Name: Lyrics Training
URL: http://www.lyricstraining.com

Learning a language has got little to do with memorizing mere lists of words. It has to do with using them, and placing every single one in a meaningful setting. There is a common belief among language professionals: use a word three times and it will be yours forever.

And in addition to using words, the context in which they are used is vital for nailing them down in your mind. A word that a teacher gives to you out of the blue along with 10 more is hard to grab. Conversely, if you learn one (and only one) word from a song by your favorite artist, there is a radically different degree of involvement. To begin with, you like the artist and you care about his/her message. And if you learn what it means by looking it up on the dictionary yourself, you will place an even higher value on it, in the same way that we grow attached to something that results from a laborious process.

Well, someone finally got wise to the game and put a service that explicitly combines having fun with learning through lyrics and music. The service goes by the fitting name of Lyrics Training. It is a hosted service, and it will let you learn vocabulary by plaing videos to you and letting you fill in the blanks in the accompanying lyrics. There are three difficulty levels to choose from, and the actual songs come mainly from current artists. If you think about it, there is nothing wrong with that – it will give any teacher who uses the service a ready tool.

I wonder how will the site  go down with the general public, but as far as I am concerned it is a clever service that does something nobody had the vision or the instinct to do before. As someone who learnt a huge amount of English through music (I am a native speaker of Spanish), I strongly recommend it.