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Aims Flashcards are an indispensable tool in language teaching, especially for beginner students (level A1): they provide a visual support to introduce new vocabulary and provide the stimulus for a variety of memory activities. They are easy to use for individual games, with small groups or with larger groups of students. Flashcards can be used in a variety of ways. They are great for presenting a new topic, consolidating known vocabulary, narrating a story or teaching a nursery rhyme or song. The images engage the attention and interest of the students and give the language a real aspect that purely verbal activities are unable to provide. Flashcards lend themselves to an array of activities, encouraging students to communicate in English.
Contents Words in Pictures is a rich set of 240 cards. Each card features the image on one side and the respective written word in English on the other side. They are divided into lexical topics of high frequency and daily use: animals, the body, clothes, food and drink, health, at home, the city, at school, sport and free time, time, toys and games, means of transport, the weather, jobs, the environment, actions, prepositions. Of course, the teacher can use the images to convey not only the vocabulary items, but also simple grammar structures. For example, you can show the image of an elephant and say: Here is a large animal: it is an elephant. Some of the flashcards present both the British English and American English options and are highlighted with BE / AmE. We have chosen to include these options with lexical items that are frequently used in both versions.
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Wordlist Animals dog cat horse rabbit duck hen cow sheep fish mouse bird parrot kangaroo crocodile whale dolphin shark elephant giraffe hippopotamus lion bear panda penguin spider monkey snake
tiger zebra
The Body head - face - body hair eyes nose mouth teeth ear neck back arm hand leg foot
Clothes shirt hat cap coat jacket skirt dress 3
jeans T-shirt sweater shorts trousers socks shoes boots scarf bag glasses
tomato soup bread pasta chips (BE) / fries (AmE) fish chicken rice sandwich egg meat vegetables water milk fruit juice tea glass bottle bowl cup
Food and Drink breakfast - lunch - dinner biscuits (BE) / cookies (AmE) sweets (BE) / candies (AmE) cake cereal chocolate cheese fruit banana lemon apple pear hamburger salad carrot
Health temperature toothache stomach ache headache cold hospital 4
At Home house bedroom bed desk kitchen table chair living room sofa armchair bathroom shower bath mirror door window lamp bookcase clock painting stairs roof garden
cinema bus stop park bookshop (BE) / book store (AmE) market shop (BE) / store (AmE) swimming pool car park train station street supermarket
At School desk bin classroom interactive whiteboard poster book pen
Sport and Free Time (to) skateboard (to) ride a bike (to) listen to music (to) dance (to) walk
The City library café 5
(to) sing
video game board game ball toy train
(to) run (to) go shopping (to) take a photo / picture (to) play football (BE) / soccer (AmE) (to) play basketball
Means of Transport aeroplane bus car boat bicycle lorry (BE) / truck (AmE) ship train ticket
(to) play table tennis (to) play tennis (to) play with friends (to) read (to) swim (to) ice-skate (to) jump (to) ski (to) play the guitar
Time months of the year days of the week day - night morning afternoon evening watch
The Weather rainbow snow clous rain sun wind
Toys and Games doll
Jobs farmer 6
actress bus driver cook dentist doctor nurse teacher
(to) drink (to) cook (to) draw (to) ask (to) answer (to) sleep (to) have a shower (to) wash (to) get dressed
The Environment tree wood countryside sky moon star river island lake sea beach mountain city
(to) watch TV (to) drive (to) send a message (to) talk (to) write (to) phone (to) say ‘hello’ - say ’goodbye’ (to) laugh
Where? in front of opposite behind in on under between next to
Actions (to) stand up (to) sit down (to) eat 7
Games and educational activities Here are some suggestions that you can use to check your students’ learning, revise simple grammar structures, and engage them in fun games and activities. Guess! Hold one flashcard and cover it with a sheet of paper or your hand. Then slowly uncover a small detail of it. Ask the students to guess and name the hidden picture. Variation 1: Cut out a piece of cardboard the same size as the flashcards, with small holes that reveal only a few details from which the students have to guess which picture it is. Variation 2: Put a flashcard in an envelope with holes from which students have to guess which picture it is. The missing card Stick the flashcards on a wall with tape or ‘Blu-tack’ and allow the students to observe them for a few minutes. Then ask the students to close their eyes or turn around as you remove one card. Ask them to look at the cards again and guess which one is missing. The number of cards you display on the wall depends on the degree of difficulty you want to achieve. You can remove more than one card for more advanced classes. You can also speed up the activity in order to increase students’ attention. Variation: Call a volunteer and hand over the cards of the topic you want to propose. Without showing his/her teammates, the student removes one card and then shows the other cards. The teammates have to identify the missing card. Write the words Choose a topic that you have recently introduced, and display the relevant flashcards on a wall. Give the students a few minutes to view them. Students should observe them in silence and not write anything down. 8
Say: Ready? Go! and start removing the cards from the wall. At the same time, invite the students to write down as many words as they can remember. Variation: You can ask students to work in pairs and help each other to write as many words as possible.
