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
There are a lot of people out there who enjoy playing bingo. It’s true that the game is very simple to learn and play, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not fun! In fact, the ease of game play is one of the attractions of the game – you don’t need to learn complicated rules – you can just sit down and start playing. What’s more, somebody new to bingo can be introduced to the game, learn the game mechanics, and join in, with a few minutes.
As you know, bingo is traditionally played using bingo cards contain a grid of squares (usually 5 by 5 squares), with each of these squares containing a number. Players cross out squares on their cards when the corresponding number is announced by the bingo caller. Today however, since it is easy to make custom bingo cards with your computer, themed versions of bingo, with the squares containing words or phrases, are increasingly popular.
Our calendars are filled with holidays and special days, both religious and secular, and these days present a perfect opportunity to play bingo. Whether it be Christmas, July 4th, Halloween or President’s Day, you can easily adapt bingo to the occasion – simply by using bingo cards containing words or phrases relating to your chosen holiday theme.
Although bingo remains a popular leisure activity, it is also finding serious use in education, including K-12 and English as Second Language (”ESL”). Basic skills such as reading and recognizing words (especially “Sight Words”) can be practiced, and more sophisticated variations of the game can be used for more advanced students.
By: Sunil Tanna
Bingo is one of those games that pretty much everybody knows how to play. Most people have probably played the game at some point in their life, but even those who haven’t, generally do know the rules. In case you’re one of those rare people who don’t know the game, here’s a quick recap:
1. Each player is given a bingo card, usually (but not always) 5 x 5 squares. Each of these squares contains a different item – in tradition bingo a number, but in the various themed variants of the game, words, phrases, names, dates, or even math problems may be used.
2. One person acts as the bingo caller and referee. That person calls out items in random order.
3. As the items are called out, players inspect their cards and look for matching squares, and mark off any that they find. In many versions of the game, the center square is a “free space”, and players can mark that square off whenever they want.
4. Usually the objective of the game is to be the first player to get a line of items horizontally, vertically or diagonally on the card, and call out “Bingo!”. The rules can be varied however so that other shapes such as two lines, a postage stamp, or even marking off all squares on the card, is required before “Bingo” can be claimed.
While it’s true that many people do enjoy the traditional game using numbers, themed variants relating to holidays such as Christmas, Halloween, Easter or Valentine’s Day are increasingly popular. Additionally, the game can easily be adapted to educational use and is increasingly popular in schools (including K-12) and English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching environments.
In order to play a themed version of bingo, you will of course need bingo cards printed containing the appropriate items for the theme. Many people consider this is a stumbling block since preparing bingo cards by hand is very time consuming, and preprinted bingo cards may not be expensive or even impossible to obtain. There is however a simple solution to this conundrum: simply print custom bingo cards using your computer – with suitable bingo card creator software, it’s very easy and straightforward.
By: Sunil Tanna
