Let’s do a quick YES or NO questionnaire:

1. Do you teach a class full of super-kids who are just too eager to showcase their ability?
2. Do your students enjoy shouting the answers to all of your questions?
3. Do you hear a lot of buzzing-bee noise coming from your students?

Or perhaps, the opposite?

1. Do you have a class full of students who are too shy to even say A, B, or C as an answer?
2. Do you struggle to get a response from your students?
3. Do you hear little voice from the back of your classroom, quietly answering your questions?

If ‘YES’ was your answer to any of these questions, it might be a great time to use coloured cards in your classroom.

Not only will this assist you in managing a class full of super-kids, but coloured cards can also help you elicit response from your students, especially the shy ones.

What are coloured cards?

Coloured cards are simply cards that have different colours (yes, that simple). You can use these cards to help students respond to your questions, by raising a specific coloured card. However, you must bear in mind that you have to prepare the answers to your questions too, and put them in different coloured cards.

How can I implement coloured cards in my lessons?

To implement coloured cards in your lessons is quite easy and quick. First and foremost, you must prepare at least two cards of different colours (of your choice).

Let me give a simple example. In a KS1 lesson, you want your students to answer this question: What is the capital city of Malaysia?

Of course, if you have a group of super-kids and/or bees, this will be an easy question. And, if they got it wrong, you may even get some funny answers. However, in a class full of shy students, you might end up answering this question yourself.

Regardless, in both situations, coloured cards can come in handy.

Firstly, prepare your questions in slides, if your class is equipped with enough resources. If it is not, you can ask your questions verbally, but always write the answers in coloured cards. To do this, you may want to laminate coloured A4 papers and turn them into your ‘white board’. Make sure these A4 papers match with the smaller coloured cards that your students are holding.

Then, ask your students to raise one card, based on the options that you have given them. For example, green card for Jakarta and pink card for Kuala Lumpur.

Remember, the goal of coloured cards is (1) to manage enthusiastic students and (2) to elicit a response, not to get the right answer.

To have your students raise one card at a time, you may want to do a little practice. You can ask simple questions such as ‘What is 1+1?’ and have students raise either ‘Green Card for 1‘ and ‘Pink Card for 2‘.

Again, do not assess whether students can answer the questions correctly, unless they are the super-kids. On the other hand, if they were super-shy students, help them build their confidence. Hopefully, over time, they will be able to provide verbal answers, without the help of coloured cards.

I have tried using this strategy myself in all my KS1 classes, and believe me, students love it. Its simplicity will not take you longer than 5 minutes to prepare. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!