Pass the word
Ask the students to stand in a circle. Distribute a card to each student. When the game starts, each student has to pass their card to the player on their right, creating a continuous hand-over of cards. Then suddenly say Stop! and say: Show me (the dolphin)! The student holding that card has to raise it and show it to the class. The game then starts again. Variation: This variation involves some TPR movement. Start the music and say: Let’s dance! Students start dancing and passing the cards to their classmates. Stop the music and say: Show me (the biscuits)! The student holding the biscuits flashcard says the word and shows the card to the others. Then start the music again and continue.
Let’s mime!
One student chooses a card without showing it to the others. The student then mimes the image and the players have to guess what it is. Of course, it is quite easy to mime animals, actions, means of transport and states of health, but it is more fun and interesting to see how students manage to mime words related to food, home, the city... etc. Depending on the language level of the class, students can ask a few questions about the mime, but the student performing the mime can only answer Yes or No. For example: Are you an object in the house? Are you an animal? Are you big? Can you fly? Do you have paws? Variation - Noises: After choosing a card, the student does not mime it, but makes a noise connected to the image. Again, it can be fun to hear what noises students attribute to the illustrated items. 9
Find your way
This is an activity that can be proposed after the students have memorised the vocabulary related to actions. It is advisable to carry out the activity in a large open space in the classroom. Arrange the flashcards on the floor, at a certain distance from each other. Then give the students some orders, for example: (Paul), run to the park! (Laura), jump to the shop! (Francis), ski to the train station! Each student mimes the action whilst going to the card appointed by the teacher. The student takes the card and hands it over saying: Here is the (park). This activity can be organised in teams: in this case the team that obtains the most flashcards is the winner. Variation - A music path: After you have arranged the cards on the floor, play some music and ask the students to walk around the cards. Stop the music suddenly, and give an order: (Paul), find an animal! The student finds the card, names it and hands it to the teacher.
The shopping list
Choose the topics you want to practise and put the relevant flashcards on the table, one on top of the other, with the picture side facing up. Each student takes turns to pick a card and says: I go to the shop and I buy one (apple). The player to the right picks another card and continues the game by saying: I go to the shop and buy an apple and one (shirt). The game continues with students adding items to the shopping list. Variation - A list from A to Z: Divide the class into two teams and arrange the flashcards on a table, on the floor or display them on a wall. Then invite each team to write a shopping list from A to Z. One student begins and looks for an object that starts with the letter A, then the second looks for one that starts with the letter B, and so on. The winner is the first team that writes the most complete list, leaving out the fewest letters. 10
I like, I don’t like
Place the food and drink flashcards on a table so that the students can see them clearly. Students take turns to say the food/drink they like and don’t like.
Breakfast - Lunch - Dinner
Display the food and drink flashcards. Ask the students in turn what they eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
What colour is it?
Before the game, revise the names of colours. Then show the house flashcards and ask students what colour they want to paint a room or object.
3x1
For each room choose three flashcards and display them on a wall with the word side face up. Bedroom: bed - desk - lamp Kitchen: table - chair - clock Bathroom: shower - bath - mirror Living room: armchair - couch - painting Then ask students in turn to give you a flashcard that corresponds to a room.
What’s the weather like?
Display the weather flashcards on the wall. Then mime the various weather words. The students take turns to say what the weather is like.
Head to feet
Place the body flashcards with the word side face up for the students to see. Then in turns, ask students to take a card from the tallest part of the body, starting from the hair, and then gradually going lower and lower to finally arrive at the feet. 11
Variation: Touch a flashcard of a part of the body and ask students to touch the same part of their own body.
The detective
Each student chooses one or several flashcards and holds them so that they are visible for the other students to see. Ask a student: Find the hat. Find an animal. Find the chair. Whenever a student finds the correct card, the student names and hands the card to the teacher. Then test another detective, and so on, until all the cards have been handed over.
I can, I can’t
Display the sport and free time flashcards. Ask each student to say what they can and can’t do. They can also say what they like or don’t like doing.
