MES-English.com - Flash Cards

I've got 70+ flash cards sets that I used to design curriculums for children ages 3-9 and 6-10. However, I use most of them up through to high school students I'm going to work to get them all up, but in an attempt not to reinvent the wheel, I'll post the most difficult to find on the net first. I'll be adding to this page as time permits, so please check back.

See the left hand menu for the current list of set available.

READ ME FIRST: These cards are excellent quality and as such some of the files are quite large (1mb~4mb.) I suggest looking at the hand out first. If the material is something you'd like to put together, then take a look at the other files. This will save you a lot of time. Let me know if you have any download/file problems.

About the flash card sets:

The pictures were all put together with children in mind. They are all cartoons and if it was possible, I used the silliest ones I could find. I get great reactions from the children, especially the first time around. It really helps to break up the monotony of drilling. For the most part the pictures very clearly express the language, but there may be times when gesturing to help convey the meaning might be appropriate.

The flash cards and game cards do not have the vocabulary written on them. This is a personal preference as my experience has led me to believe it is more of a distraction than a benefit. I want the students to see the images and associate the words they are producing with the concepts or objects they are studying. With the words on the cards, they become reliant on reading as opposed to remembering. (I approach reading through my phonics method, not whole reading, as that best serves my Japanese young learners.) The large flash cards do include articles at times.

The power of bingo: I use bingo quite often in class. If you are just drawing cards, you have not yet touched on the power that is bingo. I have a separate page for uses of the bingo cards. If you are interested, please check here. The bingo files are usually the largest (1.5 ~ 2.5mb.)

The hand-out is something I'm a little proud of. You can give out the sheet and the students can build their own library. If you can get a hold of a file for the students, they can keep the hand-out and practice outside of class. It also really encourages them to learn new words. They really want to get that new sheet. I originally thought they could cut them up and make their own cards, but they seem to like "My English Library" better.

Each card set contains: a set of large flash cards for introduction and drilling purposes (one card per sheet - you can chose B4, A4, B5 etc. when printing,) a set of small flash cards for games, 12 different bingo cards and a handout for students. I recommend you make 4-6 sets of the smaller cards (I make 8.) This will give you many options for card games and also allow you to break into smaller groups for larger classes.

Both the small cards and Bingo cards should be printed out, cut, folded over sideways, and laminated (you can cut and paste them onto card, but the laminated versions look better and last longer.) The large flash cards come with a backing as the last page of the file. You will need to print out 12-15 copies of that sheet, place it back to back with each flash card and then laminate it (if you want to use it.) It isn't necessary but it looks really sharp. If you don't use it, I would suggest putting a single blank sheet behind the flash card before you laminate it. It is sturdier and easier to handle that way. It will also stop students from trying to see through it to the next card. These cards are high (professional?) quality so the file sizes are large. Please be patient when downloading.

The sets are free to download but will cost money to print, laminate and get ready. I estimate it costs about $10-$15 to complete one set with a folder to keep them in (that includes printing ink, paper, and laminating. It can obviously be done cheaper.) That is a fraction of the cost to actually buy something like these from a publisher ($50-$75) and I think they are nicer than anything I could find for sale. It also takes time. One complete set takes about 2 hours to put together, so don't set out to make all of them at once.

St. Patrick's Day flash cards, & worksheets: Coming Soon!

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