Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

I’ve used music a lot with English Language Learners.  Singing feels much less threatening to many who are learning a new language.

Karaoke is a good language-development activity,  and there are quite a few karaoke sites on the Internet.  I thought it would be a good topic for a short “The Best…” list.

In order to make it on this list, a site has to be available free-of-charge (or at least some of its resources have to be free), easy-to-use, require no download, and allow students — either alone or in a group —  to record themselves singing.  A link to their performance can then be posted on a student or teacher website.

There are only a few sites that meet that criteria.  Here are my choices for The Best Online Karaoke Sites For English Language Learners:

The Sims On Stage is clearly number one on the list. This wonderful site lets users easily record themselves singing karaoke and hosts the performances on-site.  If students don’t want to sing, they can listen to countless others who have while the lyrics are streaming across the screen. (Unfortunately, Sims On Stage closed down as of March 31, 2009)

A new one just opened for business today.   The Karaoke Channel Online has an extraordinary collection of songs available…for a price. However, if you choose the free option you have access to two hundred songs, though none of them are particularly up-to-date. But it’s a very easy process to record and save.

Karaoke Play is another site that lets you sing a favorite song and record it online.   What makes Karaoke Play a bit different from the others is that, in addition to showing the lyrics you need to sing, it shows a music video of the song. This difference also makes it more problematic for students. The videos are from You Tube, and most school districts block it. So, even though the site itself might get through District filters, students won’t see anything when they pick a song because the video will be blocked.  SMS Tunes is another similar site.

Sing Snap is the newest addition to this list.  It has all the best qualities of the other sites here — easy to use, free-of-charge, and, if you don’t want to record, you can just listen to others sing while the screen shows the lyrics. Using a webcam is an option, but unlike many Web 2.0 sites, you can still use it if you just have a computer microphone.

Karaoke Party is the newest free online karaoke site. Though I haven’t spent a lot of time checking it out, it seems very comparable to the others on this list.

You might also be interested in The Best Music Websites For Learning English and The Best Sites To Practice Speaking English.

I’d certainly be interested in hearing suggestions, so please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.

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