Feb 06

Free Bingo Games Online and Their History

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Bingo is often used as an instructional tool in American primary schools and in teaching English as a foreign language in many countries. Bingo is a game of chance played with randomly drawn numbers which players match against numbers that have been pre-printed on 5×5 matrices. Bingo as we know it today is a form of lottery and is a direct descendant of Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia.

Players

Bingo is a game of chance played with randomly drawn numbers which players match against numbers that have been pre-printed on 5×5 matrices. Players then mark which numbers they wish to play and then daub those numbers according to the numbers drawn. Players often play multiple cards for each game; 30 is not an unusual number. In this version of bingo, players compete against one another for the prize or “jackpot”.

Cards

The matrices may be printed on paper, card stock or electronically represented and are referred to as “cards. The most common Bingo cards are flat pieces of cardboard or disposable paper which contain 25 squares arranged in five vertical columns and five horizontal rows.

Chat

Talking to anyone during a land based bingo game is prohibited but online it is encouraged and you can happily do so in numerous chat games offered by the bingo halls. Chat games are the ideal place for bingo buddies to meet and enjoy lively games of 75 and 90 Ball Bingo while getting to know each other. The chat rooms areeasy to use and the community is great. Bingo chat rooms are a fantastic social networking tool where you can meet and interact with fellow Bingo Players. The Chat Master (CM) should be spoken to with respect at all times. Promoting other Bingo sites in the chat room of another site may be conceived as spamming. Continue reading »

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Oct 30

Bingo Cards For Education

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Bingo is a popular and easy to learn game that is widely played around the world. Most people of course play the game for social reasons, but the game is increasingly being applied and adapted to educational uses, particularly in schools.

The main reasons why bingo is being used in this way is that it is fun, has simple game mechanics, can be easily be adapted in multiple ways, and does not require expensive materials, specialist equipment, or unusual resources that are out of reach to most educators.

In some situations, for example, for students learning English as a foreign language (EFL), simply playing the game can be an educational experience in itself. In EFL class, simply explaining and learning how to play the game, in English, can be a challenge for students.

More commonly however, teachers adapt the game to their classes and the particular subject they are teaching. For example, in a math class, the bingo squares might be printed with math problems instead of numbers, and students are required to solve the problems in squares rather than simply mark off squares. In a language learning class, the squares on the bingo cards might be printed with Spanish, French, German or Italian words (instead of numbers), and the students would be required to find the matching squares when the teacher calls out words in English.

The common element to many educational versions of bingo is the use of customized bingo cards – that is to say bingo cards printed with items of the teacher’s choice whether they be Spanish words, math problems, or anything else. Creating such bingo cards would be a tedious and time consuming task, but with the help of a computer and bingo card maker software is a breeze – simply enter a list of items that can appear on the bingo cards and the computer can easily print as many cards as you want.

By: Sunil Tanna

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Aug 04

TEFL Bingo Cards

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An increasing number of non-native speakers of English around the world wish to learn the language. This is no doubt for a variety of different reasons, and includes people who wish to come to a largely English-speaking country (such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland) to live, work, study, or just visit, and people who wish to learn English for professional reasons. The professional demand for English comes from increasing ubiquity of the Internet (as you no doubt are aware, English has become the dominant language for online communications), and English’s status as a global lingua franca of business, commerce, diplomacy, science, technology, and aviation.

With the demand to learn “English as a Second Language” (ESL) or “English as a Foreign Language” (EFL), also comes a demand for teachers of that subject. For native English speakers, including young people such as recent university graduates, going abroad to “Teach English as a Foreign Language” (TEFL), provides an excellent opportunity to travel and see the world.

TEFL teachers aim is to provide their students with a good understanding of both spoken and written activities. Learning is facilitated by a variety of classroom activities, including both speaking and reading English. Ideally such activities will enjoyable and engaging for the students, as well as being educational.

One game that is very well suited to be used as a classroom activity is bingo. The game is very easy to learn and play, doesn’t have complicated rules, doesn’t require expensive equipment, and can in fact be adapted to teaching many different topics.

In English class the game can be played:

1. Ahead of time, before the class, the teacher should prepare bingo cards for each student. The cards should contain the types of items that form the subject of the lesson – for example, they might numbers, be they might also be dates, times or English words. A particularly popular choice is “sight words”, which are common English words which students need to be able to instantly recognize in order to read English fluently. Anyway, these cards can be prepared by the teacher simply printing them from her computer – this is easy since ready-made free bingo printables can be download from the Internet, or the teacher can purchase low cost bingo card printing software which will allow her to print unlimited quantities of bingo cards on any subject at all.

2. At the start of the class, each student is given their own bingo card. You can then play the game normally, with the teacher playing the part of the bingo caller. Students can either mark off the items from their cards as they are called, or cover the squares on the cards with a coin or counter if you wish to re-use the cards in a subsequent lesson.

Playing bingo in class can be a lot of fun – but it’s also excellent practice for learning English – provided of course that the game is conducted entirely in English! Smart teachers can also adapt the game with their own twists that enhance the educational element of the game – for example, they might require that the student who claims “Bingo” to read out (in English) all the items that they have marked off.

By: Sunil Tanna

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