Pretty much everybody knows how to play bingo right? Each player gets a card containing a grid of numbers (usually a 5 by 5 grid with a special “free space” square in the middle), the bingo announcer calls out numbers in random order, plays check off the corresponding numbers from their bingo cards, and the first player to get an agreed upon pattern (usually a line of five in any direction regardless of whether it’s horizontal, vertical or diagonal), is a the winner. You can buy ready-made bingo cards, so why would anybody make to make their own bingo cards?
The answer lies in the fact that themed variants of the standard game have become massively more popular in the bingo cards. In themed versions of bingo, the bingo cards are not printed with numbers, but instead are printed with words, phrases, or even math problems.
Probably the most popular themed versions of the game are those based around particular holidays such as Christmas, St. Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween or July 4th (US Independence Day). In these variants, they are printed with words or phrases relating to the particular holiday in question, so items like “Angel”, “Santa Claus” and “Yule” would be used for Christmas bingo, whereas as words like “Heart”, “Love” or “Romance” would be used for St. Valentine’s Day bingo.
Versions of bingo using custom bingo cards are also popular in education. Teachers can prepare them based around any subject or lesson plan, and can also vary game play, for example by calling out “clues” and requiring students to find the corresponding word or phrase. In language classes, bingo calls can be made in one language, and students required to match the corresponding word in another language.
In math classes, these can be printed with math problems in each square, and students can be required to write in the correct answer when an item is called, rather than merely tick off a square. Of course, even the standard game mechanics can be suitable for classroom use in the right situation – for example, an essential part of learning to read fluently is learning to quickly recognize common words (known as “sight words”) – and this can be practiced by playing sight word bingo.
By: Sunil Tanna
Bingo is a very simple game that anybody could learn, even young children. This simplicity also means that the game can be adapted to classroom use. As a result, many elementary and other K-12 school teachers are now using specially modified versions of the game bingo as a teaching aid.
Bingo can be used in the teaching of many different subjects, including reading, English, foreign language, math, science, history and geography. Here are a few examples of how it can be integrated into lesson plans:
* When teaching reading, bingo can be played using bingo cards printed with letters or words. Students might be required to check off squares from their card when the match a word read out by the teacher (”sight word bingo”), or contain the letter that the teacher’s word begins with (”phonemic awareness bingo”).
* In English classes, bingo cards with words are again used. In this case students might be required to find the matching word for the teacher’s definition (”vocabulary bingo”), or when they contain a particular part of speech beginning with a letter chosen by the teacher (”a verb beginning with S”, etc., – “parts of speech bingo”).
* In language classes, bingo cards can be printed with French, German, Italian or Spanish words. In this case, students might be required to match these against English words read out by the teacher. You can also reverse this, and use bingo cards printed in English and have the teacher say words in the foreign language.
* In math classes, bingo cards can be printed with numbers chosen by the teacher, or even with math problems (students must mark off squares by writing in the correct answers). When using numbered cards, students must solve a math problem to find the matching square, and this math problem could be a simple addition, subtraction, multiplication or division sum, a problem involving fractions or decimals (”find the square containing one and a quarter” is called out by teacher, and students must match this to a square containing “1.25″, etc.), etc.
* Bingo can also be used in history, geography and science classes. In these cases, the bingo cards are printed with items appropriate for the subject, and the students must match them to clues given by the teacher (for example: “this is a country in Western Europe, it has coasts on the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, and its capital is Madrid”).
By: Sunil Tanna
I think it would be fair to say that most adults know how to play the game of bingo. This is no doubt because of the widespread popularity of the game, and the fact that the game is very easy to learn. What you may not know, is that bingo, and variations of the game of bingo are proving to be increasingly popular in educational and learning situations.
Nobody would deny that one of the challenges faced by teachers is how to get their students to engage with the subject being taught. Enjoyable classroom activities such as bingo, can be of help with this problem. Of course, an enjoyable activity serves little purpose unless it helps teach the subject – but the good news is that bingo can be adapted to teaching a variety of different school subjects.
The key step in adapting bingo to classroom use, is the introduction of custom bingo cards. As you know, in the standard game of bingo, the bingo cards are simply printed with a set of numbers. In classroom versions of the game, the cards are instead printed with words, phrase, math problems or even musical symbols (depending on the subject being taught), of the teacher’s choice. Additionally, if the teacher chooses to, he or she may also modify the rules of the game slightly. Some examples of educational bingo applications might include:
* Sight word bingo – Used in introductory reading classes: The bingo cards are printed with words that the students simply have to find (often words from the Dolch Sight Word list, or simply lists).
* Vocabulary bingo – Used in language classes: The bingo cards are printed with French, German, Italian or Spanish words, and the students must find the matching word when the teacher calls out an English word.
* Math bingo – The bingo cards are printed with math problems that the students must not only find, but also solve.
By: Sunil Tanna
