Some experiences on using flashcards to teach english vocabulary for grade 3 students

TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Introduction 1.1 Rationale for chosing the topic 1.2 Objectives of the study 1.3 Objects of the study 1.4 Methodology of the study Development 2.1 Literature review 2.2 Reality of teaching and learning vocabulary at some primary schools in Tho Xuan district 2.3 Solution to the problem: using flashcards 2.4 Effectiveness of the study Conclusion and suggestion Page 1 2 2 17 18 3.1 Conclusion 18 3.2 Suggestion 18 1 Introduction 1.1Rationale for chosing the topic It’s high time to identify that vocabulary learning is crucial for learning foreign languages According to French Allen (1983), if teachers use visual materials, students’ learning will be better than the time when they use other materials Of all the foreign language teaching visual aids, flashcards have been proven to be an incredibly useful and flexible resource for teaching vocabulary Some researchers also discovered that teaching with flashcards help learners, especially young learners to acquire words more effectively This is completely true to children who always have great love for visual things and games Therefore, flashcards are an effective tool for teaching primary students vocabulary Specifically speaking, flashcards are great for introducing new vocabulary, memorising, revising and consolidating vocabulary We are all aware of both benefits and the way of using flashcards to teach children English vocabulary But there is a fact that flashcards are a simple, handy, versatile, valuable, yet often an underexploited resource Being aware of the essential role of flashcards in teaching children vocabulary is the first reason why I this study Children love flashcards very much but using flashcards is also one of difficult teaching techniques for Vietnamese primary teachers to master and apply it into their teaching English effectively Besides, it’s not cheap at all for teachers to buy one set of flashcards And it’s not easy at all for teachers to find out their suitable flashcards that can meet their aims as well as the topic of a specific lesson Therefore, in this study I provide teachers of English with steps of using flashcards as well as some suggested activities and games using flashcards to teach children English vocabulary In case the teachers are unable to find suitable ready-made flashcards, I also suggest here the way of making up their own flashcards to teach with the hope that they can create more effective lessons and help their children learn new words better through flashcards Using flashcards to teach English is really a broad issue because flashcards can be used to teach not only vocabulary but also other aspects of language Furthermore, flashcards can be used effectively for learners of all ages and language levels and they can be useful at every stage of the class In addition, “children” is also a broad object, so I just focus my study on grade students, who are mostly in the first year of learning English and find learning new words difficult because their methods of learning vocabulary haven’t been formed Under the limitation of time and for the main reasons as above, I decided to carry out this study and present here “ Some experiences on using flashcards to teach English vocabulary for grade students” 1.2 Objectives of the study: This study aims at clarifying the benefits of using flashcards to teach children English vocabulary and suggesting the way flashcards can be used to help children learn new words better 1.3 Objects of the study: Flashcards can be used to reinforce and practice vocabulary or grammar patterns as well as giving students interesting and challenging speaking practice based on the pictures shown in the flashcards And flashcards can be used for students of all ages and all levels However, the main focus of this study is looking at the reasons why and the ways how flashcards should be used to help children in general and grade students in particular learn new words better 1.4.Methodology of the study: To attain the mentioned objectives, a number of techniques will be used during the process of carrying out the study Theoretical background of the study is based on reading, analyzing and synthesizing of the materials and relevant books Investigating the reality and collecting the data of grade students learning new words before and after using flashcards to teach vocabulary are also applied And according to applicative approach, some activities using flashcards for some units in the textbooks Tieng Anh are also applied in teaching practice Development 2.1 Literature review: 2.1.1 What is a flashcard? According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, a flashcard or flash card is a card bearing information, as words or numbers, on either or both sides, used in classroom drills or in private study One writes a question on a card and an answer overleaf Flashcards can bear vocabulary, historical dates, formulas or any subject matter that can be learned via a question-and-answer format Flashcards are widely used as a learning drill to aid memorization by way of spaced repetition 2.1.2 Types of flashcards Haycraft (1978: 102-106) states two types of flashcards They are word flashcards and picture flashcards Word flashcards are cards on which