My setup for playing music in my English classes at the public and private school Kindergartens was a simple one. Originally, I had all of my music on a USB provided by the language school that contracted teachers to the Kindergarten. However, the free portable music player they supplied us with, was cheap and problematic.
So instead of using that music player, I bought a JBL GO portable wireless Bluetooth speaker.
I think the JBL is perfect for the preschool English classes I taught. It is small, lightweight, and has solid construction. This means its easy to carry anywhere, and wont get damaged in your bag.
Importantly, the sound quality is excellent (and loud) for the size of the speakers. That’s really important when you’re playing music in classrooms that can get quite noisy. This is something you don’t often find with cheaper speakers. Also, the JBL GO connects via Bluetooth, so you don’t have to worry about connecting to the school’s Wi-Fi.
The other thing I like about the JBL GO is that it’s good enough to use for regular use outside of school. The size/weight combination makes it perfect for travel, and I can also use it paired with my iPhone, iPad or Mac at home to watch movies or listen to music.
The battery life of the JBL GO is excellent. Even if the device was constantly switched on, it would get me through all of my classes. (The speaker has auto shut-off, in case you forget to switch it off.) If I want to use it at home, it should get me through an entire movie, without being connected to power. Recharging is by the mains power, or connected to your laptop or portable external battery by a USB cable.
At about $30, I have no regrets in buying the speaker for use at school. I noticed another teacher at my school had bought the same JBL GO for use in her classroom. Her experience with the device pretty much mirrored mine. I’ve seen other teachers using portable speakers, and, generally speaking, they seek the same kind of qualities: small size, loud sound, solid construction, and a good battery life. Some of the cheaper players won’t deliver this.
I still think it’s a good idea to take a USB flash drive with your songs on it to class, in case you have problems with your main system. Many schools will have either a TV you can plug your USB device into, or some kind of music system available in the room.
To play the music, I put all of my kindergarten songs into the iPhone app, nPlayer.
I use a media player, rather than iTunes (and the default music player on my iPhone) to play my music, because a media player makes it easier to organise and manipulate my music files. I can play the music at varying speeds, organise my collections into folders, and also play videos directly from nPlayer.
As a backup, I have the YouTube app installed on my phone. Sometimes there’s a song that isn’t on my phone that I decide I want to play during the class. With YouTube on the phone, I can quickly source a copy online. (I do try to keep a copy of songs that I might need for special purposes, like, Happy Birthday, in my media player on my iPhone). Having YouTube on my phone, means I also have easy access to the 100+ songs in my playlists that I use at the language centre.
Pro Tip: put your phone in Airplane Mode (and activate Bluetooth separately), so that any calls or text messages you receive during the class aren’t broadcasted over your portable speaker!
