Flashcards

Crumbs #28 Funky envelope

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Flashcards created with the illustrations from Bystry Maluszek @Zielona Sowa Publishing House

Ingredients

  • a set of flashcards
  • two pieces of cardboard stapled together on three sides
  • shapes cut out on the front page (cut out before stapling)

Procedures

  • hide the flashcards inside
  • show the students only a part of the card on the top, through the cut-outs, ask the kids ‘What is it?’
  • take out the card and proceed with the rest of them
  • hide the flashcards inside
  • show the students only a part of the card on the top, through the cut-outs, ask the kids ‘What is it?’
  • take out the card and proceed with the rest of them

Why we like it

  • this is a variation of the Through the Keyhole activity that I once saw in the I Spy coursebook. However, this original version included an A4 sheet of paper with a keyhole that the teacher needed to cut out and then move the card over the flashcard. I found this tool a very interesting one but, at the same time, a bit awkward to use as the teacher needed two hands to manipulate the cards, there was a chance that the children could still see bits of the card apart from the keyhole bit and the activity involved a lot of picking up and putting down the cards. All in all, too clumsy to handle.
  • to make a funky envelope you need only simple materials (A4 cardboard or simple photocopying A4 paper although it will not be as durable, white, colourful or recycled), a pair of scissors and a stapler or glue. As soon as one envelope gets destroyed, you can easily replace it with a new one.
  • you can have one simple cut-out shape or a selection of different shapes all over the envelope.
  • all the flashcards fit in nicely inside, the teacher can manipulate them more easily. I sometimes turn the envelope over, to change the cards inside and to add to the whole ritual.
  • I normally use when the kids are already familiar with the images on the flashcards not to make the task too challenging, in lesson two or three of the unit. However, there were also cases when I used the envelope to introduce a brand new topic and to raise the level of challenge.

Happy teaching!

I want my flashcards please!

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Kids in the online classroom: how to survive the transition.

Dear teacher!

The world sucks at the moment, oh yes, it does. Let’s just face it.

If, like me, you have always considered yourself a dinosaur teacher, who adores paper, flashcards, realia, toys, little cards, magic wands, running around, crayons, craft and storytelling and if, like me, you have done your best to stay away from technology in your classroom (well, apart from youtube, perhaps), you are not in the best of moods now.

However, here is some good news. First and foremost, you are a teacher and, I bet you, you are a great teacher. A resourceful teacher, a creative teacher, a dedicated teacher. A teacher who works hard to develop and get better and better and better. A teacher who is greeted with smiles and cheers by the students.

Dear teacher, you are going to be just fine and you are going to rock your lessons even in the virtual world. This is just the beginning of this journey and as we proceed, from week to week and from lesson to lesson, we are going to be getting better and everything that is not perfect (yet) should be considered hiccups and hiccups only. Not the end of the world.

I am not a great expert at teaching online. Not yet. Never wanted to be, either. But I will turn this horrible year into an opportunity to take the bull by the horns and to raise and shine.

Then, eventually, I will be back in my real classroom because this is where I belong. The sooner the better. In the meantime, however, I am just going to share with you some of the things that can be done in our online young learners lessons. Today: flashcards.

Scenario A: you have your own flashcards (from the bookshop, handmade, printed and/or printed and coloured-in from one of the websites).

Yes, yes, we are going to be developing technologically and we will be doing anyway but does it mean that we have to give up on the real flashcards? No, absolutely not. You can still use them while online.

Guessing game: it will have to be you versus the student or the whole class. When you are leading the game, hold the flashcards, as usual, and describe or mime the word. When it is the students’ turn, chose the flashcard without looking and bring it closer to the camera for the students to describe for you. For a more dramatic effect you can also close your eyes😊

Guessing game B: revise all the cards, repeat the more challenging words, too. Put the cards in a box or on the table, without looking at it. Encourage the kids to guess what it is, try guessing yourself, too. After a few seconds, say ‘Let’s check’ and uncover the card. Congratulate the students who guessed it.