words have been printed When practicing word order, the teacher can use a number of cards representing all the words in a sentence The cards can be fixed to the board, or given to a student, and arranged correctly either by the class a whole or individual students The word flashcards also can be used to practice structure Then, picture flashcards are useful for presenting, practicing and revising vocabulary or as prompts for other activities – for example, to illustrate the characters in a dialogue, to help students improvise A picture flashcard is a card which has a picture on one side and the word in the other side, or the picture and the word in one side Picture flashcards are used for teaching and practising basic vocabulary through games They could be pictures of animals, household objects, places, people, story characters or action verbs Thus, I strongly suggest we should focus on picture flashcards which can help teachers a lot with improving their students’ vocabulary You can use small sets for individual or group activities or larger sets for display or for whole class activities 2.1.3 Where to get flash cards? Buy them Some course books provide a supplementary pack of flash cards or they can be bought in sets Make them yourself If you don't have access to professionally produced flashcards, don't worry, it's really easy to make your own even if you're not very artistic You can use pictures from magazines, draw simple pictures or copy from the internet or clip art The most important thing is to make sure they are all of the same size, on card (different colours for different sets) so you can't see through them If possible you can laminate the sets as you make them and they will last for years The advantage of making your own, apart from the fact that they're cheap and yours to keep, is that you can make sets for your specific needs You may like to make a set to use in conjunction with a story book or graded reader, or even to accompany project work Students make them I have recently begun to incorporate the production of flashcards into the classroom After introducing a new lexical set, using realia or the course book, ask students to produce the flashcards for you Give each one an item to draw They can be mounted on card to make the set By creating flashcards, students began to set their own learning goals Students are offered a learning environment in which they are active participants rather than passive recipients of information First, they clarify their objectives Then they select words relevant to those objectives, choosing not only the information best suited to the flashcards, but also the level appropriate to their ability Second, they exercise their responsibility for their own learning by developing their own flashcards 2.1.4 The advantages of using flashcards to teach children vocabulary: Generally speaking, flashcards are extremely benefical for teachers to teach English Flashcards are effective that can be used for all students with different levels and learning styles Howard Gardener's multiple intelligence theory reminds teachers that there are many types of learners within any one class Gardener's research indicates that teachers should aim to appeal to all the different learner types at some point during the course It is particularly important to appeal to visual learners, as a very high proportion of learners have this type of intelligence Flashcards can be bright and colourful and make a real impact on visual learners Many of the activities outlined below will also appeal to kinaesthetic learners Flashcards are motivating and eye-catching Flashcards can be taken almost everywhere and studied when there is any free moment Flashcards have a great power in motivating and stimulating the students Meanwhile, flashcards are easy media to help students and teacher in learning process, especially to teach the students of elementary school Teacher can use it at any time and in any situation when he wants to teach One of the most important advantages of using flashcards is they are easy and fast to reproduce Thus, they’re inexpensive Making flashcards can be your art project with kids, students and family members With just crayons, color markers, paper boards, and scissors you can produce your unique set of flashcards that friends, family, or students can enjoy and learn from Flashcards can be one of the least expensive ways to study.You don't need to buy a set of fancy illustrated cards Instead, create your own flashcards.Furthermore, flash cards provide students with a portable learning tool Rather than having to carry around a book or notebook, flash cards allow students the opportunity to transport as many cards as they need The portability of flashcards can improve efficiency when learning new material By taking the cards everywhere, students can make effective use of their time such as using them while walking Flashcards are useful because the teacher and children can pick them up, move them and display them in different places and different sequences Since you can shuffle the order, flash cards prevent students from simply memorizing the order of the answers in long-list items Reverse the flash cards so the answers can be seen first and students must surmise what the original questions were In term of vocabulary mastery, flashcards are effective memory-aid