“Helper” Cards

If you need more help to understand a new word, there are helper cards. The AnkiMaster system includes 5 helper cards:

• Pronunciation Card
• Spelling Card
• Translation-Word Card

Some of these cards you will not use very often. They are useful for certain things. Experiment and see what works for you.

Picture-Word Card

This card is similar to the New Word Card except that there is no sentence. You have to guess the correct word. Unlike the New Word Card, you don’t have the context of the sentence to help you, so it’s a little more challenging. I recommend using this card only for words that are very visual. Don’t use it for abstract words and other words that cannot be identified easily with pictures.

FRONT

1. Pictures
2. A definition
3. Hidden word translation

BACK

1. The word
2. The word in a sentence
3. Hidden sentence translation

How to study this card

Look at the front of the card.

1. Try to remember the word that matches the pictures. Check the POS (part of speech) so that you can guess the correct form of the word (noun, verb, adjective, etc.)
2. If you don’t understand what the images mean, click on the light green text to reveal the translation. Try to remember the word by combining the images with the translation.
3. Say the word out loud

Look at the back of the card.

1. Listen to the audio.
2. Repeat the word and the sentence out loud.

Success = you remembered the word

Failure = you couldn’t remember the word, or you remember the wrong word

See: How to grade yourself (above)

Listening Card

Use this card to improve your listening skills. These cards hide all the information so that you can focus on listening.  On the front of the card, you will hear the audio for the Sentence. The card forces you to listen because you have nothing to look at. You must listen to the sentence before you read it. You can greatly improve your listening skills using these cards. (I speak from personal experience!)

FRONT

1. Audio recording of a sentence
2. Hidden information (Sentence, target word, and pictures)

BACK

1. Sentence
2. Target word
3. Pictures related to the target word
4. Definition of the target word
5. Hidden word translation
6. Hidden sentence translation

How to study this card

Look at the front of the card.

1. Listen to the audio
2. Try to repeat the sentence without looking at the text. Replay the sentence several times if you need to.
3. If you can’t understand and repeat the sentence, click on some of the hidden information to help you remember. Continue revealing information until you remember. You can first unhide the target word, then the inflected form, the pictures, and finally, if you still can’t understand what you are hearing, unhide the sentence and read it out loud.

Look at the back of the card

1. Listen to the audio
2. Repeat the sentence out loud while reading the text.

Success = you understood the sentence correctly

Failure = you didn’t understand the sentence

It’s ok if you can’t repeat the sentence perfectly. Look at the pictures and definitions and review the sentence until you understand.

See: How to grade yourself (above)

Pronunciation Card

Use this card if you have trouble pronouncing a new word. Many students know a lot of words but they can’t pronounce them correctly. This card will help you practice difficult to pronounce words regularly.

FRONT

1. Word without audio

BACK

1. IPA pronunciation guide
2. Audio recording of the word

How to study this card

Look at the front of the card

1. Try to pronounce the word. Don’t worry about the meaning.

Look at the back of the card

1. Listen to the audio. Look at the IPA. Do you recognize each sound?
2. Repeat the word. Replay the sound and repeat the word until you pronounce it correctly.

Success = you pronounced the word correctly the first time.

Failure = you did not pronounce the word correctly the first time. You had to practice and adjust your pronunciation.

Spelling Card

Use this card if you have trouble spelling a new word.

FRONT:

1. Audio recording of a word

BACK:

1. The word
2. IPA pronunciation guide

How to study this card

Look at the front of the card

1. Try to spell the word. Write it down on a piece of paper if that helps you.

Look at the back of the card

1. Check your spelling

Success = you spelled the word correctly

Failure = you spelled the word incorrectly

Translation-word Card

Use this card for complex words that are hard to visualize or understand from reading a definition.

FRONT

1. A translation of an English word
2. A translation of the English sentence

BACK

1. The English word
2. A sentence with the word
3. Definition of the target word

How to study this card

Look at the front of the card

Think of the English word that matches the translation. Say it out loud.

Look at the back of the card

Read the word and the sentence.

Success = you remembered the word correctly

Failure = you couldn’t remember the word or you didn’t remember the word correctly