Ideas for using flashcards

[Music] when teaching primary children flashcards are an incredibly practical and useful resource for teaching vocabulary here are some activities you can use when introducing or revising a set of flashcards with the children use the technique flash get the children's attention everyone looking this way please are you ready and then show them the flashcard very fast children identify what's on the flashcard it's an elephant yes very good be ready to remodel or recast if they respond in their first language an alternative way of doing this is to use the technique slowlyslowly in this case cover the flashcard that you're going to use and gradually reveal the picture children identify what's on the flashcard as soon as they can recognize it it's a giraffe yes very good do an initial flashcard activity with the children stick the flashcards on the board get the children to repeat the words elephant giraffe whale zebra ostrich Tiger this activity is called what's missing ask the children to close their eyes and cover their eyes with their hands demonstrate this remove one of the flashcards from the board and hide it behind your back ask the children to open their eyes and say what's missing it's the whale very good play magic eyes stick the flashcards that you're going to use in a row on the board six is a good number to use as this is within the number that children can retain in their short-term memory get the children to repeat the words with you in a rhythmic way so Debra Tiger elephant ostrich whale giraffe and zebra tiger elephant ostrich whale giraffe when you think the children are doing this competently remove the first flashcard and continue in the same way there bruh Tiger elephant ostrich whale giraffe zebra tiger elephant ostrich whale giraffe removed the second flashcard in the same way and repeat the sequence with the children again can you do any more yes we can remove the next one Debra Tiger elephant ostrich whale giraffe now in a little simple activity like that you're helping to train children's memory children you're encouraging children to have a visual representation of the image and to associate it with the word do a lip-reading activity stick the flashcards on the board get the children's attention everybody looking this way please are you ready I'm going to say one of the words and I want you to tell me what it is are you ready elephant very good with a little activity like that you're actually giving children a strategy which is very helpful when you're learning a foreign language because if you look at people's lips when they speak it can help you understand what they say make up little flashcard riddles using other language and vocabulary that's familiar to the children for example it's big and gray it's got a trunk and a tail what is it the elephant very good what about this one it's got black and orange stripes it's very fierce what is it the tiger very good in an activity like this you're putting the Lexus the children are learning in a context of other language they already know use the flashcards to play an action game I call this one flashcard groups divide the class into groups of three to five children assign each group a flashcard for example Group one your giraffes group to your ostriches group three your whales and so on give the group's instructions in the following way for example touch your nose tiger wave your hands ostriches put your hands on your head elephants when you give instructions it's important to say the instruction first and the flashcards second in this way the children will keep listening until they know whether the instruction applies to their group you can also increase or decrease the level of challenge depending on whether you do the action yourself as well or not for example if you touch your nose it's much easier for the children to follow than when you don't another action game with flashcards I call hands on heads in this activity divide the class into two teams in the team on this side of the classroom assign them three or more flashcards the team on the other side of the classroom assign three or more different flashcards the activity works in the following way children listen out for the words that belong to their team and respond by putting their hands on their heads so are we ready for example Tiger giraffe elephant whale and so on as children gain in confidence in responding you can speed up how fast you say the words the two activities flashcard groups and hands-on heads give children an opportunity for moving [Music] flashcards are also useful for practicing simple interaction patterns in this activity called flashcard chains ask the children to sit or stand in a circle with you have the flashcards you're going to use ready for the activity use the first one by passing it to the child on your left and asking the relevant question for example do you like their breath the child responds yes I do or no I don't and passes the flashcard to the child next to them in the circle and asks the question in the same way when the flashcard you first introduce is about three children away from you introduce the next flashcard to the child on your left in the same way do you like Tigers the child again responds yes I do or no I don't and asks the child next to them passing the flashcard round the circle in the same way when all the flashcards you're using in the activity have gone round the circle and back to you the activity ends this activity provides children with multiple opportunities to practice the language they're learning flashcards can be useful to revise vocabulary from several different lexical sets in this activity called Kim's game stick 12 to 15 flashcards from different lexical sets on the board explain to the children that you're going to give them one minute to look and remember all the flashcards that are there make sure that the children are silent during this time and that they all have their pens down they are you ready go when you're ready to time them after a minute they stop and remove the flash cards from the board once you've taken the flashcards off the board ask the children to work with a partner and write down as many of the words that they can remember check the answers and if you like children can also categorize or classify the cards for example these are animals these are clothes these are toys these are food it's up to you whether you choose to focus on the spelling and if you do as an alternative option you may like to use word cards instead of or as well as the flash cards flash cards provide a flexible and enjoyable resource for teaching vocabulary in the primary classroom it's important to keep up a pace when you do these activities and to keep them short and varied I hope you and your children enjoy using some of these ideas in your classes

Channel: Macmillan Spain

Views: 1,534,956

Rating: 4.9216204 out of 5

Keywords: elt teaching, flashcards, teaching vocabulary

Id: X9KebTgfLJI

Length: 11min 17sec (677 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 27 2013