tools that can help students learn new material quickly because children love pictures, posters and other visual aids They allow for repetition and proper scaffolding of the learning Learning with flashcards can be a fun and interactive educational experience for both children and adults because they have the advantage of enabling you to turn a learning activity into a game Besides, they are quick and easy to use Flashcards are simple media of instruction used commonly for the basic education of children If the flashcards are particularly designed for guessing games, the information written on the reverse sides are answers or literal references of the images on the front Most teachers, lecturers and parents find that learning with flashcards is quick and direct They let you avoid using the mother tongue to translate You show the image and the kids know immediately what the new word means Their diverse and colorful designs attract children and adults alike The images printed on the cards and the manners in which they are used to stimulate the mind to quickly look for references to identify the flashed images.The real difficulty of a certain subject matter or problem can also be lessened by choosing flashcards of varying difficulties, or it can be made more unpredictably challenging by employing a random flash method This is why flashcards are ideal to use as educational games as well as ideal teaching aids to teach children vocabulary effectively 2.2 Reality of teaching and learning vocabulary at some primary schools in Tho Xuan district: From preobservation, the situation of the class was not conductive for teaching and learning activities Students did not focus on the learning process, they were busy doing something outside the learning activity (talking with friends, drawing picture) Moreover, they tended to be passive and ignore the teacher’s instructions In addition, some students were not active when they did tasks in groups From the situation above, we know that the students just acquire a few vocabularies This situation also found in some primary schools in Tho Xuan district where the English teachers did not use the right media or method that can increase the interest and achievement from the students So it’s high time to find out and implement a media that can improve the students’ interests in learning English vocabulary Most of the students in elementary schools get much difficulty with learning English, especially with vocabulary mastery In my opinion, it is caused by many reasons Firstly, the students not have interest in the teaching and learning process At school, the teachers often find that the students are not interested in learning a subject matter It also happens in learning English, because the students not have knowledge about the correlation between the subject matter and themselves Secondly, the teachers are still having less creativity when teaching English Usually the teachers just explain the material without any game, so it can make the students bored As teachers, they must build the interest of students to learn English by using varieties of methods For example, the teachers use games in teaching learning process because the students like to play Finally, the uses of media and method are not appropriate with the situation of students In order to use a right method or media, a teacher must make it suited to students’ hobbies Flashcards are one of the teaching aids that can improve children’s vocabulary mastery effectively as shown above Usually the students are able to remember English words easily if the teacher shows cards that consist of words or pictures By using flashcards, the teachers are able to teach English by employing many methods too, such as cards game, puzzle, roleplay, etc So the student can be more interested and enjoy in the English learning process Here are some figures of adjusting how my grade students learn new words at the beginning of the first term: Total students Number of students can pronounce the new words correctly with its sounds Number of students can pronounce the new words correctly with its sounds and stress Number of students can remember the new words’ meaning Number of students can remember the new words’ spelling 60 30 Percentage 50% 10% 30 50% 30 50% - Only a half of my students can remember how to write any new word together with its meaning - It’s even worse when 50% of my students can pronounce the new words with its sound but only 10% of them can correctly with its stress This fact is really worth worrying because we all know the importance of word stress in developing listening and speaking skills for children according to communicative teaching approach Why not using flashcards to teach children vocabulary? For the main benefits of using flashcards as above, I tried on using flashcards to teach vocabulary and I have found that flashcards can be really useful, and the kids enjoy them too 2.3 Solution to the problem: using flashcards Remember to make flashcards large enough so students at the back of the class can see what they are Store the flashcards so that they can be reused in future lessons It will save you time in the long run Make your own library of flashcards and keep them in either a folder or within envelopes so that they are easily accessible Create a magazine drop-off box in the staffroom so that