Bingo is a popular and easy to learn game that is widely played around the world. Most people of course play the game for social reasons, but the game is increasingly being applied and adapted to educational uses, particularly in schools.
The main reasons why bingo is being used in this way is that it is fun, has simple game mechanics, can be easily be adapted in multiple ways, and does not require expensive materials, specialist equipment, or unusual resources that are out of reach to most educators.
In some situations, for example, for students learning English as a foreign language (EFL), simply playing the game can be an educational experience in itself. In EFL class, simply explaining and learning how to play the game, in English, can be a challenge for students.
More commonly however, teachers adapt the game to their classes and the particular subject they are teaching. For example, in a math class, the bingo squares might be printed with math problems instead of numbers, and students are required to solve the problems in squares rather than simply mark off squares. In a language learning class, the squares on the bingo cards might be printed with Spanish, French, German or Italian words (instead of numbers), and the students would be required to find the matching squares when the teacher calls out words in English.
The common element to many educational versions of bingo is the use of customized bingo cards – that is to say bingo cards printed with items of the teacher’s choice whether they be Spanish words, math problems, or anything else. Creating such bingo cards would be a tedious and time consuming task, but with the help of a computer and bingo card maker software is a breeze – simply enter a list of items that can appear on the bingo cards and the computer can easily print as many cards as you want.
By: Sunil Tanna
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
It is probably fair to say that most people know how to play the game of bingo. It’s a simple and easy to learn game that involves crossing squares off bingo worksheets (also known as “bingo cards” or “bingo boards”) as items are called out, in random order, by the bingo caller.
While many of us have played the standard game of bingo, what you may not know is that many variants of bingo are now being used in today’s classrooms. Bingo is in fact being used as a teaching age for a variety of K-12 school subjects including English (particularly reading and vocabulary), math, languages such as French, Spanish and German, and even geography, history and science. Furthermore, versions of bingo are also being used in some adult education courses such as English as a Second Language (”ESL”) classes.
The main difference between education variants of bingo and the standard game is that specialized bingo worksheets are used. These contain items chosen by the teacher and specific to the subject or lesson, instead of the usual numbers found on bingo worksheets. In an English class they might contain items of vocabulary (the teacher calls out definitions, the teachers must match them to words), in math class, they might be answers to math problems read out by the teacher, and so on.
So the key requirement for a teacher who is considering introducing bingo in their classroom is this custom bingo worksheets. Obviously, it would not be a good use of class preparation time to write out a worksheet for each student by hand, but fortunately there is an answer – using a PC and some bingo worksheets creator software, the worksheets can be made very quickly and with very little effort.
By: Sunil Tanna
