Sunday 9 September 2012

Bingo

Bingo.

My all-around, number-one favorite game.

Why?

Because it requires students to use all four skill sets: reading, listening, speaking, and writing.

Also, it can be adjusted to fit most time frames.

In addition, it provides the teacher an opportunity to review different sets of vocabulary.

Finally, it is also a useful way of practicing classsroom language.

I start by giving students a half-sheet of paper (The other side has been used, so it's being recycled).

I write on the white board 3 lines vertically and 3 lines horizontally, and tell them to do the same on the paper that I gave them (or, for a short/fast game, 2 X 2).


Then I tell the students what the vocabulary is; sometimes I refer them to pages in their text book, and sometime I write on the whiteboard.  For example:

16 words
*8 Past tense verbs
*8 animals

It usually takes about 3 minutes for the students to fill in the vocabulary, and I help them, if needed, by writing on the whiteboard.

Then we begin.  I select a student to go first.  That student says a word from his/her grid, and the other students cross it off if they have it.

Then it's the next student's turn (I always have them go in a circular pattern around the classroom).

They have to use language like:


*It's Mike's turn
*Can you repeat that
*What was your word?
*That word is finished

When we played bingo in a class yesterday, I heard students saying, "You".

I stopped the game and said, "It's really not polite to say 'You'.  It's much better to say 'It's your turn'."