Totally Frenched Out

From the blogger formerly known as Samdebretagne

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Flash quoi?

For the first time in a long time, the start of the new school year actually has importance for me, besides just meaning that hoards of foreign nannies and yuppie mummies will once again be crowding the sidewalk in front of our building.  This rentrée marks the last semester of my masters (hallelujah!), and our director decided what better way to kick it off than with a six-subject exam.

Cuz everyone wants to spend the month of August studying, right??

Six subjects was just seeming too much for me, and reading my notes wasn't really getting my anywhere, so I decided to go the old school route and make some flashcards.
The added bonus was that they were easily transportable during my travels, so I didn't have to be hauling huge stack of notes and books with me on the road. 

Our test was scheduled for Saturday, so every break we had on the Friday before was spent studying my little cards.  What I wasn't expecting however was the reaction they would get from my classmates.  Every single one exclaimed "What on Earth do you have there?".  When I explained what it was, they would go on and on about what a fantastic idea it was, and ask if it was an "American" thing.   Here it turns out that almost everyone else in the class had neatly rewritten their notes on these 5x7 note cards, and they were all studying off of that. 

The news of the flashcard revolution quickly spread, with some people even copying my cards on to paper so that they could make their own that night.  And I was the most popular person at lunch - everyone wanted to sit with me and see the flash cards in action, so they could make their own for our last exam in December.  I found the whole thing hilarious because flashcards are such a simple concept. Who would have ever thought a little ol' stack of cards could have such a big effect?


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7 Comments:

Blogger Delana@dujour said...

Love this. I did the same thing when trying to learn french while here in France. People thought it was such a great idea now that I can actually speak to those same people, they still ask me about those cards. Good luck on your last semester.

September 8, 2013 at 6:20 PM  
Blogger Linds Frank said...

Your color coded, typed flashcards are amazing. I have organizational jealousy!

Hope the test went well!!

September 8, 2013 at 6:30 PM  
Blogger Mil said...

When I went back to school I did them on the French style cards but found them bulky. Glad you revolutionized things!

September 8, 2013 at 9:36 PM  
Blogger melinda said...

now someone neweds to bring screens to france !!

September 9, 2013 at 2:52 PM  
Blogger Sara Louise said...

Flashcards are my favorite way to learn. When I moved to France I made a huge stack of French vocabulary flashcards. I still have them and flip through them from time to time :)

September 10, 2013 at 10:26 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Just to show it is highly personal. They never worked for me.

September 10, 2013 at 9:22 PM  
Blogger Jadie said...

Flashcards are the penultimate learning tool. We Americans know how to study right. Plus, they make us feel so completely in control, which is delicious beyond measure!

September 17, 2013 at 4:06 AM  

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