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, it’s one of those games that pretty much everybody knows how to play. Of course, most of us think of bingo as leisure activity, but modified versions of the game are increasingly popular with teachers as an educational activity.
There are many reasons why teachers are adapting bingo to classroom use. Apart from being very easy to learn, some of the reasons why bingo is so popular in education is that game play can easily be modified to match a variety of educational situations, and, given the financial limitations which most teachers work under, the fact that no specialist or expensive materials are required to play bingo.
Bingo is an especially popular activity with teachers of foreign languages, including, of course, Spanish. There are many different ways in which the game can be utilized in Spanish class.
Here are some ideas for how Spanish teachers could use the game in their classes (in each case the teacher should act as the bingo caller):
1. Use bingo cards with numbers (as digits) printed in each square (e.g. “4″, “23″ and “57″), but the teacher calls out the numbers in the Spanish (e.g. “cuatro”, “veinte tres”, or “cincuenta siete”). This style of playing is a wonderful way for students to practise their Spanish numbers.
2. You could play use bingo cards printed with letters of the alphabets, times or dates. As with the previous variant, all game play should be conducted in Spanish.
3. You could practice Spanish vocabulary – use bingo cards containing English words, but all bingo cards are made in Spanish.
4. You could also practice English to Spanish translation – for this variant of the game, you should use cards printed with Spanish words, and the teacher makes the calls in English.
As you can see, for most variants of the game, you will need special bingo cards containing things other than the usual numbers. You’re probably wondering how to obtain such cards – but the good thing is that you don’t need to buy them – you can simply print your own bingo cards from your computer. This is easier than you might think – you can download ready-to-use free bingo printables from the Internet, or simply buy some affordable software for printing bingo cards. If you decide to get bingo card printing software, this has the advantage that you will be able to print bingo cards whenever you want, containing whatever customized items you want, in effectively unlimited quantities.
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
