Boom Cards in the Language Classroom

Today I am going to share with you a great online tool for students to practice vocabulary. They are Boom Learning Cards. If you have not tried them yet, you really should and I am going to tell you why.

What are Boom Learning Cards?

Boom Learning Cards is an online tool that will help teachers assign digital, interactive work to students online. Students will get one practice sheet at a time to work with. Once they respond to the task on the card, they will get instant feedback.

Teachers will have access to a dashboard that will give them a summary of the students’ work. You can see the percentage students earn and how long they spent using the cards. The reports page will also show you what their best score is if students play multiple times.

In a nutshell, I think your students will love the change of pace they bring. Teachers will love them for the self-grading aspect and online, digital use they offer. Everybody will appreciate the instant feedback they give.

Getting the lingo down

A set of Boom Cards are called a Boom Deck. The decks can only be used digitally. They are an online resource only. The decks are self-scoring which means the program will tell the students if they are correct or not. Students get instant feedback. The teacher does not have to grade it!

Get a free deck for practicing Family here.

Why do you want to use Boom Cards?

1. They are digital
2. Instant feedback
3. Easy to differentiate instruction
4. They work with Google Classroom (see how here)
5. They are entertaining
6. You can use video

How do Boom Cards work?

The lessons on the Boom learning cards are created by teachers. You can purchase them or create them yourself. Some of the decks are free, others charge a very small fee ($1 – $4) which I think is worth it to save you time.

Boom Cards can be previewed (I think 4 cards) before you purchase. However, you are unable to edit Boom Cards once you have purchased them. If the author of the deck changes something, your deck will change too. Just be aware of this. It rarely happens, but it could.

How do I make them?

The easiest way to start making these decks yourself is to watch the how-to videos from the Boom Learning YouTube channel. I highly suggest watching how to conquer the basics of making decks before jumping in. I found the process of making the cards a little clunky at first.

Your Boom Card creations may contain:

• Fill in the Blank Answers
• Multiple Choice
• Moveable Pieces
• Clickable Answer Choices
• Matching (or drag and drop)

The pros and cons of Boom Cards

For ASL, I love the fact that this program allows videos. That is a plus. Boom Learning claims that Gifs work with their decks, but I have yet to get this to happen for any of my Boom Decks. Boom Learning told me Gifs will work but must be under 300k and 1,400 pixels in order to function correctly in a Boom Card, but they do work if they are small. Once you make the Gif small, it is impossible for students to see them clearly. They are too pixelated. So don’t waste time trying to use them. Use video instead.

Boom decks also allow images and words to be used. You can match videos to an image or an English word. I know many people try to avoid using English when teaching a second language so images work great for this.

There is a subscription fee to this site. You are allowed to make 4 free decks before you have to subscribe to make more. However, you can purchase Boom Decks without being a subscriber.

I hope this post has helped you find a new resource to use for distance learning, substitute days, extra practice in class, formative assessments, or just a study tool for students.

Check out my digital Boom store here and look at the other Boom Decks created for ASL.

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