Slow reveal: You can still use the funky envelope but your camera is your best friend here. What’s hidden – stays hidden but what slowly emerges from the left of right or top or bottom…is a lot of fun.

Left and right: works in the classroom, works online. Get a flashcard in your left hand, get another one in your right hand. When the hand is up, the students have to say the word.

Topsy-turvy: works in the classroom, works online. Put two flashcards back to back, turn them over in your hands a few times. When the students see the card, they say the word.

I can’t read: get a set of flashcards and a set of word cards (even easier to home-make these). Show the kids the flashcard and put a word card on it. Ask the kids to read the words and tell you if these match. To make it even more challenging and more fun you can create double-sided word cards (a regular word and a scrambled-up word). Put up the flashcard, add the scrambled-up word, ask the kids to read it, write it unscrambled in their notebooks and check immediately.

Scenario B: Your students can print their own flashcards at home

That is the optimal solution because then you can basically play any of the games that you have used so far in the classroom.

My bus is green: everyone colours their own cards and the variety can be used in different games a) to compare the buses  b) to play a guessing game (My secret bus is green)   c) to play a memory game after a few lessons, with the teacher taking notes secretly and then creating a worksheet or just making sentences ‘This bus is green’ ‘It is Max’s bus’

My favourite colours: ask the kids to choose one, two or three favourite colours, foods or words. First teacher, then students in turns, show one of their cards and say ‘I like pizza’. The other students who have chosen the same card, respond ‘Me, too’. Then, the students take turns to make their own sentences. It can also be played with three least favourite words.

Scenario C: The kids don’t have a printer at home

Draw your own: In a typical unit we usually get 8 – 10 words. Setting it all as homework will be a lot of drawing but after the first lesson, the kids can choose three favourite words to draw and during the homework check they will say what they have prepared and describe the words. During the second lesson, they can be asked to create three more words and then three more. This way you will not only guarantee a fun and varied homework and homework check but after the three lessons, each child will have a set of beautiful, personalized cards to play with in class and at home (which at this point in the game is the same place😊

Wordcards: same procedure but much easier to prepare but still, all the games can be played nonetheless. If your students are pre-primary and cannot write yet, you can make letter cards, instead of wordcards and in all the games you can focus on the first letter/sound.

Scenario D: The teacher wants to go high-tech

That solution is actually quite tempting and there are a few ways of going about that.

  • Make your own pdf with images from clip art
  • Make your own animated powerpoint, words appearing and disappearing
  • Use quizlet.com. Whatever you create for your classes you can later share with kids and have them practise lots and lots at home
  • Use the videos available on youtube to introduce and practice vocabulary, for example English Singsing, Fun Kids English, WOW English TV, Dream English Kids, Maple Leaf Learning
  • Use Starters/Movers/Flyers Picture Wordlists. These are beautiful and can be downloaded for free.
  • Use the whiteboard and all its options on zoom.us (this will be a separate post, when I either master that option or ask my Teach Tech Guru to write a post).

PS Do take it easy and don’t try to become an online expert overnight. Start with whatever is less complicated, for you and for your students and then raise the level of challenge when everyone is ready for it.

Remember that variety is our favourite word anyway so mix and match! And have fun!

P.S. Everything is going to be alright. Eventually. Tudo vai dar certo. Wszystko będzie dobrze. Все будет хорошо.

Your 10 basic flashcards games

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One hundred.

It is the number of things in which you can manipulate the set of flashcards during the lesson and call it ‘a game’. That means that to teach, to introduce and to practise, to have fun and to change activities fast not to lose kids attention you really only need a set of flashcards and a table or a carpet. No more.

That means that you can mix and match, engage the kids and keep them involved for hours on end. Almost.

But before I take on the challenge of typing all those 100 up, here are the staple ten. The basics of the basic, the everyday. Five to practise receptive skills and five to focus productive skills.

Imagine that you have drilled all your words already (this will be another post, too!)

