Using flash cards with young learners
- 2. Flash cards are a simple, versatile, yet often underexploited resource. There are some reasons for using flash cards and a selection of activities for use in the Young Learner classroom, although some of the activities could also be used with fun-loving, lower level adult classes.
- 3. It is particularly important to appeal to visual learners, as a very high proportion of learners have this type of intelligence. Flash cards can be bright and colorful and make a real impact on visual learners. For children at reading age, flash cards can be used in conjunction with word cards. These are simply cards that display the written word. Word cards should be introduced well after the pictorial cards so as not to interfere with correct pronunciation. Flash cards are a really handy resource to have and can be useful at every stage of the class. They are a great way to present, practice and recycle vocabulary and when students become familiar with the activities used in class, they can be given out to early-finishers to use in small groups.
- 4. Buy them - Some course books provide a supplementary pack of flash cards or they can be bought in sets. Make them yourself - If you don't have access to professionally produced flash cards, don't worry, it's really easy to make your own even if you're not very artistic. You can use pictures from magazines, draw simple pictures or copy from the internet or clip art. The advantage of making your own, apart from the fact that they're cheap and yours to keep, is that you can make sets for your specific needs. Students make them - After introducing a new lexical set, using realia or the course book, ask students to produce the flash cards for you. Give each one an item to draw. They can be mounted on card to make the set.
- 5. Memory activities Drilling activities Identification activities TPR activities
- 6. Game 1 Game 2 Place a selection of flash Give each group of learners a cards on the floor in a set of flashcards with two circle. copies of each card. Students have one Ask them to place them, one by one, face down on the minute to memorize the table. In turn, each player cards. turns up two cards and says In groups, they have what they are. two minutes to write as If they turn up the same many of the names as card, they keep them and they can remember. have another go. If the cards are different, they replace them and the next player has a go. The player with the most pairs is the winner.
- 7. A What? Students sit in a circle. You show a flash card to Student 1 and say "This is a hamster." Student 1 looks at the flash card and asks you "a what?" The teacher replies "a hamster" and passes the flash card on. Student 1 passes the flash card on to Student 2 and says "this is a hamster". Student 2 asks Student 1 "a what?" and Student 1 asks the teacher "a what?" the teacher replies to Student 1 "a hamster" and Student 1 replies to Student 2 "a hamster" and so it goes on until the flash card travels full circle. When the group has mastered it, 2 flash cards can go around the circle in opposite directions. They will cross over mid circle. When students know the game, choose one of them to do the teacher's role.
- 8. Noughts and crosses! Select 9 animal flashcards and number them 1-9. Draw a grid on the board, numbering each square 1-9. Divide your learners into two teams, noughts (0) and crosses (X). In turn, each team chooses a number between 1 and 9. If noughts chooses square 5, for example, show them flashcard 5 and ask them what it is. If they can correctly identify the card, draw (0) in the square. Each team should try to choose squares that block the other from making three in a row, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
- 9. Point or race to the flash cards Stick flash cards around the class. Say one of them and students point or race to it. Students can then give the instructions to classmates. You can extend this by saying “fly to the bird" or even "if you have blonde hair, swim to the fish" etc. You can also incorporate flash cards into a game of Simon Says. "Simon says, jump to the T-shirt" etc.