Flash card websites: Quizlet and wordjuggle

 One of my students (age 5) was learning about the book Town Mouse Country Mouse by Jan Brett. As this book is difficult for her English I used an other version by Bev Evans and created some flash cards based on the latter version.

Quizlet

Creating your flash cards is really easy; the cards can be used in literally minutes. You have to register, though. You have access to some pictures through quizzlet, although the choices are very limited. If you upgrade your account you can add your own voice and own pictures to the cards. Once you saved them you can share/copy/embed/export/print/add to a class. Also you can edit them later. The students have the following options to ‘play’ with the cards:

Cards

Here students can brows through your flash cards to familiarize with them. Flipping from definition (example sentence) to the new expression is already part of the learning process.

Learn

At this stage sts do a gap fill exercise with the same example sentences, where they have to write the missing vocabulary item themselves. If they don’t know the answer they click on ’give up’ and they can see the missing word, but also, which I think is a brilliant idea to help remember the word, they have to copy the answer by typing it. Sts can also listen to the definition if they click on the ‘speak text’ button, which helps them to remember the whole example sentence. It tests sts' productive knowledge.

Speller

This is a listening and spelling exercise. Sts have to listen to the vocabulary item and type it. Sts can listen to it as many time as they want, also they can set the ‘Speak English’ function fast and slow. It tests sts' receptive knowledge.

Test

Here sts have to different types of question, like gap fill, matching, multiple choice, true/false questions. Here you also have the option to print the test. It test sts' productive knowledge.

Scatter

It is a drag and drop exercise. If sts match the correct items they disappear. It is a good exercise for those who like competing as when they finished they can see how quickly they did it and where they are on the top list. It tests sts' receptive knowledge.

Race

Probably the most challenging task. The definition/ example sentence slides across the monitor and sts have to type the missing word before the definition disappears. If they are not quick enough/ don’t remember the word the answer pops up and sts have to copy it again to reassure it. It tests sts' productive knowledge.

Once the sts finish the exercises you can see how well they’ve done.
Click here for the whole quizlet.

Wordjuggle

Once you register you have one month free access to the site as a teacher, student access is free but also need registration.

Creating your flash cards is easy and quick. Compared to Quizlet this one is made for printing materials. The authors of the website promote interaction between classmates compared to individual learning behind computers. There are different games to choose from according to the nature of the card collection. I used the same vocabulary items as with Quizlet, so they are appropriate to be used with the following games:

Match word and definition 

It tests sts' receptive knowledge.

Make someone speak

Sts have to say the definition and get another students to say the word or one student have to use the word in a sentence. It tests sts' productive knowledge.

Letter jumble

Letters in the word are jumbled, sts have to reconstruct the word. It tests sts' receptive knowledge.

Print on both sides

It’s for creating real flash cards; words are printed in the front side of the cards, the definitions are printed on the back.

The advantage of this site is that neat flash cards can be prepared in minutes and each game type is printable so there is no need for computers. It is good for classroom practice or individual practice at home.

Both of my examples are based on the book The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse by Bev Evans.

www.quizzlet.com
www.wordjuggle.com