1. Finger up! (group)

Put all the flashcards face up on the table. Ask the kids to show you the indicative finger and put the hand up. This will be your punctuation mark here. Say ‘Finger up’ and all the kids and the teacher put their hands up, with the indicative finger out. Say ‘Touch the banana’ and encourage all the kids to lower their hands and put the finger on the banana flashcard. Then again say ‘Finger up’ and repeat with other words.

It is a great game especially for the beginning of a new unit or the beginning of the course as the kids will be basically following what you are doing and doing the same thing at the same time.

Variations: You can include different verbs i.e. pat the bananas, scratch the bananas, knock, stroke, etc.

Production: After a while, regardless of the variation, you let them lead the game and they are…producing!!!!

2. Yes and No (group)

Put all the flashcards face up on the table or on the carpet. Use your favourite punctuation mark. Point at one of the cards (banana) and ask ‘It’s a banana.’ ‘Yes?’, when kids start answering, by nodding or using their L1, provide the English word ‘Yes!’ and encourage them to repeat. Don’t forget to nod your head here. Point at another card (grapes) and ask ‘It’s a banana’ Yes?’ when the kids start answering, provide the English word ‘No!’ and encourage them to repeat. Don’t forget to shake your head. Repeat with the other words. The first time you play, it might be a good idea to use only singly words, to make sure that the rules of the game are perfectly clear but you can quickly start using full sentences, in singular and in plural, to model the language. There is no need to make things overtly simple.

Variation: Depending on the topic, it is a good idea to use the structures, too, for example with fruit: I like bananas (and picking up the banana flashcard), clothes: I am wearing jeans (picking up a t-shirt), I’ve got a kite (toys flashcards or pets) etc. This way they are not only going to learn to recognise the key words but they will be practising listening for detail with more challenge and getting a lot of exposure of the target language.

Production: After a while, regardless of the variation, you let them lead the game and they are…producing!!!!

3. Apple, please (group)

Give out all the flashcards, one per child. Use your punctuation mark and say ‘Apple, please’. Reach out your hand, towards the child who is holding the apple (if you can see who it is😊). After you have received it, say ‘Thank you’ and ask for another fruit. After a few rounds, add ‘Here you are’, too.

Variation: If you have a big group, you can ask for two words at the same time. Using a full question form is a good idea, too ‘Can I have an apple, please?’ All the flashcards on the carpet or on the table, and with calling the kid’s name to ensure that everyone gets a chance to play and that they don’t fight over cards.

Production: After a while, regardless of the variation, you let them lead the game and they are…producing!!!!

4. The duo (individual students)

Sit in a circle, put two cards on the carpet ie a banana and an apple, in a place where everyone can access them. Say ‘Masha, it’s a banana’. Masha picks up the banana flashcard and puts it away. Add another flashcard so that there are always two ie an apple and a pear. Say ‘Katia, it’s a pear’, Katia picks up the pear card and puts it away. The teacher adds another card etc.

Variation: You can change and vary the structures, even with the same set of flashcards i.e. with fruit: it’s a pear, I like pears, I don’t like pears, pears are green and so on. You can also ask the students to leave the flashcards that corresponds with the sentence and take away the incorrect one.

Production: After the kids have learnt how to play the game, nominate two students, they make simple sentences for each other. Then, another pair etc.

5. Get up! (pairs or trios)

Give out the flashcards to students, one per person. Go around the circle and call out all the words, one by one, slowly. Use your regular punctuation mark for starting an activity* and play the game. Call out two of the words (‘banana’ and ‘apple’) and motion the kids to stand up in the circle. Praise them and ask them to sit down. Call out two other words, wait for the kids, praise and ask them to sit down. Repeat with any combination you see fit. Then start calling out three words or even four. Kids listen and get up.

Variations: If it is a revision activity and they know the vocabulary, they can be holding two or even three cards.

If they already know a structure, instead of using single words, the teacher can use them in a structure, either very simple and generic ‘I can see a banana and an apple’) or something more connected to the set of vocabulary that you are practising ie I like bananas and apples.

