Flash Cards: How to use them

After last week's foray into making flash cards, the time has come to learn how to use them.

First a confession, I really believe in learning vocabulary in context. Nothing can compete with reading in Latin for learning vocabulary and endings. However, as a supplement, flash cards are a very flexible tool.

The problem is this: students need to learn vocabulary and endings. Here's your opportunity: Dead time.

All the time you spend doing nothing: Waiting in line. Those minutes between class. When you're in bed but can't sleep—this works whether sleep or vocabulary learning is the goal. Riding in the car on a long trip—probably best that the driver not use flash cards, unless you tape 'em to the steering wheel like I do. No, I'm joking about that last part, but I'm serious about adding in time here and there with flash cards. This is part of the reason you should make them small. If they're big, they're hard to carry for use on a moment's notice.

You don't want to carry a huge pile of them, so bring a few with you everywhere. My wallet has its fair share of vocabulary cards in it. Remember to change them up on occasion, and you're set to go.

You can also make flash cards part of your learning routine by adding on a few minutes of work before or after class/homework time. The when and where isn't half so important as the repetition and frequent use.

Be sure to say hello to me if you see me working with my flash cards.

This work by Peter Sipes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Flash Cards: How to make them

I've been tackling a new language, and the bugaboo of all language students has reared its head: learning vocabulary. Latin is no exception. Even a Latin teacher like myself runs across unknown words.

Flash cards are an excellent solution for learning vocabulary and endings. Their biggest problem to my mind is that they rob the learning process of context. This is why I struggled throughout college to remember the difference between pairs like tamen/tandem and nempe/nuper. All flash card, no context.

So. How to make flash cards? And I do mean make by hand. I don't see the educational value of buying vocabulary cards, though they are awfully convenient. Some things, by which I mean nouns, will readily lend themselves to a card with a picture on one side and the Latin word on the other. Other things, that would be adjectives and verbs, may not be so easy to draw. Some things are impossible to draw. How do you draw an "and"?

Why do I mention drawings on flash cards? So that students can bypass English when learning vocabulary. It will help solidify the concept of the word in the target language—in our case, Latin.

But you don't have to limit yourself to vocabulary! You can also make cards to help you learn the fleet of endings that Latin throws at students.

Here is a sample set of cards.



Keep in mind, this is one possibility. You could mark noun on the card with the mouse to mean "mūs, mūris" and verb on another card to mean "rodere" (to gnaw). You could put the whole declension of a noun on back to help drill a whole set of endings at once. The limit is the space between your imagination and your learning goals, and you can't buy flash cards that are tailored exactly to your goals.

Next up: how to use flash cards.