“UM English Lab.” is a platform for English teachers using Western music, and is now open on Friday, March 14th!

Universal Music LLC (head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Fujikura Nao / hereinafter referred to as Universal Music) has opened UM English Lab on Friday, March 14th, a platform that provides original English sub-letter materials that make use of songs from Western music artists.

“UM English Lab.” uses the songs of Universal Music’s extensive Western music artists to create original English auxiliary materials. This is a platform that provides these teaching materials for free to English teachers across the country. Teachers can download original teaching materials through the platform, and Universal Music will cover all production costs and song copyrights for the materials.

The program focuses on the web/SNS, and not only distributes supplementary teaching materials, but also creates information and interviews about Western music and education, as well as content that combines “non-cognitive education” promoted by the government with Western music, and aims to socially improve the value of Western music in the Japanese market.

As the supplementary teaching materials, we will actively use songs from artists from the past, such as The Beatles and Carpenters, which were used in school education, as well as artists currently active, and aim to deepen our understanding of overseas culture through school education.

By spreading Western music to young people, who are said to be “unlike Western music,” by providing supplementary teaching materials, reducing the working hours of teachers, which have become a social issue, and by using songs in English classes, we hope to reduce the distance to English, reduce the sense of disliked English, and contribute to improving Japanese people’s English skills. In a recent survey of schools, 96% of students responded that “classes using Western movies and music are fun.”

Through this platform, Universal Music aims to create and further develop new possibilities for Japanese English education and the Western music market.

UM English Lab. website is here

https://um-english-lab.com

Click here for the registration form for teacher-only teaching materials download

https://form.universal-music.co.jp/international_eng/page/index.html

On Friday, March 14th, the same day the launch, an event was held at Shibuya Ward Harajuku Gaien Junior High School, a public junior high school in Tokyo. The first half of the event was a press conference, with a greeting from Principal Komazaki Shoichi of Shibuya Ward Harajuku Gaien Junior High School and Fujikura Nao, president and CEO of Universal Music LLC, and an overview of “UM English Lab.” Crystal Kei appeared as a talk guest, and spoke to about 90 third-year students from the junior high school who attended the press conference on the importance of studying while having fun and memorizing English words and phrases through Western music.

In the second half of the event, the venue was moved to the classroom, and a demonstration was held where students were actually taught to approximately 30 students in one third-year class using the materials from “UM English Lab.” Using Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” the song was explained to the background, lyrics and pronunciation, and students commented, “It was amazing that I was able to hear the lyrics at the end,” “I thought it was a great thing to understand the country’s culture and to be able to study through music,” and “It was interesting because I was able to quickly get a sense of the connections between sounds.”

In a survey of students taken after the preliminary demonstration using this material on Tuesday, March 4th, 70% of the 10-point ratings for satisfaction with the class were 70% and 9 were 20%, while 75% of the students’ understanding of the class was “10” and 14%. Regarding changes in interest after class, 32% of students said they were “normally uninterested in English learning, but became interested,” while 20% of students said they were “normally uninterested in Western music, but became interested.”