What are flash cards and how to use them What are flash cards? They are small cards used to increase your vocabulary. You can buy them in a set or you can make your own with index cards (12.5 cm x 7.5cm). On one side you write an English word and on the opposite side you write the same word in your own language. If I am from Sweden and want to learn English I would write on one side "to teach" and on the other side "att undervisa". The plan to inmcrease you vocabulary with the cards Make a plan to spend ten minutes every day to learn five or ten new words. That would be 35 or 50 new words a week. At the end of the week you review all the new words of that week to "keep " the words in your memory permanently. How to use them There are three exercises that you do with the cards and you should do them one after the other in the correct sequence like this; First you look at the English word and say it aloud and turn over the card and say the word in your own language aloud. After you have done this you should then look at your five or ten cards again. Look at the English word and without looking at the back of the card say the word in your own language. Those you know you put in a pile on your left. Those you do not yet know put on your right. Concentrate on the right "I do not Know" pile until you know them all. look at the English word asnd say it aloud then turn over the card and say the word in your own language. The next step is to reverse the procedure and look at the word in your own language first and say it in English. Choosing the words you need. If you make your own cards you should choose carefully the words you need. This is a topic for another notebook entry!