Everyone has a tip for learning Chinese in China and ours is flashcards.
While everyone learns a new language differently, we know that the use of flashcards have been a rewarding way for students to learn Mandarin in China.
At Keats School, we use flashcards in our classes. Our teachers use the latest and professional teaching methods created and tested by the Keats team. We have seen unprecedented results when using our flashcards during one-on-one classes.
Here’s why.
1. FLASHCARDS ALLOW FOR CONFIDENCE-BASED REPETITION
One of the most important reasons we use flashcards at Keats School is because it allows for repetition.
Since flashcards are loose papers, you can add them into piles based on whether you need to study them again, or in more depth. This confidence-based repetition is proven to be one of the best ways to improve memory performance.
Study a flashcard over and over and then study the next one. When you go back to the first card, chances are you will remember what the card says.
2. FLASHCARDS ENGAGE ACTIVE RECALL
This continues from our first reason we use flashcards for students who learn Chinese in China.
Active recall is the principle of efficient learning. To learn better, you need to actively stimulate memory during the learning process. By repeating flashcards, a switch goes off in your brain, telling you to focus and pay attention to what’s on the flashcard.
This allows you to remember the flashcard and be able to actively use what’s on the flashcard in real life.
This means, when you look at the front of a flashcard with the Mandarin character on it, you’re engaging active recall to figure out what the character is. But simply reading a textbook, you won’t be engaging active recall, therefore it’s easier to forget.
Studies have shown that active recall creates strong neuron connections for memory.
3. USE OF IMAGES AND WORDS
Like we mentioned, everyone learns differently. With flashcards, we’re able to tailor the card to the best way you learn.
Adding images to our cards can make them a lot more memorable, which in turn allows people to remember the word associated with the image.
In a study called The Picture Superiority Effect, it shows that people remember imagery better than they remember words.
But, don’t skip the wording altogether. Our brains are interesting because the mixture of pictures and words work better than just words or just pictures.
While you learn Mandarin in China, flashcards will be used in our Keats classroom. We also encourage all students to create their own flashcards for studying outside of classroom hours.
This will improve your Mandarin language skills even more and you can study with other students too.
4. SAYING ANSWERS OUT LOUD
When we use flashcards at Keats for study Chinese in China students, we know that using our voices help with language learning.
By using flashcards with someone else in the room (teacher and student or student and student), you’re using another way to learn Chinese; verbally.
When we have a student speak out loud the answer on the card, the memory is getting engaged again while also working on pronunciation. A win win!
LEARN MANDARIN IN CHINA AT KEATS
We’ve seen such great success with our teaching methods at Keats. Our students believe that their success in learning the language has to do with Keats teaching.
If you’re interested in applying to Keats and experiencing learning Mandarin through the use of flashcards and other teaching techniques, apply online. If you have any questions, contact us today.
