On September 22, 2011, Kelly Tenkely blogger at iLearn Technology posted about a truly inspirational web site that makes learning new words completely enjoyable. This site, InsideStory Flash Cards, was started and is hosted by a mother/daughter team, Shauna Simon and Kande Underwood of Washington.
Our stories are unforgettable—and that's how they make words stick. Each "story" provides a clear context for the featured vocabulary word, so readers easily understand how the word is used. The vocabulary is closely associated with the memorable details, making learning words almost as easy as laughing at a funny caption, reading about an unusual animal, or getting the scoop on a cool city.
When users select Free Printable Flash Cards, the screen to the right fills their vision. Four tabs to the right suggest the levels of difficulty: Basic (206) English Vocabulary, Kids and ESL, Easy (315) Vocabulary Builder, Kids' Printables, Medium (330) SAT Vocabulary, Common SAT Words, and Hard (60) Big Words, GRE & Beyond. (Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of words within each category.)
For many of the words users can listen to the pronunciation by clicking on the audio icon located next to the spelling and part of speech given for each word. There is also an option to hide the definition of the word if one wishes to test their knowledge.
At the bottom of the column on the right side of the page is the choice to print the flash cards in the group. When selected a new page appears showing all the flash cards giving the user the opportunity to select individual cards or print the entire category.
Boxed sets of sixty, four by two and one half, cards can be purchased through the site's online store. The set categories are cats and dogs, animals and Seattle. They sell for $14.95.
This is another gem to be placed in an educator's treasure box of tools for the classroom.