Dr Giedrė Balčytytė, Academic Manager at Academic Summer and Associate Professor at Vilnius University, brought rhythm and resonance to life in her recent Quality English webinar, entitled: “Feel the Beat, Speak the Flow – Teaching Connected Speech of English with Rhythm & Music.
Held on 23 October 2025, this interactive online session explored how music and rhythm can be powerful tools for mastering connected speech in English.
“When you learn with feeling, you learn better. Music awakens emotion and language learned with emotion stays with you,” Giedrė explained during the session.
Drawing on her expertise in English phonology and decades of experience as a teacher trainer and researcher, Dr Balčytytė demonstrated practical, music-based strategies to help learners improve pronunciation, fluency and speech flow.
From piano to phonology, a personal journey
The webinar began with a poignant reflection on Giedrė’s early musical upbringing. With a father who was a professor of music, she grew up surrounded by melody and harmony. “In my family, music was a must,” she recalled.
While once preparing for a professional career as a pianist, her fascination with language gradually took center stage, guiding her toward the study of philology. Nevertheless, later in her doctoral research she got back to music and examined the scientific links between musical aptitude and language acquisition, especially in English as a foreign language (EFL).
You can read more about her story in this interview on our site.
What is connected speech and why does it matter?
Connected speech refers to the way fluent English speakers naturally link, reduce and blend words together. For learners from syllable-timed language backgrounds, like Lithuanian or Japanese, this can present challenges in both comprehension and production.
“Connected speech is is about fluency, rhythm and being able to express yourself naturally,” Giedrė noted.
Through engaging activities like rhythmic clapping, nursery rhyme adaptations and jazz chants, she showed how teachers can embed rhythm into lessons to help students internalise the musicality of English.
Do students need to be musical?
One participant asked whether this method works for learners who aren’t musically gifted.
“Absolutely,” Giedrė reassured. “Everyone can clap, chant or move to a beat. Rhythm belongs to all of us – it’s part of how we naturally learn.”
Her approach relies not on musical talent, but on rhythmic repetition, active engagement and creating a relaxed, social learning environment. This aligns with CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), the foundation of Academic Summer’s teaching philosophy.
Dr Giedrė Balčytytė photographed at David Game College in London where she is Course Director.
Bringing CLIL to life at Academic Summer
As Course Director for Academic Summer London, Dr Balčytytė integrates her research directly into our summer programmes. Her sessions exemplify how we use CLIL not only to teach subjects in English, but to help students feel confident, expressive and inspired.
Whether students are preparing for A Levels, the IB Diploma, or simply looking to improve their English in a real-world context, Giedrė’s techniques are a powerful way to unlock potential.
What Quality English attendees said
Feedback from the webinar was overwhelmingly positive:
“Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.”
“You had my attention the whole time.”
“It works for everyone – regardless of age or musical ability.”
Educators praised Dr Giedrė’s passionate delivery and practical approach, calling the session inspiring, inclusive and full of immediately useful ideas. Several asked for links to her publications, a testament to the depth and value of her research.
👉 To discover how Giedrė’s methods are used in our summer schools, explore our courses at academiccamp.org
Also read: Giedrė Balčytytė rethinks homework and AI in an article for Quality English
The Clever Fox Journal is the online news section of Academic Summer Camps, inspired by our logo – a wise fox wearing a graduation cap. Just like our summer programmes, The Clever Fox Journal is a place of curiosity, learning and discovery, bringing you the latest updates, insights and stories from our academic camps in the UK and Canada. Stay informed, stay inspired – and think like a clever fox!