The city
Choose a corresponding item for each city location flashcard, e.g.: train station - train, bus stop - bus, market - fruit. Mix up the cards with the word side face up, and ask students to take turns to form couples of cards.
Guess who?
Show the cards with the illustrations or the words of the jobs. Then mime a job and ask the students to choose the corresponding card. Variation: Give each job a funny or an onomatopoeic name. Students have to remember who that name belongs to and repeat the name of the job. Say the names faster and faster to make it more fun.
Fun movements
Arrange the flashcards on the walls, on the floor, or on both. Give the students orders by showing a way of moving with which they have to go and pick up the indicated card, for example: Run to (the giraffe). Walk to (the hat). Jump to (the supermarket). 12
The first student to arrive at the indicated card, takes it. The winner is the student with the most cards at the end of the game. Variation: After you have arranged the cards in random order in the classroom, name an item and ask the students to find the corresponding card.
Hot and cold
Ask a student to close their eyes while the classmates hide a flashcard in the classroom. Then ask the student to open their eyes and look for the hidden flashcard. The class says Hot if the student is near the card, or Cold if the student is far from the hidden card. As soon as the student finds the card, he/she shows and names the item, for example: Here’s the ball!
Riddles in a row
Two teams line up in front of the teacher and form pairs of opponents. The teacher shows each pair of players a card without showing the word: the winner is the first player to name the item. The team with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner. Variation 1: You can play the game in the gym or outside, adding obstacle paths to go through before players name and take each card. Variation 2: With more advanced classes, the teacher doesn’t show the card, but provides only a few clues to guess the item, for example: It’s a room in the house. You sleep in this room. Variation 3: Distribute the flashcards of one or two vocabulary topics and play some lively music. While listening to the music, students pass the cards around. When the music stops, each student has to name the card they are holding.
Hit the card!
Display flashcards on a wall with a topic you have recently introduced and give students a few minutes to view them. 13
Give each student a colourful post-it note that they can use to attach to the flashcard. The teacher names a card and the first student who attaches the post-it to the correct card wins a point. Each student has only one attempt per turn.
4+
Show three cards from a chosen vocabulary topic and encourage students to name a fourth word or more words from the same topic.
Echo
Display the flashcards of a vocabulary topic on the wall and explain to the students that they have to pretend to be the teacher’s echo. The students have to repeat the words in the same way that they are said by the teacher. Say the words slowly or quickly, with a sad or happy tone, loudly or softly or whispering in a quiet voice. This game is very useful for practising pronunciation and intonation.
Follow the leader
Display a set of flashcards of a vocabulary topic, such as food/drink, in various locations around the classroom and ask the students to stand and line up behind you. Then invite them to follow your instructions as you walk around the class taking three steps forward and saying: One, two, three, clap your hands! (students have to clap their hands), Four, five, six, point to (chocolate)! (everyone should indicate the chocolate card). Take three more steps forward and give a new instruction: One, two, three, touch your feet! (students have to touch their feet), Four, five, six, point to (milk)! (everyone should indicate the milk card). You can vary the pace of the steps to make the activity more engaging.
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Of course, these are just a few suggestions of activities to do with Words in Pictures. They are intended as a starting point and teachers can adapt them and make the most of them, according to the level of the class and the teaching aims that they wish to achieve. Based on your experience, you can enrich and develop them with different activities, to help and stimulate students as they learn the English language.
Distance learning
The simple format of pictures and words means that flashcards can also be used during online courses and lessons. Students can describe the images or form simple sentences by inserting the word indicated on the card.
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CEFR: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
A1 Beginner A2 Elementary B1 Intermediate B2 Upper intermediate C1 Advanced C2 Proficiency
Words in Pictures © 2021 ELI s.r.l. P.O. Box 6 – 62019 Recanati - Italy Tel. +39 071 750701 - Fax +39 071 977851 www.elionline.com English version: Lisa Suett Art Director: Letizia Pigini Editorial department: Gigliola Capodaglio Illustrations: Elisa Rocchi Production manager: Francesco Capitano Design and graphics: Sergio Elisei, Anna Biondini, Lucia Re, Gianni Caputo Printed in Italy by Tecnostampa Pigini Group Printing Division - Loreto -Trevi 21.83.221.0 ISBN: 978-88-536-3351-4 No unauthorised photocopying. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of ELI.
Animals
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duck
Animals
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whale
Animals
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dog
Animals
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kangaroo
Animals
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horse