Kevin's Blog - 31st October 2009

Making your own flashcards

Get our your scissors and glue - it's time to get creative

Most TEFL / TESOL teachers soon find themselves creating materials for use in the classroom.

For those starting out this can sometimes be a bit daunting. 'What should I use?', 'Is it appropriate?' 'Do you think the students will understand?' 'Where do I get the stuff?' 'Oh, and just what is a flashcard?'

Well, a flashcard is any form of visual on paper, a photo, drawing etc.

So, what is a flashcard for? Well, just about anything, and they can be used anytime in the lesson. They're great for eliciting vocabulary, prompting students to use vocabulary; starting discussions, debates, pairwork, groupwork.... You name it - a flashcard can help it.

Say you're teaching items in the kitchen. I'm sure you could reel off a list of things. But how do you explain what a cheese grater is? "Well, it's umm, a thing for grating cheese?" "Teacher? What's a thing for grating cheese?" "It's called a cheese grater. You know, it's got holes and slits; it's made of metal or plastic and you grate cheese with it."

Now, if like me, you teach English in Thailand or work in a part of the world where grating cheese is not a common activity, you spend far too much time on explanations which may possibly leave the student confused.

Here's a simpler method: Ingredients: 1 piece of A4 paper; an internet connection; a printer; laminator and laminating pouches (optional). Download images from the internet or source them from a magazine - a cheese grater and/or someone grating cheese. Print them/cut them out. Job done. You have some flashcards. Of course if you laminate them, they'll see you through countless lessons without being destroyed by the mauling of countless students. And whilst you can have them commercially laminated, this costs more in the long run and can be inconvenient. I do most of my lesson prep in the evenings at home. Finding a print shop to do my laminating is time-consuming. So, for an initial outlay, you soon recoup the cost.

Have fun!

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