If you mention the game of “bingo” to somebody, chances are that will be familiar with the game, and how it is played. It is a very simple game, one that can be learned in minutes, but which nevertheless provides enjoyment to many people. What you may not have realized however is, with a few simple modifications, bingo can be adapted for classroom use, and used by teachers as an educational tool.
Bingo can be an enjoyable activity for many students, and of course this can help them engage with the subject, but it is also ideal for classroom use since it does not require expensive or specialist materials, and the game is flexible enough to be adapted for teaching almost any subject.
The main way that the game is adapted to different subjects, is by using bingo cards printed with items chosen by the teacher, instead of standard numbered bingo cards. The items on the cards can be anything that the teacher feels appropriate for the subject in question, be they words, phrases, or perhaps math problems or musical symbols. Additionally, in some cases, the game rules may also be modified somewhat.
Examples of educational variants of bingo include
* Reading Bingo – This game is indented for younger students learning to read. They must simply find words on their cards when they are read out. Very often the words are chosen from the Dolch sight word list, or similar introductory word lists
* Math bingo – The bingo cards are printed with math problems that the students must correctly solve in order to check off the corresponding square. The problems could be equations, reducing a fraction, etc.
* Foreign language bingo – These version of the game could be played in a language learning class, be that French, Spanish, German, Italian or any other language. The bingo cards are printed with words in that language, and the students must find the correct matching word when the teacher calls out the English equivalent.
By: Sunil Tanna
Most adults are familiar with the game of bingo. Most of us have either played it ourselves, or at least seen it played. For those few people who have not, the rules are simple and easily learned – you are given a bingo card which is printed with a grid of numbers, and cross off squares as the numbers are called out by the bingo caller – the goal is to be the first person to achieve a winning pattern of crossed out squares (the exact definition of the a winning pattern varies depending on the variant of the game being played).
One thing that you may not have considered however is because bingo is so simple, it can be played by children, and with just a few modifications can easily be adapted into a powerful but flexible learning aid. Many teachers have noticed this (not to mention the fact that bingo does not require expensive materials or specialist resources), and thus have introduced variants of the game into their classrooms. Today bingo is being used to teach a variety of K-12 school subjects including English (vocabulary, reading, etc.), math, foreign languages, and even science and history.
In most classroom variants of bingo, the game is played using bingo cards printed with items chosen by teacher. Additionally, game play may be modified somewhat. For example, in a vocabulary version of bingo, the bingo cards contain words that the teacher wants students to learn, the teacher calls out definitions of words rather than the words themselves, and the students must match the definitions to the words. Similar ideas can be used for reading practise, math problems, and foreign languages (calling out words in one language and require students to match printed words in another).
The main requirement for all these educational variants of bingo is the ability for the teacher to give each student a bingo card with items appropriate for the particular lesson. Fortunately this is quite easy – a PC and some bingo cards generator software can print a set of bingo cards containing whatever types of items the teacher wants, in just a few minutes.
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
