Improve Listening Comprehension and Fluency Through Songs

One fantastic way to improve listening comprehension and fluency is working with songs.

When you are listening to a song in Spanish or your native language you usually understand without any effort everything the singers is saying. When listening to a song in English if you have to pause and really pay attention to pin point every word, it means you need to improve your listening comprehension skills.

I will say it again and again: Practice makes perfect! Take time daily to practice your English and follow this fun and simple activity:

1. WRITE DOWN THE LYRICS TO THE SONG

While listening to a song write down its lyrics, pause and play as many times as you need (you are lucky when I was learning English we only had records and cassettes so it was harder to rewind!).

2. USE YOUR DICTIONARY

If you can't figure out a word, try finding it our in a dictionary and figuring out the correct one by context.  Check your spelling using your dictionary.

3. COMPARE YOUR LYRICS TO THE ORIGINAL ONES

Find the lyrics on the CD Booklet or on the web. Here are some sites you might find useful: lyrics.com and subingles.com.  (please know that we preview all links but we cannot control the content of any of them. Use caution when opening a new browser window not affiliated with ciav.com)

4. SING ALONG

Sing the song until you know it by heart, mimic the pronunciation an intonation. Record yourself!

IMPORTANT:For the purpose of this exercise be selective with the songs you choose. Make sure they are use Standard American English   (Rap and Hip Hop, although very popular, are not the best genres for this exercises for practical reasons: use of slang, adult content and non standard grammar usage).