Most of us know how to play the game of bingo. Thus, the way to play bingo is probably may already be familiar, but if not, here is a quick recap:
1. Each player is a bingo worksheet (also known as a “bingo card” or “bingo board”).
2. The bingo worksheet contains a grid of squares. Each square usually contains a different number
3. The bingo caller calls out the items printed on the worksheets in a random order.
4. As items are called out, the players cross items off their worksheets. The winner is the first player to achieve a winning pattern of crossed out items on their worksheet (in different versions of the game, different winning patterns may be used).
Although of course the standard game of bingo is well-known by many people, and played by many as a leisure activity, what is not so widely known is that modified versions of bingo can be of great use in education. In fact, bingo is becoming increasingly common in classrooms, and can be used as a teaching aid in a number of K-12 subjects including reading, vocabulary, math, foreign languages and even science and history, as well as in adult education, in for example English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.
The common element in most educational versions of bingo is the use of modified bingo worksheets. Instead of the standard worksheets that contain numbers, the teacher creates, ahead of class, worksheets that contain items chosen for the lesson. In the math class, the items might still be numbers, but the numbers are the answers to problems called out by the teacher. In a language class, the worksheets might be printed with Spanish or French words, which the students must match to calls made in English by the teacher. Really there are almost endless possible variations, and innovative teachers are inventing new ones all the time.
You might think that this is all very well, but where can the special customized bingo worksheets be obtained. Obviously, it would not be a good use of a busy teacher’s time to spent a lot of time manually preparing a worksheet for each student. Fortunately, there is an answer – a PC and some bingo worksheet creator software can make light work of printing worksheets on any theme that the teacher chooses.
By: Sunil Tanna
Most people are familiar with the game of bingo and how to play it. It may be that we have played the game at some point in our lives ourselves, or it may be that we have simply seen others play it and learnt that way – the rules are that easy to pick-up. One thing however that many people are not aware of, is that bingo can be adapted for use in schools and education, and these modified variants of the game, can be useful classroom tool.
The beauty of bingo in the classroom is that it provides an interesting and stimulating activity for students, but can easily be adapted for teaching almost any subject, whether that be reading, English, math, a foreign language such as French, German, Italian or Spanish, or almost anything else.
Although in some cases it may be necessary for the teacher to vary the rules of the game slightly, the main change in educational versions of bingo is the content of the bingo cards. In the traditional game of bingo, the bingo cards are printed with numbers, however in classroom versions of the game, the cards are instead printed with items of the teachers choice – these can be words, phrases, math problems or anything else that the teacher chooses.
Using these custom bingo cards, the game is then played. In an introductory level reading class, students may simply be required to find the matching item when a word is called out by the teacher. However, in a math class, the students may be required to correctly solve the problems in a square in order to mark it off, and in a language class, the cards might be printed with words in French or Spanish, and the students might be required to find the matching word when the teacher makes bingo calls in English.
By: Sunil Tanna
Most of us, are, I think, familiar with the game of bingo. Pretty much everyone knows how to play, even those people who are not dedicated bingo enthusiasts. Something that is less well known, is that modified versions of bingo are nowadays being used in many classrooms to help teach a diverse range of subjects.
One of the biggest challenges facing today’s teachers is how to engage with their students and sustain their interest. The fact that bingo is an enjoyable game can perhaps be of some help. Furthermore, the game play mechanics can easily be adapted or modified by the teacher, depending on the particular subject being taught. Finally, the fact that bingo does not require a large investment in expensive materials or specialist resources is of course important given the financial constraints that most teachers work under.
The most common way to adapt bingo to classroom use, is by varying the contents of the bingo cards. In the standard game of bingo, the cards are generally printed with numbers, however in educational versions of the game the bingo cards are printed with words, phrases, or even math problems of the teacher’s choice. Additionally, game play mechanics may be varied: in an introductory reading class, students may simply be required to simply locate words printed on their cards, but in a language class they may be required to find a French or Spanish word when the teacher says the English equivalent, and in a math class, the students might be required to solve the math problems on their cards as they are called out.
By: Sunil Tanna
