As a public school teacher, I made thousands, yes, THOUSANDS of flash cards. Before that, as a Spanish student, I made even more! I just wrote the Spanish on one side, English on the other, and called it done. I flipped them over, flopped them down into "know it" and "don't know it" piles. I had a literal suitcase full of rubber banded cards that I carried around in my pockets - "know it" pocket, and "don't know it" pockets. They were EVERYwhere. And they mostly worked for me. But I was a studious, dedicated learner, past puberty, with a very strong grasp on the grammar and phonetics of Spanish. I went to an hour long class at least three times a week, and some semesters every day. I listened to Spanish radio, TV, read novels... you get the idea.
So - if you're not a strenuous, stressed out college student who is committed to keeping at least a 3.75 GPA to keep your scholarship.... How can you make flash cards work for you?
You just need the perfect card. I'll show you what makes a flash card perfect, and why it works so well, no stress! Here are the basics. These points are all equally important.
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✅ PHOTOS, not cartoons. THINK: what was I seeing when I learned to speak? ITEMS, not cartoons.
✅ LOTS of white space - visual clutter = confusion.
✅ The right size. Too small feels inadequate, too big feels overwhelming. Playing cards, baseball cards, think of a hand filled, but not over full, and not too small to be easily lost.
✅ No words on the photo side - when you try to access the inforamtion, you want to "hear" the word in your head, not "read" the word at the bottom of the photo.
✅ Phonetics available on the card, but not obtrusive. Small, available, but easily overlooked, so as to not confuse the written language with the language's sounds. Check and double check to see if there's a stressed syllable. If there are two syllables, one should be stressed and the other isn't. It makes a HUGE difference in being understood and understanding others.
✅ The literal reference or definition in the native language MUST be available - What you are ACTUALLY saying is super important. Lack of definition creates a lack of confidence, which then leads to fear of speaking.
✅ TWO different fonts for the two different languages. This one is a subtle change that makes a huge difference in all the earlier points - confidence, clarity, and rate of absorption. Try it. You'll be surprised at how the small nuances makes a difference in your comfort level while learning.
Ready to see all these points in action? Check it out here. And subscribe while you're at it!
Here is the walk of shame.... they are a few examples of the cartoon based, words on the front, no reference word, no phonetic spelling, and frustrating art that spurred me on more than 20 years ago to make the perfect flash card. If you have cards that look like this and haven't learned much from them... it's not you. I promise.
