For the first time this year I am using Boom Cards, as they allow students to hear the language, respond to show understanding and get immediate feedback while working at their own speed. The app Boom Cards is a product of Boom Learning and is an online digital resource.
I would like to suggest you get started by trying some decks that other teachers have made:
- Classroom supplies from La Classe de Madame Angel
- Family from World Language Café
- New Year’s Eve from Vari Lingual
You can join the platform for free, pay a couple dollars for one of these decks and then use “Fastplay” to assign these exercises to students. The three ideas above are activities to reinforce vocabulary for novice learners. I like these better than online games because they are not competitive, don’t reward speed and don’t rely on translation.
Boom Cards has other types of activities too. My favorite is to ask students to listen to a reading and then match captions with pictures to show understanding. Here is an example:
- Le villain petit canard from Speak Up Language Learners
One of my goals for this year is to have students read more often. Boom cards are a great way to get in a quick reading with some accountability.
If you sign up for a paid account, you can have your students’ work recorded so that you can use these activities as comprehension check-ins. With or without that piece, this platform makes use of the true capacity of technology by integrating audio, interactive play and images. I use this for ten minutes at the end of my class and I only use each activity once. Boom Cards are an innovative addition to language teaching.
mmemoghtader.com 
2 responses to “Boom Cards”
I am curious to know if you purchase all of the activities on the Boom Card website. I personally find it frustrating that you have to pay for a subscription to the site and then again individually for each activity you assign. This could get very expensive quickly. For those of us with a budget that doesn’t stretch this far, do you have any suggestions?
Thanks for the note! You know, I am not paying for a subscription and only paying (out of my own pocket) for the cards. I don’t advocate using your own money for teaching and so I clearly haven’t figured this out yet. My department head has said that other teachers aren’t asking for this resource so she is not hearing that there is a need for my department to pay for it.