teachers have ready access to a range of magazines for pictures, text, etc for flashcard making Also, the key to success is: just involve the kids in the process of learning So don't keep the flashcards to yourself! Let your students play with them, touch them and look at them closely Apart from the flashcards, you can add wordcards 2.3.1 The stages and procedure of using flashcards to teach vocabulary: *Stages of using flashcards to teach vocabulary: The first stage is introducing new vocabulary by showing the flashcards to the kids and attach them to the board Then, put the corresponding wordcard next to them Teachers may let the kids guess what the objects are by revealing the picture slowly, uncovering it step by step You can also use this method for revisions The next stage is practice The teacher leaves the flashcards as they were and mix up the wordcards (or you can it the other way round) Individual students have to come to the board and match the words with the pictures again Instead of moving the wordcards, they can also match them by drawing a line Here are more ideas to break the routine Teachers can let students play a ''what's missing'' game by telling your pupils to close their eyes When they are ready, remove one flashcard or wordcard (or both) The first person to guess what the missing word or picture is, wins After two or three times, you may invite one of the students to take off the word/picture they want I use the following commands for this game: one, two, three close your eyes! one, two, three open your eyes! Look at the board What's missing? Another activity to try is inviting some students to come to the front of the classroom Ss form a circle Play some music and pass the flascards Students have to keep passing the flashcards until the music stops Then, they have to name the objects on their flashcards If they don't know them, they have to leave the circle Student who last leaves the circle, wins Or you can play a memory game on the board Display the flashcards and the wordcards with their faces down Children have to uncover the cards and they get a point if the uncovered picture matches the word The last stage is production Slowly, take off the wordcards and ask children to name the pictures on the flashcards When you finish, ask the kids if they can name all the objects Help, if necessary For more ideas to break the routine, kids can prepare their own flashcards Then, they play with them in pairs *Procedure of using flashcards to teach vocabulary: Step 1: Sit comfortably facing your students Step 2: Arrange the flash cards in the order you would like to present them Step 3: Starting with the first flashcard, hold it up so your students can clearly see the front Keep the back of the flash card toward you so your child cannot see it Step 4: Shows the flashcard front to your students that consist of picture Say in English and ask the students to repeat after several times to make sure that they could say it in a correct pronunciation Step 5: Give question to them by showing flashcards one by one randomly, if your students give a correct answer, place the correctly answered flash card in a pile on your left Step 6: If your students give an incorrect response or no response, tell him the correct answer, and place these flash cards in a pile on your right side Step 7: After you have finished showing your students all of the flashcards, you may continue your flashcard teaching session by using the stack of incorrectly answered cards Continue in the same manner, placing correctly answered flashcards on the left and incorrectly answered flashcards on the right Step 8: Once your students have mastered the full set of flash cards, practice them periodically to ensure your child remembers them Based on the explanations about the procedure of using flashcards above, the researcher conclude that the step in using flashcards in English learning process are show of flashcards, sounds, repetition and practice The procedure of using flashcards is simple, so the students or parents can practice it at home to improve their vocabulary 2.3.2 Some fun and exciting games & activities to teach children vocabulary using flashcards Flashcards are among the materials we use most often, especially with young learners They help visualize new vocabulary, and can be an excellent source of activities and games Making your lesson fun and exciting gives your young learners a chance to enjoy themselves as they learn and they will always look forward to their next lessons These following activities focus on adding fun and excitement to using flashcards to teach and review vocabulary Some of them take a bit of time to set up and explain, but it is well worth it and once your students have learned the activity you can play it time and time again There are lots of ways to use flashcards in teaching children vocabulary Here are just a few of them *Alphabet Line Up: This is a good way to teach the alphabet to your class Give each student an alphabet flashcard with a different letter of the alphabet on it, starting at "A" (e.g if you have Ss, give flashcards A through to G) Have them move around the room to music When the music stops, they must line up in order You can also play with missing letters (e.g Give a "c", then an "f", a "k", an "o", etc) That way they are really learning the order, not just