Teach English in BAlihu Nongchang - Huanggang Shi

Flashcards are one of the best teaching resources an English as a Foreign Language teacher can have in their repertoire. They can be used for class visuals, individual practice, pair work and games. Here are five activities with flashcards, aimed at teaching young learners that can be used effectively in the classroom to keep children engaged and learning new language. Note: I commonly use picture flashcards with a visual on one side and the word on the other, that is what I will be referencing here. Other flashcards can be used however, for higher level students with the word written in English on one side and the student’s native language on the other. Quiz This is the most basic and most common use of flashcards. Students are put into pairs, one student has the stack of flashcards and shows their partner the picture, the partner has to name the item in English, if they are correct, they keep the card. Once they’ve gone through the whole stack, they switch roles. The partner with the most correct answers is the winner. Memory This can be done in many different ways as a whole class or with pairs or groups. Using two sets of the same cards the students flip over the two cards with the visual on them, naming the item that they flip over, if the item matches, they get to keep the pair and have another try. You can also do this with the visual cards and the cards with the words for the item, where instead of matching just the pictures you can have them match the picture to the word. The student or team with the most matches wins. Telephone Game Lay all of the flash cards out in the center of the room or on a surface that is easily accessible. Split the class into two teams. The teacher chooses one of the words from the flashcards and whispers it to one member of each team. The team member then whispers it to the person on their right, and that person whispers it to the person on their right, etc until it gets to the last person in the group. That person then has to go and grab the correct flashcard from where they are set out. The first team to get it correct wins. Each round the teacher should choose a new team member to start. This game is great for practicing pronunciation and listening as if the students mispronounce the word it’s very hard to complete the game. Hot/Cold This is a whole class activity. The teacher chooses two volunteers one to be the hider, and one to be the seeker. The seeker goes and waits in the hider chooses a flashcard and shows it to the class. The hider has to be able to name the flashcard and the whole class repeats the word chorally. The hider then hides the card somewhere in the classroom. The seeker is called back in the room. The seeker walks around the room while the students chant the vocabulary word, raising their volume the closer the seeker gets to the card, and lowering their volume the farther away the seeker gets, until the seeker find the flashcard. Face Off Students are split into two teams and line up. The teacher has the stack of flashcards and the first two students in the line are shown the card, the first student to name the item correctly gets a point for their team and goes to the end of the line. The same process continues until all of the students have had a turn or time runs out. The team with the most points wins. This game can also be done in pairs or small groups, with the students turning over the cards and naming as quickly as possible. I find when teaching young learners games and visuals are most effective so the majority of these activities are both. All of these activities can also be adapted to different levels, using not just visual cards but cards in the student’s native alphabet or language. The point of them is to keep the language learning process engaging, and using activities that not only deliver the vocabulary content but are fun as well.