Have you heard of Boom Learning? I love using these digital task cards in my ESL classroom. All teachers should know about Boom Cards and the benefits they hold, even for homeschooling, mixed ages and mixed levels. You can find a Boom deck in an array of subjects too from English and maths to geography and foreign languages. The long and short of it is... Boom cards are awesome.
Now, if you’re a long-term reader you know me already, if not a quick run down is that I’m an ESL teacher in Spain, teaching all grades and levels from babies to adults. I have been teaching for 10 years and my motto is that learning is fun! I try to make all of my lessons active, involved and practical for students to learn in a positive, motivated way. Using Boom Cards certainly helps with this as they are like playing a game and so I’m sure your students will enjoy playing them. With so many different designs and themes your kiddos won’t get bored and if they are anything like mine they will ask to play again and again.
I started using Boom Cards a little before Covid-19, because I liked the game playing approach to learning, but then when the pandemic hit they became more useful than ever for teachers all over the world, not just me. As Boom Cards are stored on a cloud you can log in and use them from wherever making them great for at home and distance learning. They are digital and so it was a great way to assign exercises to students in their own home. However, because of the great data feedback and personal or whole group assignment they are still brilliant to use in the classroom today. Let’s take a more in depth look at Boom Cards and how we can use them.
What are Boom Cards?
Boom cards are digital task cards that you play on the Boom Learning website. Mostly the cards are self grading and provide instant feedback to both teacher and student. They are a fun, entertaining way to deliver instruction and practice on any given topic and can include a range of different activities. Teachers need to have an account in order to use them and there’s both a FREE and several paid for versions to fit your teacher budget.
How do I use Boom Cards in my classroom?
There are several ways to use Boom decks with your students.
Firstly for instructional learning as a group on an interactive whiteboard. I love this! Most Boom Cards include cards teaching how to use the skill they will be learning in the deck and how to play it. Plus with an interactive whiteboard students each get turns to come up to the board and select the correct answer, which they love.
Secondly as Boom Cards are self grading they can be used for individual assessment both inside and outside of the classroom because they are digital. So students can log on from home and use them for homework. (and it’s not really homework, homework, because it doesn’t include books but does use a screen!) or log on in the classroom.
Thirdly, I like to let fast finishers use Boom Cards. I teach mixed grades and levels so it’s really helpful for me to have a range of grammar skills games my students can practise whilst I’m busy with a student. Keeping everyone occupied and happy at the same time.
These are a couple of my Boom Cards Decks that I have created for my students.
What are the benefits of using Boom Cards?
They are easy to set up and fun to use!
There’s no printing, cutting, laminating like with regular task cards. Saving time and money on the materials (and also the TREES).
Interactive for students making them interesting.
Self-grading - Saving us teachers A LOT of time.
Used with internet-connected devices: computers, tablets, Smartboards.
Includes data tracking with paid subscription which is brilliant for assessment and reporting. AGAIN saving you time.
Can easily differentiate for students. By assigning individual decks you can give some students one game and some students another, practising the same skill but with different levels of intensity.
Holding students accountable for their homework or independent work.
Why I love them as an ESL teacher
In the decks that I have designed, which isn't difficult to do by the way, I can use multiple language skills. My students can practise reading and comprehension, writing and sentence structure, listening, and grammar. All in one place and in different interactive ways. One thing Boom Cards are NOT is boring. Even if your kiddos don’t like one deck (which I doubt) they will love the next one and this for me is another big pro.
If you’re an ESL or ELA teacher I recommend checking out these decks.
Okay, okay, I’m a teacher and I obviously love them, but what do my students say?
‘ I enjoy playing these games and my English gets better too ‘ - Carla
‘ I don’t like homework, but when Amy gives me Boom Cards to play it makes it more fun and less like work.’ - Hugo
‘ I like going up to the board and using the computer to say the answer. Everyone can see when I get it correct and it makes me happy.’ - Chloe
If you want to check out Boom learning in more detail, which I highly recommend by the way, you can do so here.
Go and have a play for free and see what you think. I promise it will make a great addition to your classroom and keep your students entertained too.
I will also be posting a how to make Boom Cards blog in the near future so be sure to pop back and read it AND don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter for more tips and tricks on teaching ESL plus your chance to get FREE worksheets and Boom Cards.
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