Storm
fire fighter
church
Whale
flash
cards
What can they
be used for?
introducing new vocabulary
matching words with actions
role play cards
sentence patterns
teaching idioms
story sequencing
teaching phrasal verbs
irregular past tense
opposites
or
anything
you
like!!!
flash
cards
What do you need to make them?
Essential
Desireable
and lots more imagination
and creativity!!!!!
flash
cards
How to make them – simple
Draw rectangular boxes on a piece of card. Make sure they are all the same size.
A rough guide is they should be the same size as a business card 9cm x 5.5cm
or buy boxes of blank business cards and use them
be sure to leave a small space around each card
flash
cards
Tip: Once the pictures have been cut out they can be used straight away, but it is better if they are protected with wide sellotape or ideally with a laminator if this available.
If the sellotape is not wide enough, cover it half way first and wrap the excess round the back, then cover the rest in the same way.
flash
cards
How to use the cards – teaching vocabulary
Prepare enough sets of cards for groups of four or five students, ie, for a class of 40 children you will need 8 sets of cards.
Sit each group around two desks which should be put together.
Give out the cards and ask each group to match the word with the picture by placing them side by side
Storm
windy
overcast
clear
sunny
cloudy
snowing
raining
stormy
spread the flash cards so they are mixed up on the table
windy
overcast
clear
sunny
cloudy
snowing
raining
stormy
then match the correct picture with
its correct word
or
vica
versa
windy
overcast
clear
sunny
cloudy
snowing
raining
stormy
this can be done several times by making the activity a race between groups or with individ-uals in each group
windy
overcast
clear
sunny
cloudy
snowing
raining
stormy
an alter-native is to turn the cards upside down and then the students take turns at finding matching pairs by turning over two at a time
flash
cards
Other activities
Find your group
Distribute two or three sets of previously studied cards – one to each member of the class. Ask the students then to find all the people in the class who have the same category as themselves.
For example. In a class of 40 give out
10 fruit cards,
10 vegetable cards,
10 drinks cards and
10 food cards.
Instruct the class to form four lines with items that are in the same category. So eventually the class should look like this:
melon
banana
orange
apple
cherry
strawberry
grape
peach
pear
star fruit
cabbage
pea
potato
tomato
leek
onion
cauliflower
turnip
aubergine
bamboo shoot
tea
coffee
milk
water
chocolate
soda
juice
coca cola
soya milk
milo
hamburger
sausage
pie
hot dog
curry
BBQ
casserole
dessert
stir fry
bread
The cards can be words or pictures – or both!!
The activity can be made more challenging by not telling the class how many there are in each category and letting them work it out for themselves.
Or even more challenging is for them to arrange themselves alphabetically in their respective rows!!
apple
banana
cherry
grape
melon
orange
peach
pear
star fruit
strawberry
aubergine
bamboo shoot
cabbage
cauliflower
leek
onion
pea
potato
tomato
turnip
chocolate
coca cola
coffee
juice
milk
milo
soda
soya milk
tea
water
BBQ
bread
casserole
curry
dessert
hamburger
hot dog
pie
sausage
stir fry
student 1
student 2
student 5
student 3
student 4
Sit the students round the table with the cards stacked face down in the centre of the table
Student 1 takes the top card tells the others in the group the problem on the card
My bicycle is broken and I don’t have any money to repair it.
student 1
student 2
student 5
student 3
student 4
The other students in the group then take turns at giving suitable advice to student 1
My bicycle is broken and I don’t have any money to repair it.
How about I help you to repair it?
Why don’t you borrow mine!
You could get a part-time job to get some money
I have a spare one, you can have it.
student 1
student 2
student 5
student 3
student 4
After listening to the advice student 1 chooses which advice is the best and gives them the card
How about I help you to repair it?
Why don’t you borrow mine!
You could get a part-time job to get some money
I have a spare one, you can have it.
Student 2 then picks up the next card from the pile and the game carries on in this way till all the cards are finished
The winner of the game is the student who can collect the most cards at the end.