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Make suggestions, report errors > Suggestion when teaching with lyrics
Suggestion when teaching with lyrics
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zailda
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Suggestion when teaching with lyrics
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Since yesterday when I raised the copyrighted issue on lyrics published at this website, I went throught some of the sites specialized in lyrics and I noticed some interesting things that I want to share here:
1- Even these sites have copyrighted problems and some lyrics are out of air because of the author �s legal claims.
2- Teachers have been using lyrics as part of ESL since I was a little girl (from at least half of a century) and it is allowed - classroom use, I mean.
3- To teach using lyrics you don �t need to publish them here. My suggestion is: prepare your gap-filling or what else you want to prepare with the lyrics and at the end provide a link: "you may want to check the lyrics at: (provide the official author �s site page where his/her lyrics is posted)".
In the past I published the lyrics in my documents as a key for the teacher, but after what I �ve learned searching the specialized sites and copyrighted laws I won �t do it anymore.
4- Providing the official lyrics link is a way of redirecting people to it, so you will give the credit to the artist who created it, and most of them permit their use (not publication) if you give the credit to the author.
5- Always publish under the title the author �s name, don �t forget. If you publish something and don �t mention the author �s name it looks like you are the author.
6- Never copy & paste lyrics here, they are protected by copyrighted laws and it won �t be an "original work" as we are to publish here.
Hope it helps.
Zailda
In time: I ask the other members to check what I posted here, to add what you find necessary or to correct if I�m wrong. I�m really concerned about this matter and would like to have your opinion here.
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10 Aug 2009
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Songlessons
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I �ve also thought about copyright laws when I started publishing my song worksheets here. And I still include the whole lyrics into the document as the key for the teacher, because we do use them for educational purposes. It �s not that I sell them. And I will continue including them because it makes the life of the teacher a lot easier. For instanse, the teacher can have a limited traffic and cannot search through the sites with lyrics. Or the lyrics at the site aren �t correct (this happens a lot, and I try to check the lyrics before making a worksheet out of it). You are right about providing the links though. I haven �t thought about that.
And also I have a question: if I write the name of the band/singer near the name of the song is it enough? Because sometimes it is really difficult to find out the name of the actual songwriter. |
10 Aug 2009
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zailda
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The copyright laws may differ from country to country and from one recorder company to another. I saw that most of them allow the educational use of their lyrics - classroom use, but you need a licence to publish them on internet for the others. It �s difficult to find what copyright law is the lyrics you want under, so if you don �t publish the whole lyrics, provide the author �s name and a link (to the author �s official page) it �s clear that you don �t want to get profit or claim it as yours.
A member published here a child �s song and it was reported, I voted for the removal sayint "it isn �t hers" and another moderator asked me to prove it wasn �t hers. I found the link for the original, but it shows clearly that whenever you publish a text, song, piece of poetry, etc... and don �t mention the author, it implies that you wrote it.
You can give the link in the ws not for the other teachers, but the students themselves can go there and check the lyrics. And for additional task you may want to ask them to find another that is about the same subject / topic.
I see that you use lots of lyrics in your lessons (because of your nick here) and I think they are a splendid way of teaching English. But we also have to teach students to respect other people �s work and if a member just copy & paste lyrics here without adding his own work, it �s not to be considered enough, is it?
But my post was only a suggestion, I won �t publish the whole lyrics in my wss from now own, even as a teacher �s key. But to avoid future problems, wouldn �t it be better if we give the artist the credit s/he deserves?
Thanks for the response
Cheers
Zailda
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10 Aug 2009
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Tint
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We have a saying, "When in doubt, leave it out." Sometimes it is better to err on the side of caution.
On the other hand, this site doesn �t make the material available to the general public. If an unregistered person clicks on the printable, they get nothing, just a small illegible sample, not even the scrolling preview. In that sense, I think the material is just being used for educational purposes... for teachers and their students.
It is important, though, to put the title of the song and the artist in as much detail as possible.
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11 Aug 2009
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Julee
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I always use songs and lyrics to teach and at the moment I �m working on a lot of them - new songs that are on the parades. I used to post the key for the teachers, but I �m worried because I �ve seen what big companies can do with even with some simple blogs. Its a good suggestion - make the activity the way you want, but after redirect to a lyrics webpage or a youtube video. I used to provide the whole song through my rapidshare account, but I won �t do it anymore.
Even for educational reasons, companies can be really mean. 
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11 Aug 2009
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Tint
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Sadly, it is something that the artists themselves have no control over. Most of them don �t mind their work being used. It �s the big money-machines that object to the use of the music and lyrics. I love working with music. It is a great way for anyone to learn. I don �t like worksheets that are just cloze exercises, but the rest? Bring �em on! : )
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11 Aug 2009
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Songlessons
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@Julee. I �m not sure that people who have an account at Youtube have the right to publish musical videos of different bands and singers. The same about sites with lyrics. They may not sell these lyrics but surely they earn enough through advertisements. And if these sites break the copyright law and you redirect teachers and students there doesn �t it mean you �re an accomplice? I don �t know. It seems to be too complicated... I try to believe that what we do is only for educational purposes and this isn �t breaking the law. |
11 Aug 2009
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Julee
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@ Songlessons Some don �t have this right [most of them] and some videos are excluded because of that. I think redirect ppl to these websites is not a problem. I guess I �m not wrong.. =/ But I �ll look for some information about it.
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11 Aug 2009
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