memorizing This game can be used to teach the vocabulary of Unit 2: What’s your name?, Lesson part 1,2,3 During this lesson, students are required to learn about the English alphabet *Charades: Have a student come to the front of the class and show a flashcard or whisper a word to that student The student then acts out that word to the rest of the class and the first student to guess what it is can be the next player This works very well with action verbs Variation: divide the class up into teams – the first student to guess wins a point for his/her team This game can be used to teach vocabulary of some actions in unit 6: Stand up! open the book don't talk close the book sit down come here stand up We can also use this game to teach vocabulary of some continuous actions in unit 18: What are you doing? or new words of some sports and games in unit 10: What you at break time? *A what? For example, to teach vocabulary of school things in unit 8: This is my pen, let students sit in a circle You show a flashcard to Student and say 'This is a ruler.' Student looks at the flash card and asks you, 'A what?' The teacher replies 'A ruler' and passes the flash card on Student passes the flash card on to Student and says 'This is a ruler' Student asks Student 'A what?', Student asks the teacher 'A what?', and the teacher replies to Student 'A ruler', Student replies to Student 'A ruler,' and so it goes on until the flash card travels full circle When the group has mastered it, two flash cards can go around the circle in opposite directions They will cross over mid circle When students know the game, choose one of them to play the teacher's role with other flashcards of school things pencil school bag pen pencil case pencil sharpener book ruler rubber This game can be used to teach vocabulary of school things in unit 8: This is my pen, things in the house in unit 13: Where’s my book? And unit 14: Are there any posters in the room? Or toys in unit 15: Do you have any toys? Or somes pets in unit 16: Do you have any pets? *What is missing? Place a number of flashcards in front of the Ss Give them a few moments to memorize the pictures and then tell them to close their eyes Take away one of the flashcards and then tell the Ss to open their eyes again The first 10 S to guess the missing flashcard can win that flashcard (for point) and take away a flashcard in the next round This game can be used to revise vocabulary of school objects or another topic Thus, it can be used to teach vocabulary of most units in Tieng Anh * Reveal the word: Cover the flash card or word card with a piece of card and slowly reveal it Students guess which one it is Once the card is shown, chorally drill the word with the group using different intonation and silly voices to keep it fun Vary the volume too, whisper and shout the words Children will automatically copy your voice Alternatively, flip the card over very quickly so the children just get a quick glimpse Repeat until they have guessed the word This activity can be used to revise new words of all the units in Tieng Anh *Keep the cards in order: Each student has a set of cards (pictures with names) similar to the teacher The teacher places his/her cards in a particular order in two or three rows, and so the students following instructions T starts calling the cards in pairs so that the two cards named change positions Make a few changes in this way (don´t let students see the changes, they must follow them only by listening carefully) Afterwards, T calls a student to say the cards in order If all the cards are well placed the student can lead a new game Students love the game and learn a lot of vocabulary This activity can be suited to all topics in Tieng Anh 3, for instance new words of some sports and games in unit 10: What you at break time? skip blind man's bluff football skate basketball hide-and-seek chess table tennis 11 *Spin the Bottle: Sit your students in a circle with a bottle in the middle The teacher spins the bottle When it stops spinning the student it is pointing to is shown a flashcard and asked to say what it is If the answer is correct then that student can spin the bottle This is a good vocabulary review activity for all the units in Tieng Anh *Memory tester: Place a selection of flashcards on the floor in a circle or stick them on the board Students have one minute to memorise the cards and then the teacher takes the flashcards away In groups, they have two minutes to write as many of the names as they can remember This acivity can be used to revise vocabulary of all units in Tieng Anh *Circle Drilling: The most common use of flashcards in the classroom is for drilling and checking pronunciation with the class You can either nominate individual students or get whole class drilling organised with the use of flashcards Get students to sit in a circle, get learners to place their desks to the sides of the classroom and then they all sit down Introduce the vocabulary to the learners and drill pronunciation The next step to circle drilling is to hand one flashcard to a student to your left or right and then get them to pass the flashcard to the next student You can speed up the drilling by handing more and more cards to the students next to you The students will find it incredibly enjoyable and highly competitive.This activity can be used to present new