Verb Cards by Advance Materials

Advance Materials do use new technology in an old-fashioned way. By that I mean that they provide interactive learning without computers. Their French Verb Cards are similar in many ways to their Magic Verb cards, reviewed earlier on this blog. A “cut-out card and slide” system makes tenses align with a slot in the card and a tense marker – such as “L’année dernière.” This method of learning may particularly appeal to visual and kinaesthetic learners. The physical movement involved leads to more learning impact than gained by just moving things around on a computer screen.
The resource revises 100 French verbs in present, perfect, imperfect and future tenses. This is impressive, though it is a great pity that this resource is only available in French at the moment. Always, always French.
Students would certainly be able to work independently and there is also the possibility that they can revise all tenses in one go, thus gaining a bigger picture of how verbs work. They would certainly be useful to students from GCSE to A2. Unfortunately they’re not cheap. They start at £22.31 per set, including VAT. However, the more sets you buy, the cheaper they get – 30 packs cost just £511.11, and currently Advance Materials are giving away one set free for every six packs purchased. Even so, I can’t help thinking that computer programmes would be cheaper.