How to use flashcards when teaching new vocabulary

Teaching with flashcards is my favorite way to teach new vocab. You should see the shoeboxes full of flashcards on my shelf! Whenever my husband comes into the office he points to my boxes and asks: “We throw them? We need more space!” :p. Don’t touch my boxes!

Anyway, even if flashcards are a great way to teach new vocabublary, do yourself and your students a favor, and switch from time to time. Teaching with flashcards all the time can get anyone bored out of their skin. I also use realia (real objects) or ppt presentations, for example, but there are tons of other ways. But let’s get back to the flashcards.

How I usually introduce the new words is by showing a flashcard, saying the word and have the kids repeat (yea, that’s the boring part .. but not for long). The same again with the second word.

Once I have 2 words, the fun can begin. 

I stick the cards to the board (the 2 that I taught so far), pointing to one card and saying the word, then pointing to the other one and switching constantly (for example. Happy – sad – happy – sad etc), always getting quicker until I get so quick that nobody can follow anymore. The kids are having so much fun with this that they usually start screaming or turning their heads as if they are dizzy ;).

Then I introduce the third word and I repeat the whole thing. And so on and so forth. If the students are not very strong I only use a few words and I only do the switching game between 2 cards. If the students are strong, I put up the entire set of cards and I do the game with all of them.

The good part about this is, that even shy students can engage, even if they are afraid to make pronunciation mistakes, because by the end when everything gets so quick, nobody understands what they were saying anymore anyways and everybody can have a try, without having to be scared to make a mistake. Where YOU, as a teacher make sure that they pronounce well is right at the beginning when it’s still slow and also during the follow up activities.

By the way, a common question that I get is: “how many words do I teach to the kids in one session?”

It really depends on the age of the kids and their personal capacities, so I don’t really want to tell you when they are 3 years old, only introduce 4 cards. You don’t want to introduce 10 new words in one lesson though, that’s for sure. At least not through flashcards. Keep in mind that the kids learn a lot of words through the interaction with you and the others (like: Hello, how are you, sit down, write your name on the paper …). So try how far you can go with your kids.

My experience is also that in some cases not all children retain all the words right away, even if they have the capacity. Some kids pick the ones whose sounds they like and focus on them for a while. So don’t get depressed if you find a girl that loves the colors pink, red and purple, not seeming to be able to retain the colors green and yellow.  The others will follow eventually ;). You have to understand that kids are not in your class to learn. They couldn’t care less about learning another language. They are there to have fun and play. You would be surprised what they really retain in their little heads. It can be pretty amazing. 

So, once they acquired the new words (more or less), let’s play some more games to make sure they will not forget them. Those are also great, when you are reviewing old topics let’s say at the beginning of the next session. 

There are so many different ways to do that, but here are some ideas:

1. I take a paper and cut a hole in the middle. I then hold the flashcard behind that paper and have the students guess what it could be. Sometimes I move the flashcard around if it’s too difficult to know the card just through that tiny hole.

2. Another way is to hold the flashcards facing you. And then showing the students the first card just in a flash (like not even a second) and have them say what they believe they saw.

3. You can also cover the flashcard with another one and then slide it back slowly, so that the flashcard is revealed little by little. The earlier they guess it, the better it is, of course ;).

4. You can take a flashcard, hide it from the students and try (… depending on your artistic talent) to draw it on the board and have the kids guess what it is and hold the flashcard next to it, after they guessed it (as a proof that THIS is really supposed to be a horse and not a dog!!)

5. The all time favorite of “my kids” is to hide the flashcards somewhere in the room. Then I shout out one card and they have run and search for the good one and bring it to you. What will probably happen is that some children are so excited that they bring any card they find to you. Then kindly remind them what word they are holding in their hands and what you are really looking for. 

(For example: you asked them to find the dog and a children brings you the flashcard with a horse. You ask them: Are you sure this is a dog? Hmm, I think it is a horse! Is it a horse or a dog? It’s a horse. But where is the dog?)

There are more ideas on games to play with flashcards: here

By the way – in case you are making your own flashcards and you are writing the words on them, not only using pictures. Make sure that you don’t use a fancy font. Even though they may be supercool or beautiful .. doesn’t mean children can read them, especially if they are just learning how to read. The best font I came across for kids’ reading is “comic sans”, because the letters look like how the children would write them (for example “a” versus “a” and “g” vs “g”.

And make sure you plastify the cards or they will not survive one week in your classroom. 

I usually print my flashcards, glue them on cardboard, cut, plastify and cut again with a 2 mm border to make sure they won’t fall apart. I have had them for many years now and never had to remake them. Takes quite a while at the beginning but you will be thankful for it later!

PS: Another advice. Always have 2 sets of the same flashcard topic. Let’s you play more games with them ;)