words of all the units in Tieng Anh *Give Me Game: Elicit the different flashcards you have Then place all the flashcards around the classroom Tell the Ss to collect as many flashcards as they can Once the Ss have collected all of the flashcards (they’ll probably their best to hide them in their pockets, etc.) For example, to revise toys in unit 15: Do you have any toys? T says “Give me a (doll)” The S with the (doll) flashcard should approach the T and hand it to him/her: “Here you are” Avoid having the flashcards thrown back to you as they can go anywhere and takes a long time to finish the game Instead of having the Ss collect the flashcards, have them stand around the room, then T says “Give me a (doll)” and the Ss rush to be the first to find and give the card to the T T then continues with other toys flashcards such as: 12 doll car robot puzzle yo-yo ship plane kite This game can be used to revise objects students have learnt from Tieng Anh such as school things in unit 8: This is my pen, things in the house in unit 13: Where’s my book? And unit 14: Are there any posters in the room? Or toys in unit 15: Do you have any toys? Or somes pets in unit 16: Do you have any pets? * Pelmanism Flashcards: Another popular activity with flashcards, particularly if you have a picture and corresponding text, is to play a game where you match the picture with the correct text It is recommended that you demonstrate this activity to the learners so that they are able to pick up the rules of the activity Basically, you get place all pictures and corresponding text flashcards face down and shuffle them up One student picks up two cards and if they pick up a picture as well as a corresponding word, then the learner will get one point It is best to get students to keep their pair of flashcards so that they are able to count up how many points they have achieved Young learners and adults alike enjoy this game in the classroom and is a wonderful memorisation activity This activity can be used to teach vocabulary of most units in Tieng Anh *Line True or False: Put a line of tape on the floor and designate one side "True" and the other "False" Hold up a flashcard or object and say its word If Ss think that you have said the correct word they jump on the True side, if not they jump on the False side Incorrect Ss sit out until the next game This is ideal for any topic you want to teach *Musical Flashcards: Ss walk around some flashcards in a circle as some music is playing When the music stops T shouts out a flashcard and the Ss must race to step on 13 that card The first S to step on it keeps the card (1 point) and the game continues This activity can also be applied in all uints in Tieng Anh *Animal Game: This is a fun activity for young learners on the topic of animal noises After teaching the animals and their noises sit each S in a different part of the classroom and assign them as different animals (to make it clearer you can give each S a flashcard of the animal they are representing) This game can be used to teach vocabulary of pets in unit 16: Do you have any pets? Walk around the room and talk to each S, who can only reply as an animal E.g T: "Hello Lan", S1:"Meow! (cat) T: "What's your name?" S2: "Chop!Chop!" (goldfish) T: "How are you, Nam?" S3: "Bow-wow!" (dog)… cat goldfish parrot rabbit *Flashcard Whispers: The other day, I wanted to review vocabulary with a group of students and rather than naming the game “Chinese Whispers”, I decided to call it “Flashcard Whispers” I would use the flashcards to prompt the word/picture and students whispered the word/picture to the front of the group and the first group to write up the word or draw the picture would gain a point for their team It is a lively activity for students and gets them up and out of their seats during the lesson It is best used at the end of the lesson as a review and they leave the classroom with a smile on their faces Try it out and be creative with the points – the teams will be very competitive This activity can be used to teach vocabulary of most units in Tieng Anh *Lightning Flashcards: T stands at front of class with flashcards Ss form two teams standing in a line Two Ss go first and face away from the T, T says 1.2.3 what is it? and Ss 14 quickly turn around and the first S to call out the correct answer wins a point for their team This game is good for review of vocabulary of all units *Quick Peek: T holds a flashcard with the picture facing towards him/her T quickly shows it to the Ss for a quick peek The S who guesses the card wins a point This activity can be used to revise new words of all the units in Tieng Anh For example, to revise new words of some continuous actions in unit 18: What are you doing?, we can use this game with flashcards such as: reading cooking cleaning the floor listening to music singing drawing playing the piano watching TV Here is a specifically illustrative lesson plan for unit 9: What colour is it? with part 1,2,3 of lesson in Tieng Anh 3, in which some flashcards of colour are used to warm up, present and revise vocabulary as well as for some practice and consolidation activities after that LESSON PLAN Unit 9: What colour is it? Lesson 2: Part 1, 2, I Overview: Objectives: - Helping students be able to identify some colours, then ask and answer questions about colours Language focus: 2.1 Phonics: 2.2 Lexical items/ vocabulary: Red, green, blue, white, yellow, brown, orange 15 2.3 Grammar/ structures: A: What colour is/are your ……… ? B: It’s/ They’re ……………… Teaching/ learning aids: - Students’ and teacher’s book - Projector, screen, CD player, colourful chalks, magnets, flashcards of school things and colours II Procedure: Teacher and Students’ activitives A Warm up: Play the game: What’s missing?