Some words in English have a larger meaning than others. The easiest words to learn are the words with the smallest meanings. As meanings get larger, the process of grasping that meaning sometimes becomes more difficult. That is one reason that articles (a, an and the) in English and prepositions are a bit challenging for some English language learners. One way to help students acquire the meanings of prepositions is to break them down into smaller categories like prepositions of location or prepositions of time. These two types of prepositions are good starting points and lots of exposure to them should help students begin to understand their large meanings.
Flashcards are one way to increase the exposure students have to prepositions. I’ve made some flashcards that cover prepositions of location that students can either put on their mobile devices or review using Slideshare. If students have iPods or cell phones that have photo browsing capability, they can save the cards through the zip file and then put them on their mobile devices in the same way that they put photos on their devices. Alternatively, students can view the flashcards on Slideshare by linking to the address below.
I’d just like to add one more thing about making flashcards for mobile devices. I made these using PowerPoint. I like using PowerPoint because the font is clear and I can easily add some photos to the cards. PowerPoint also allows me to put the “presentation” on Slideshare. To make the cards for mobile devices, I simply save the PowerPoint presentation as jppgs. They end up in a folder. I then zipped that folder, put it on my website and now I have a link that I can give my students and you! The links are below.
Cards for mobile devices:
Link to the presentation on Slideshare: