Hi Bob the Canadian here.
Music can be a great way to learn English and to practice English.
In this video I’ll give you my ten tips for using music to help you learn English.
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Well in this video we’re going to talk about music videos and how you can use them to help
improve your English.
I’m gonna give you ten tips, ten things that I learned about using music to learn
a language while I was learning to speak French.
But they’ll all work for you as you learn English.
So let’s take a look at them.
Number one.
Pick a song that you really like.
It doesn’t have to be a song where you know all the words.
It should be a song that speaks to you, that means something to you, a song maybe that
has a catchy beat.
Because remember repetition is the key to language learning.
So pick a song that you’re going to be able to listen to over and over and over again.
Pick something that you like.
Number two.
You should pick a song that tells a story.
If you pick a song that tells a story, it will help you learn things that you’ll be
able to use in everyday English conversations.
If you pick a song that tells a story it will help you learn new vocabulary and it will
be easier to remember because you’ll be able to connect the new words, the new vocabulary,
to the story.
And if you pick a song that tells a story, it will simply be easier to remember because
you’ll be learning new words in context.
You’ll be learning new words as part of the story.
So number two, pick a song that tells a story.
Number three.
Print out the lyrics, that’s the words to the song, on paper.
I know it’s easier to just read them on your computer, but you should print out the
words of the song on paper so that you can attack the vocabulary.
Underline all of the words that you don’t know, circle all of the words that you don’t
know, or highlight all of the words that you don’t know.
Don’t try to understand the song when you read it for the first time, just attack the
vocabulary that is not familiar to you.
Once you’ve done that, look up all of the words that you don’t know in an English
dictionary or in a French-English dictionary, or Spanish-English dictionary, or a Chinese-English
dictionary, whichever language that you are coming from.
Tip number four.
Memorize all of the new vocabulary that you just identified.
Notice we’re not even listening to the song yet.
We are still working with understanding the words and lyrics.
So memorize all of the words that you identified in step three.
Make flashcards, take pieces of paper and write the English word on one side and your
word on the other side, or simply write them out a whole bunch of times.
Maybe write out the words you don’t know ten times with their meaning.
If you can avoid writing the meaning of the word in your own language.
If you are able to draw a small picture that will help you remember the meaning of the
word, that will be more powerful than learning what it means in your own language.
So that’s number four, memorize all the new vocabulary.
Tip number five.
Now that you’ve looked up the words, read over the song lyrics, the words of the song,
two times.
As you read each line, as you read each sentence and word, try to picture in your mind what
is happening in the story of the song.
Try to picture what’s happening between the characters in the story of the song.
Read slowly, read carefully, and read for understanding.
So that’s tip number five, read over the lyrics of the song.
Tip number six.
Now we’re going to watch and listen to the song on Youtube.
But before you do, go to the settings of the Youtube player and slow the song down to point
seven five.
Slow the song down to three quarter speed.
It will still be enjoyable to listen to, it will still be enjoyable to watch, but you’ll
be able to understand the words of the song a lot better at this speed.
What you want to do is to listen to the song once while reading the lyrics, then listen
to the song one more time at three quarter speed, slowed down, with your eyes closed.
Tip number seven.
This very similar to tip number six, but now you want to listen to the song at normal speed.
So go to the settings on the Youtube player and put it back to normal speed.
And now listen to the song once while reading the lyrics.
When you’re done that then close your eyes and listen to the song one more time at normal
speed.
Tip number eight.
This is very similar to tip number six and number seven.
At this time you want to increase the speed to one point two five.
You want to go to the Youtube player and increase the speed of the song and now you want to
listen to it again two times, the first time through read along with your lyrics sheet,
while you’re listening to the song at a faster speed.
And then rewind and listen to the song one more time at 1.25 speed, at a faster speed,
with your eyes closed.
Trying to imagine all of the things that are happening in the song.
Tip number nine, and this is the easiest one.
Listen to the song all the time.
Put the song on your smartphone.
Listen to it while you’re going for a walk.
Make sure you can listen to it while you’re driving your car.
Play the song over and over again until the English lyrics, the English words make sense
to you without you even needing to think in your native language.
You’ll probably have to listen to the song, twenty, thirty times, maybe more but hopefully,
like in step one I recommended, you’ve picked a song that you really really love.
And so this shouldn’t be a problem.
Tip number ten is basically, pick a new song and repeat the whole process.
Find another song with lyrics that you want to learn, jump all the way back to tip number
one and start the whole process again.
You can do it!
Well, hey, that’s ten tips on how to use English music videos, English songs to help
you learn English.
If you don’t mind in the comments below, why don’t you leave a comment telling me
about your favourite kind of music?
My favourite kind of music?
Rock’n Roll.
Classic Rock.
I love music from the 70’s.
So please leave a comment with your favourite kind of music.
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Bob the Canadian here.
Learn English with Bob the Canadian.
Thank you so much for watching this video and have a great day.