(3 minutes) - Teacher sticks flashcards of the words (Red, green, blue, white, yellow, brown, orange ) on the board and asks students to read the name of each card in Vietnamese Ask students to close their eyes while teacher is hiding one of the flashcards Then ask students to open their eyes and answer the question: “What’s missing?” - Teacher does it again with some more flashcards, then ends the game and leads in the topic of new lesson: Colours B New lesson: I.Vocabulary:(8 minutes) * Teaching vocabulary: “Circle drilling” activity (5 minutes) - T uses the flashcards again to teach the English words of those colours following steps of teaching vocabulary - Sits the Ss with you in a circle T holds up a flashcard of one colour and says its name (e.g “red”) T passes it on to the next S who also says its name and passes it on to the next students T continues passing with other flashcards of left colours ( yellow, orange, green, blue, white, brown) * Checking up vocabulary: Chanting and “keep the cards in order” activity ( minutes) - Teacher introduces the chant: “ Now I Target language Flashcards : red green blue white yellow brown orange New words: colour: màu sắc red: màu đỏ yellow: màu vàng nghệ orange: màu vàng cam green: màu xanh blue: màu xanh da trời white: màu trắng brown: màu nâu Chant: Title: Colour Yellow, orange, white ( Clap ) Yellow, orange, white ( Clap ) Yellow, orange, 16 have a chant about colours for you Listen first.” - Teacher reads the chant several times together with clapping hands for students to listen - Teacher says one line at a time and ask students to repeat several times, then says the line again, clapping hands where the language is stressed as indicated by the asterisks After that, have students repeat the chant several times with clapping their hands Then the teacher shows flashcards according to students’ chanting Teacher asks some students to come to the board showing these flashcards while other one are chanting - Teacher shows the written text of the chant on the screen for students to read in choral by themselves - Teacher divides students into two groups to read each line of the chant turn by turn Then calls some students to present the chants individually using flashcards to the whole class - Teacher asks students to arrange the flashcards according to the order they appear in the chant II Model sentences:(3 minutes) - T introduces model sentences to ask and answer about colours then asks students to give some examples using these sentences III.Practice: Look, listen and repeat:(5 minutes) - T asks Ss to look at the pictures, listen and repeat the dialogue in chorus then in pairs T calls some pairs to read and gives comments Point and say:(8 minutes) - T asks Ss to practise asking and answering about colours while pointing each flashcards of school things combined with flashcards of colours.T Yellow, orange, Yellow, orange, white ( Clap ) Green ,blue, brown, red Green ,blue, brown, red Green ,blue, green ,blue Green ,blue, brown, red A: What colour is/are your …? B: It’s/ They’re …………… 17 then calls some pairs to speak - Ss speak in pairs and give comments on other pairs’ speaking Let’s talk:(8 minutes) - Teacher asks students to practise asking and answering about colours more with their partner in pairs - Teacher calls a few pairs to act out the dialogue in front of the class IV Consolidation & homework:(3 minutes) - Teacher uses flashcards and asks students to read the chant again to consolidate the vocabulary - To consolidate the model sentences, teacher puts some of the flashcards in a bag and asks students to guess the colour of each school thing inside by asking: “What colour is/are… ? - Homework: Teacher asks students to create their own flashcards of colours 2.4 Effectiveness of the study After a short period of time using flashcards to teach grade students vocabulary, my students have changed a lot their attitude towards learning vocabulary Most of them find learning new words amusing and as not difficult as before They are eager for every new word that the teacher is going to give They even suggest their own flashcards for the class to learn altogether It’s much easier for them to memorize the meaning of new words through flashcards because it’s easy to combine pictures or realia to illustrate new words’ meaning With flashcard games and activities, their pronunciation of new words has also been much improved They can now pronounce a new word correctly and naturally with its stress And after all, they are willing to memorize the new words’ spelling and they are even able to create their own flashcards Therefore, students can remember all main aspects of a new word after flashcard games and activities naturally and eagerly without their recognition And here is the result of adjusting how my grade students remembered new words at the middle of second term: Total students 60 Percentage Number of students can pronounce the new words 