a different activity, select the activity from the Mode drop-down options. (You will only see the light gray bar with the Mode option when you are in an activity.)

Teacher Tips

• This activity is probably best done in a computer lab, but could probably be done as an entire class with the teacher projecting the page on a screen or an interactive white board.
• To search for other videos to use, you may want to search:
  • for artists by name by selecting the first letter of the singer’s/group’s name at the top. If the artist you are searching for does not appear, select Next at the bottom of the page. There are several pages of artists for each letter of the alphabet.
  • for a song by entering the title in the search area in the top left of the page and select the language (English) from the drop-down options to the right. The search is a Google search and will return some items in the Ad section at the top that are not actually located on Lyrics Gaps, so be sure to look at the URL (Web address) for the link before selecting it.
• A British flag indicates that the song is in English, but not necessarily British English or by a British singer/group.
• Different levels are listed for songs (easy, medium, or hard).
• Select Play next to the song to practice.
• The site has many ads, which can be distracting. If students will use the site independently, demonstrate how to avoid selecting the ads.
• If the video says it is not available on one of the pages you choose (Quiz, Beginner, etc.), especially after you have played it through once, just try reloading the page. It worked for us.

More Ways

• Students can create accounts and when logged in to the site, they can select Challenge in the quiz to challenge other site users by choosing the song, the mode, and the site competitor.
• Teachers can create exercises of their own by selecting the gaps in the part of the song where desired, and share the link with students. Teachers are then able to check the users that have done the exercises and the results.
• Teachers can also create flashcards. By creating their own accounts, students can check their progress, create and save flashcards. Each card has two sides, the front and the back. On the front you have the word to memorize. On the reverse you have the translation, explanation or solution.
• Any registered user of the site can add an exercise. Select Add Exercise and follow the steps to add a music video of your choice. The submitted exercises must be reviewed by three users before it can be released to the community.

Program Areas

• ESL: English as a Second Language

Levels

• Beginning High
• Intermediate Low
• Intermediate High
• Advanced

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