How to Help a Child Remember English Words: Spaced Repetition and the Leitner System

Why a child forgets words: the forgetting curve in simple terms

At the end of the 19th century, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus studied how memory loses information over time. His key finding is known as the “forgetting curve”: we forget fastest right after learning — in the first hours and days — and then forgetting slows down. In other words, if a child learned ten words on Monday and never returned to them, by Friday only a small part will still be in memory — and that’s not a child problem, it’s how every brain works.

Ebbinghaus’s second discovery is even more useful in practice: every review makes the curve flatter. Review a word the next day — it lasts longer. Review it again after a few days — even longer. After several spaced reviews, the word moves into long-term memory, and you no longer have to “learn” it — it’s just there.

That leads to two conclusions for parents. First: scolding a child with “but we studied it yesterday!” makes no sense — forgetting after one contact with a word is guaranteed. Second: the question is not how many hours to study words, but when to come back to the ones already learned.

Spaced repetition: the 1-3-7-14-30 day schedule

Spaced repetition is a technique that catches a word just before it disappears. The intervals between reviews gradually increase: first one day, then three, then a week, two weeks, a month. A classic schedule looks like this:

The schedule only looks complicated while there are few words. When there are several sets, new words, “three-day” words, and “weekly” words overlap on the same day — and tracking it manually becomes inconvenient. That’s exactly what the Leitner system with boxes was designed for, and later apps took over the schedule for you.

If you don’t have time to keep such a review calendar, Mova does it for you: every word from the daily English lesson comes back to the child on this exact schedule, and you can see progress in the web dashboard — no tables or reminders needed.

The Leitner method step by step: boxes and rules for moving cards

In the 1970s, German journalist Sebastian Leitner turned spaced repetition into a simple physical system: flashcards and several boxes. Each box represents its own review interval. Here’s how to set it up at home:

1. Make the cards. Cut sturdy paper into rectangles about 6×9 cm. On one side, write the English word; on the other, add a picture or translation. For which words to put in the boxes first, see the collection of English words for children by topic.
2. Prepare 3–5 boxes (envelopes or organizer compartments work too). Label them: box 1 — “every day,” box 2 — “every 3 days,” box 3 — “once a week,” box 4 — “every 2 weeks,” box 5 — “learned, check once a month.” To start with, and for younger children, three boxes are enough: every day / every 3 days / once a week.
3. Put all new cards in box 1. These are the words reviewed every day.
4. Rule for moving forward: the child looks at the word and says the meaning (or vice versa). If they answer correctly, the card moves to the next box, where reviews are less frequent.
5. Rule for moving back: if they make a mistake or hesitate too long, the card goes back to box 1, no matter which box it came from. This is the method’s core mechanism: difficult words are reviewed more often automatically, easy words less often.
6. Session length: 5–10 minutes a day. Each day you review box 1 and any boxes whose day has come. If a card reaches the last box and survives the monthly check, the word is learned.

Honestly: paper boxes usually survive a week or two — then no one opens them anymore. In Mova, the same check happens automatically every day: the child doesn’t flip through words but answers them in a test, and each answer moves the word between Leitner “boxes” — forward for a correct answer, back to the start for a mistake.

How to make flashcards interesting for a child

Flashcards are English for children in the simplest format, but a child will quickly give them up if they feel like just another lesson. What helps:

• A picture instead of a translation. The pair “apple — 🍎” connects the word directly to an image, without a Ukrainian middleman. For preschoolers, this is the only workable option; for schoolchildren, it’s simply more effective.
• Words from the child’s life. A Minecraft player needs sword, build, and craft, not “marvellous” from a school list. A word a child immediately recognizes in a game or cartoon already has context — and sticks better in memory.
• 5–7 new words at a time, no more. A small batch the child can handle motivates better than a list of 20 words that “still didn’t get learned.”
• A word in a phrase. On the back of the card, add a short sentence: dog — I have a dog. A word without context is the most common reason for “we studied it and studied it, but it doesn’t come up in speech.”
• Let the child draw the cards themselves. Drawing a picture for the word is already the first review, and children are more willing to use their own cards.

How many words should be in the system in total depends on age and level; guidelines are collected in the article how many English words a child should know and what the Oxford 3000 list is.

Common mistakes that keep words from sticking

• Learning 20 words a day. A large batch overloads memory: by the next day, most of it will be forgotten, and the child will conclude “I have a bad memory.” 5–7 words with review give better results with less effort.
• Reviewing right after learning. Five reviews in a row in one evening count as one review for the brain. What matters is the pause: the word needs time to be forgotten a little so that recalling it strengthens it.
• Words without context. A column of “word — translation” without phrases or pictures is remembered like noise. This is especially noticeable with grammar lists: we looked at how to learn without rote memorization using the example of irregular verb tables — the same principle of intervals and grouping works there too.
• Giving up after the first mistake. A word forgotten on the third day is not a failure, but a signal from the schedule: it’s time to review it. The system works not despite forgetting, but because of it. In Mova, for example, a forgotten word simply comes back the next day, and a failed test can be retaken an hour later with different questions — no pressure and no effort from you.
• Checking only one way. If a child always sees the English word and recalls the translation, they may recognize it in a text but still won’t be able to use it themselves. Alternate: today “word → meaning,” tomorrow “picture → word in English.”

How spaced repetition works in Mova

Paper boxes work great as long as an adult keeps them going — and adults usually don’t have the energy for daily checks for very long. That’s why the most reliable option is not to keep the schedule in your head, but to hand it over to Mova. There, repetition is built into the daily English lesson; nobody has to think about it separately:

• Leitner boxes built in. Every word the child saw in a test is in its own “box.” A correct answer means the word returns in 1, 3, 7, 14, or 30 days; a mistake means it goes back into active review tomorrow, like a card in the first box.
• Learned after 4 correct answers in a row on different days. Such words drop out of the daily set and only occasionally return for a refresher.
• The level adjusts itself. There is no separate placement test: new words are chosen based on the child’s rating, which changes according to daily results.
• Consistency is built into the mechanics. Games, social media, and videos on the child’s iPhone are locked, and minutes on them are earned through lessons: a “Super” test gives 30 minutes, a “Good” test gives 20. So daily review happens without reminders from parents.

One honest limitation: Mova only works on iPhone, and it won’t replace paper flashcards at home if your child enjoys drawing them themselves. More about English apps is in the обзор of apps for learning English for children.