When phrasal verbs arrive... it's Anki time!

When I started my English classes this year, one of my New year resolutions was to incorporate ICT in my classes, (as I had been a little bit afraid of them during last courses). So, taking advantage of my ICT classes at University, I decided to add new technology in my classes.

Phrasal verbs are one of the "biggies" that students have to face during their English learning process and I thought that I could find some tools that help them to study. Doing some research I discovered Anki.

Anki is a flashcard app that students can use in their computers but also in their smartphones. The idea is quite simple:  you create a deck, for example phrasal verbs, and then you add cards to this deck. Cards may be written on the front, where you write the phrasal verb, and on the back, where you write the meaning of it. You can also add pictures or audio (for example if you are practising pronunciation).

Once you have created your deck you can study it. When you press "study", a flashcard will appear on the screen and you will have to think of the meaning. To check if you were right or not, you press the flashcard which will flip to show you the meaning. At this point you will have to tell if you guess it quickly, if you guess it but it was hard, or if you failed; with this information the app decides how long it has to wait until it shows the same flashcard again. When you finish studying the app gives you a score so that you know how are you doing it.

And why is it effective with teenagers? Well first of all, because before every class they show me how many times they have studied the deck (it appears on the app). It's also easier for them just to spend five minutes with their smartphone while they are in the train, or watching TV than to look for their English notebook and start to study phrasal verbs in the traditional way.

Although I don't believe in magic solutions in order to learn phrasal verbs I hope this app will help my students to learn the basics in an easier way. Of course this app can be used to learn other things like vocabulary, prepositions even some grammar aspects so if it works with phrasal verbs I'll carry on using it with other issues.

I add a video where it is explained how to use the app!