Flashcards are some of the oldest and most unworthily degraded pieces of teaching tools I have ever come across. We’ve all seen and used the rote memorization techniques that accompany the use of flashcards, where you look at a picture or word and recite a definition or noun. This technique is mostly used by either early primary students or high school students practicing their SAT vocabulary. Sadly this is as far as most teachers or students ever take this useful tool.
They can, however, be part of a larger and more interactive aspect of the classroom. In particular, I use them as a great means of gamification for all ages. Below are some of the games that I use flash cards for.
________
This game requires two sets of flashcards, one that will be placed on the board/wall, and another that you will hold.
- Split the students into teams.
- Use an adhesive of your choice and place one set of vocabulary flashcards on a wall chalk/white bard.
- Call one person from each team to the front of the class, where they will stand with their back to the class. Their fronts should be facing the flashcards on the wall.
- Stand with your back to the students at the front of the class, and your front facing the rest of the students still in their seats.
- Hold up a flashcard for the seated students.
- The seated students call out the vocabulary on the flashcard.
- The students at the front of the class must race to the correct vocabulary word. The first one there gets a point for their team.
- Repeat, with different students from each team.
Variants:
- Ue one set of flashcards in written words, another in pictures.
- At higher levels, use one set of flashcards and students must race to the board and write a grammatically correct sentence using the word.
- Ask students to draw a picture of the word on the board instead of searching for it.
Benefits:
- Practices speaking skills. (Students that call out the word.)
- Practices auditory skills. (Students that have to listen to the class.)
- Practices memorization skills. (Students that have to find the correct vocabulary word or picture.)
- Gets to off-gas excess energy (Students that have to listen and run to the word.)
- Helps build schema.
- Practices grammar, spelling, and new sentence structures. (Variant 2)
- Differentiates learning for visually minded students. (Variant 3)
Charades:
We’ve all played this game. It’s super simple and fun.
- Break up students into teams.
- Calls a student from each team to the front.
- Show the called upon students a flashcard to act out.
- Students act out the card while other students have to guess the word.
- First team to guess the vocabulary word correctly gets a point.
- Repeat, with different students from each team.
Benefits
- Forces students to think of nonverbal manners to express ideas, which really engages the executive memory functions.
- Differentiates learning for physically minded learners to practice vocabulary.
- Allows students to express concepts in their own way, which means they will remember it more.
- Helps students to think about the word more, which leads to higher chance of them remembering it.
- Gets students to spare extra energy.
- Helps students with ADHD to focus.
20 Questions
Another game that we are all familiar with, and can easily incorporate into the classroom.
- Break up students into teams.
- Call a student from each team to the front.
- Show the called upon students a flashcard.
- The students can not say the word.
- The class then asks the students questions about the word in question to try and figure out which vocabulary is the correct answer.*
- The students at the front have to provide answers but can not say what the word is.
- First team to guess correctly gets a point.
- Repeat, with different students from each team.
Benefits
- Practices conversational skills.
- Allows students to express concepts in their own way, which means they will remember it more.
- Helps students to think about the word more, which leads to higher chance of them remembering it.
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