Flashcards or Lehhiet in Maltese, offer a very effective method of teaching a language. They are versatile, interactive, hands-on and all activities can easily be turned into games, thus making learning fun. They are particularly useful in situations when we wish to teach another language to the very young.

Merlin Publishers have recently issued their first two sets of flashcards in Maltese in a series of six packs. Always sensitive to the needs of the end user and the gaps in the local market, Merlin constantly endeavour to make available resources of the highest quality for the learning of Maltese be it in a classroom setting or in a one-to-one situation at home.

The first pack – L-alfabett – contains of course a flashcard for each letter of the Maltese alphabet, with each letter shown in both its lower and uppercase forms. The second pack – Annimali, Insetti u Ghasafar – covers, as the title indicates, keywords for the most common animals, insects and birds.

Each flashcard contains, on the front: a word, a large colour photograph of the object/animal the word describes, and in the case of the alphabet the first letter of the word. All images are high-quality colour photographs, professionally shot and carefully selected by experts in the field to aid identification.

On the back of each flashcard, Merlin’s innovative cards contain a series of questions aimed at parents or teachers, intended to stimulate conversation based on the photograph shown on the front of the card. Oracy is a skill that is being promoted from the very early years, as this will be a crucial skill in later school years. These questions, based on the photograph shown on the card, serve to provoke conversation, imagination and discussion, whether in a full class or in a one-to-one session with the child.

The pack Annimali, Insetti u Ghasafar, as well as future packs in the series, furthermore contains a set of mini-flashcards with all possible permutations of the article in Maltese, as well as the demonstrative pronouns dan and din. These mini-flashcards are the first of their kind in Malta, giving teachers and parents the flexibility to choose whether to show children the words without or with the Maltese article. It also facilitates adding, at a later stage, dan and din to each word. Needless to say, these mini-flashcards can be used across the different packs, and have been hailed as one of the most exciting features of Merlin’s flashcards packs.

Each pack of flashcards also includes a card with notes aimed at teachers and parents, with ideas on how to exploit the flashcards to the full – additional games and activities that can easily be applied with the child, using the flashcards to play while familiarising them with basic Maltese vocabulary.

The Merlin flashcards, in line with Merlin’s trademark commitment to quality and safety, come with the highest safety CE certifications and the cards all have rounded corners to prevent injury.

These new Merlin flashcards are available from all bookshops or directly online from www.merlinpublishers.com