1. Copy one set the cards for each group of 3-4 learners.

2. Make a circle with your students and demonstrate the activity with some of the stronger students. Place the cards face down. Instruct the learners to reveal a card and say the word or picture. They then uncover another card. If the pair match, they keep the pair and go again. If the pair do not match, the next person clockwise goes. The winner is the player with the most pairs.

3. Separate the learners into groups, distribute the cards and let them get on with it. Monitor the learners, helping them with any words that pose difficulties. Adjudicate any disputes, should they arise.

4. When the pelmanism games have run their course, end the activity and elicit feedback from the learners.

The flashcards can be used as follows:
1. To teach the language, have the learners sit around you in a circle. Slowly reveal a card and elicit the word from the whole class or individual students. Model the pronunciation and drill the word. Put the flashcard at the back of the pile or face down on the floor. Continue through the cycle of cards until you’ve done them all. Go through the cycle again, trying to elicit the words from students’ memories. You don’t have to do every card – you could pick some at random.

2. If you were laying the flashcards on the floor as you went through them, you can nominate the learners to try to recall the words, either in reverse or in normal order. If the learners find this too easy, why not shuffle the cards face down slowly, with the learners following where each one is going. Then elicit the covered flashcards.

3. ‘Flashcard pass’ is a game where you can pass the cards clockwise in a circle. Each time the learner gets a card, they say the word out loud. Start with one card and build up to having multiple cards in circulation.

4. ‘Guess the flashcard’ is a game where the teacher, sitting in a circle with the learners, holds a secret flashcard. The learners take it in turns to guess the word on the card that the teacher is holding. If the learner makes a duplicate guess, they are ‘out’. The winner is the child who accumulates the most correctly guessed flashcards.

5. ‘Flashcard Tiddlywinks’ involves the teacher laying out the flashcards face up on the floor. The learners, individually or in teams, flip plastic bingo chips or coins and have to say the appropriate word the coin lands on. To make the game competitive, the first learner to say the word, if playing in teams, wins.

6. ‘Flashcard hunt’ is a kinaesthetic game where you hide the flashcards around the room. With the children standing up in a circle around you, say ‘find me…’ and the name of one of the flashcards. The first learner or team of learners to find it and brings it to you wins a point. If any learners bring the wrong cards, they lose a point.

The flashcards can be used as follows:
1. To teach the language, have the learners sit around you in a circle. Slowly reveal a card and elicit the word from the whole class or individual students. Model the pronunciation and drill the word. Put the flashcard at the back of the pile or face down on the floor. Continue through the cycle of cards until you’ve done them all. Go through the cycle again, trying to elicit the words from students’ memories. You don’t have to do every card – you could pick some at random.

2. If you were laying the flashcards on the floor as you went through them, you can nominate the learners to try to recall the words, either in reverse or in normal order. If the learners find this too easy, why not shuffle the cards face down slowly, with the learners following where each one is going. Then elicit the covered flashcards.

3. ‘Flashcard pass’ is a game where you can pass the cards clockwise in a circle. Each time the learner gets a card, they say the word out loud. Start with one card and build up to having multiple cards in circulation.

4. ‘Guess the flashcard’ is a game where the teacher, sitting in a circle with the learners, holds a secret flashcard. The learners take it in turns to guess the word on the card that the teacher is holding. If the learner makes a duplicate guess, they are ‘out’. The winner is the child who accumulates the most correctly guessed flashcards.

5. ‘Flashcard Tiddlywinks’ involves the teacher laying out the flashcards face up on the floor. The learners, individually or in teams, flip plastic bingo chips or coins and have to say the appropriate word the coin lands on. To make the game competitive, the first learner to say the word, if playing in teams, wins.

6. ‘Flashcard hunt’ is a kinaesthetic game where you hide the flashcards around the room. With the children standing up in a circle around you, say ‘find me…’ and the name of one of the flashcards. The first learner or team of learners to find it and brings it to you wins a point. If any learners bring the wrong cards, they lose a point.

The flashcards can be used as follows:
1. To teach the language, have the learners sit around you in a circle. Slowly reveal a card and elicit the word from the whole class or individual students. Model the pronunciation and drill the word. Put the flashcard at the back of the pile or face down on the floor. Continue through the cycle of cards until you’ve done them all. Go through the cycle again, trying to elicit the words from students’ memories. You don’t have to do every card – you could pick some at random.

2. If you were laying the flashcards on the floor as you went through them, you can nominate the learners to try to recall the words, either in reverse or in normal order. If the learners find this too easy, why not shuffle the cards face down slowly, with the learners following where each one is going. Then elicit the covered flashcards.

3. ‘Flashcard pass’ is a game where you can pass the cards clockwise in a circle. Each time the learner gets a card, they say the word out loud. Start with one card and build up to having multiple cards in circulation.

4. ‘Guess the flashcard’ is a game where the teacher, sitting in a circle with the learners, holds a secret flashcard. The learners take it in turns to guess the word on the card that the teacher is holding. If the learner makes a duplicate guess, they are ‘out’. The winner is the child who accumulates the most correctly guessed flashcards.

5. ‘Flashcard Tiddlywinks’ involves the teacher laying out the flashcards face up on the floor. The learners, individually or in teams, flip plastic bingo chips or coins and have to say the appropriate word the coin lands on. To make the game competitive, the first learner to say the word, if playing in teams, wins.

6. ‘Flashcard hunt’ is a kinaesthetic game where you hide the flashcards around the room. With the children standing up in a circle around you, say ‘find me…’ and the name of one of the flashcards. The first learner or team of learners to find it and brings it to you wins a point. If any learners bring the wrong cards, they lose a point.

The flashcards can be used as follows:
1. To teach the language, have the learners sit around you in a circle. Slowly reveal a card and elicit the word from the whole class or individual students. Model the pronunciation and drill the word. Put the flashcard at the back of the pile or face down on the floor. Continue through the cycle of cards until you’ve done them all. Go through the cycle again, trying to elicit the words from students’ memories. You don’t have to do every card – you could pick some at random.

2. If you were laying the flashcards on the floor as you went through them, you can nominate the learners to try to recall the words, either in reverse or in normal order. If the learners find this too easy, why not shuffle the cards face down slowly, with the learners following where each one is going. Then elicit the covered flashcards.

3. ‘Flashcard pass’ is a game where you can pass the cards clockwise in a circle. Each time the learner gets a card, they say the word out loud. Start with one card and build up to having multiple cards in circulation.

4. ‘Guess the flashcard’ is a game where the teacher, sitting in a circle with the learners, holds a secret flashcard. The learners take it in turns to guess the word on the card that the teacher is holding. If the learner makes a duplicate guess, they are ‘out’. The winner is the child who accumulates the most correctly guessed flashcards.

5. ‘Flashcard Tiddlywinks’ involves the teacher laying out the flashcards face up on the floor. The learners, individually or in teams, flip plastic bingo chips or coins and have to say the appropriate word the coin lands on. To make the game competitive, the first learner to say the word, if playing in teams, wins.

6. ‘Flashcard hunt’ is a kinaesthetic game where you hide the flashcards around the room. With the children standing up in a circle around you, say ‘find me…’ and the name of one of the flashcards. The first learner or team of learners to find it and brings it to you wins a point. If any learners bring the wrong cards, they lose a point.