Most adults are familiar with the game of bingo – we’ve came across the game at some points in our lives. It is true that many us of think of it as a game played in church and community halls in funding raising efforts, or by groups of seniors as a relaxing way of passing the time, but one thing you may not know is that bingo is becoming increasingly popular in education.
Many teachers have come to the conclusion that bingo is well suited to classroom use, because it is easy for students to learn and play, does not require expensive specialist materials, does not make a big mess, and is highly adaptable to teaching different subjects, different lesson plans, and different age groups. When organized by enthusiastic teacher, bingo can indeed be both fun and educational.
As hinted at previously, bingo can be used in a variety of educational environments, including teaching K-12, and for teaching older students. The game can be adapted to almost any subject including English and Reading, English as a Second Language (ESL), Foreign Languages (including Spanish, French, German and Italian), Math, Science, History and more. The main way that the game is adapted to each of these situations is by using custom bingo cards printed with items appropriate to the lesson, and by modifying the game play mechanics. In a K-12 reading class for example, students might just be required to recognize sight words, in a math class the students might be required to write in the answers to math problems into the squares rather than simply cross off squares, and in a foreign language class the bingo cards could be printed in one language but the calss made in another (for example, bingo cards printed with Spanish vocabulary – and students need to match up these words to bingo calls made in English).
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