Instead of getting up, the kids can also raise a hand, stamp their feet or clap their hands.

Production: After a while, regardless of the variation, you let them lead the game and they are…producing!!!!

6. Open your eyes (the group)

Put all the cards on the table or on the carpet, encourage the kids to call out all the words. Say ‘Close your eyes’ and make sure that they all cover their eyes, turn over one of the cards. Say ‘Open your eyes’ and call out all the words, in the end point at the card that has been turned over. After they guess, make sure everyone says the word out loud. Repeat.

Production: Let the kids take turns to lead the game.

7. Mime it! (whole class)

Very easy if you start preparing kids for it while introducing the vocabulary and helping them associate each word with a gesture.

Pick up one of the flashcards, say ‘3…2…1!’ and show the word for the kids to guess. Encourage them to produce a full sentence i.e. ‘It is a cat’. Let the kids lead the game as soon as possible!

Variations: If you have introduced some of the simple adjective you can start miming sentences. Pick up two flashcards (differentiated either by colour or size, to make it all go smoothly), say ‘3…2…1’ and mime the adjective and then the noun. Kids produce the sentence ‘It is a funny cat’ etc and it is quite likely that most of the sentences will be a bit ridiculous (but memorable).

8. Merry-go-round (group)

Start with one travelling flashcard. Have the kids sit or stand in a circle. Give the student on your left one of the flashcards, encourage and motion for them to pass the card to the student on their left. Let the card travel, then say stop and ask the student who is holding it to say the word out loud. Repeat a few times for them to get used to the idea.

Start the game all over but keep adding cards so that there are a few of them travelling. Say stop and have the kids call out the word they are holding at the moment.

Variations: There is a lot of potential for producing full sentences as soon as the kids get the idea and the key structure used will be related to the vocabulary, i.e. ‘I like’ with fruit, ‘I am wearing’ with clothes, ‘I can’ with verbs, ‘I’ve got’ with pets or toys, ‘I go to school by’ with transport etc.

This is also a great opportunity to teach the kids the word ‘nothing’.

9. Disappearing words (whole class)

Put five flashcards in a row, on the floor or up on the board, go from the beginning and call out all the words. Ask the kids to close their eyes and turn over the last card in a row. Call out all the words from the first one, in the same order and when you get to the last one, pause and wait for the students to say / shout / whisper the last word. Check quickly if they were right, show the cards to the kids, put it up covered again.

Ask the kids to close their eyes and turn over the last but one card. Ask the kids to open their eyes and call out all the words starting from the first one. When you get to the last but one, pause and wait for the kids to say the word, then the same with the fifth one. Proceed until all the words are covered up.

Variation: To help the kids remember, you can use a different gesture for each card, it can be either something related to the meaning of the word ie by miming the words or something that will help them remember ie knocking at the card, snapping, touching, clicking fingers, stroking it.

If you teach a big group, you can divide the class into two teams, one team will be holding the cards, one each, the other team will be guessing the words.

It might be also a good idea to use a full sentence ie I like to eat bananas, apples, peaches, plums and grapes, instead of single words.

10. Secret word! (whole class, pairs)

Revise the flashcards that you are going to be playing with so that the kids have a chance to become familiar with the images, the set of words and the colours. Then hold the flashcards to your chest. Ask ‘What’s the secret word?’ and model ‘Is it a kite?’ ‘No’. ‘Is it a doll?’ ‘No’ etc.

Variations: When they are playing the first time, they are quite likely to give you only separate words but it is worth encouraging them to produce full questions. You can either use ‘Is it…?’ or ‘Have you got…?’

Production: After a while, the students are given a chance to lead the game, first a student vs the rest of the group, later on in pairs, too.

*) ‘Punctuation marks’ are all the signals that the teacher uses to announce a start of a new activity. It can be clapping of the hands, it can be counting down from 5 to 1, it can be a bell, it can be snapping your fingers, it can be a chat ‘1, 2, 3! Eyes on me!’

Happy teaching, everyone!