45 75% correctly with its sounds Number of students can pronounce the new words 30 50% correctly with its sounds and stress 18 Number of students can remember the new words’ meaning Number of students can remember the new words’ spelling 45 75% 45 75% To compare with the result of grade students remembering new words before applying flashcard games and activities, there is a great increase( from 50% to 75 %) in the number of students who can remember how to write any new word together with its meaning The same increase happens in the number of my students who can pronounce the new words correctly with its sounds The most dramatic increase takes place in the number of students who can correctly with its sounds and stress (from 10% to 50%) This result identified clearly that my students’ ability of remembering new words has been improved very much Generally speaking, they feel more confident when being checked vocabulary And it is really a positive signal when their listening and speaking skills have also been improved because of their improvement in pronouncing word stress The results showed that students’ vocabulary mastery improved after they were taught by using flashcards The students in experimental group admitted that they could memorize the words easily, be more motivated to learn English and understand vocabulary easily After treatment, all the students were motivated and interested in learning English Flashcards give many benefits to the students in learning vocabulary, such as: they became motivated and interested in learning English, understood the words easily and memorized the words faster Conclusion and suggestion: 3.1.Conclusion: In short, flashcards are really helping children learn new words much better considering pronunciation, meaning and spelling of each word Flashcards and embeded interesting games and activies are very entertaining and children really love them As an additional material it’s a perfect teaching tool to make children motivated and involved in language lessons, especially the little children, slower students or students with some learning difficulties They are helping the students understand and memorize easily, making the students relax, making the class more productive, and helping the teacher to handle the class It’s high time English teachers in general and English primary teachers in particular applied flashcards in their teaching not only vocabulary but also other aspects of language However, it’s not easy at all to master all flashcard techniques But due to its great benefits as presented above, I hope that many English teachers will like it and spend their time more on researching and applying flashcard techniques into their real teaching effectively 19 3.2.Suggestion: There are some suggestions for further research in the field of teaching vocabulary using flashcards Firstly, it is suggested for further study to conduct the study in the other contexts, such as: in reading, writing, speaking, listening and grammar teaching Secondly, it is recommended that teacher can present interesting pictures on the flashcards to lead teacher’s performance better Overall, it is recommended to use flashcards as a strategy to teach vocabulary to young learners The last but very far from the least suggestion is holding some seminars about the ways to use flashcards in teaching English so that many English teachers can have a chance to meet, learn and share experiences on using flashcards to teach together By this way, flashcards will become popular and will be widely used in teaching English And the teachers will have one more effective choice to make their lessons more vividly and attractively Of course students’ love for English will increase more and more day by day and flashcard by flashcard Under the limitation of time, I have just presented here only a few of my experiences on using flashcards to teach grade students vocabulary and I’m really looking forward to receiving sincerely contributive ideas Thanh Hóa, ngày tháng năm 2018 Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác (Ký ghi rõ họ tên) XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ 20 REFERENCES Carthy, Michael Mc Vocabulary English Oxford University Press -1990 Hoang Van Van and authors Tieng Anh 3, Book NXB Giao Duc - 2014 Hoang Van Van and authors Tieng Anh 3, Book NXB Giao Duc - 2014 Nguyen Quoc Hung, M.A Ki thuat day Tieng Anh cho hoc sinh tieu hoc NXB Giao Duc – 2012 Thornbury, Scott How to Teach Vocabulary England, Longman - 1990 http://www.esl-kids.com/flashcards/flashcards.html http://www.eslflashcards.com/ 8.http://www.mes-english.com/flashcards.php http://www.kids-pages.com/flashcards.htm 10 http://www.speechteach.co.uk/p_resource/speech/picture_cards.htm 21 ... according to communicative teaching approach Why not using flashcards to teach children vocabulary? For the main benefits of using flashcards as above, I tried on using flashcards to teach vocabulary. .. learning vocabulary haven’t been formed Under the limitation of time and for the main reasons as above, I decided to carry out this study and present here “ Some experiences on using flashcards to teach. .. developing their own flashcards 2.1.4 The advantages of using flashcards to teach children vocabulary: Generally speaking, flashcards are extremely benefical for teachers to teach English Flashcards are