Bingo cards in teaching

I think it would be fair to say that most adults know how to play bingo. This is undoubtedly due to the huge popularity of the game and the fact that it is very easy to learn. What you may not know is that bingo and variations of the bingo game are proving to be increasingly popular in educational and learning situations.

No one would deny that one of the challenges teachers face is how to get their students to commit to the subject they teach. Enjoyable activities in the classroom, such as bingo, can help with this problem. Of course, a fun activity is of little use unless it helps teach the subject, but the good news is that bingo can be adapted to teach a variety of different school subjects.

The key step in adapting bingo for classroom use is the introduction of personalized bingo cards. As you know, in the standard game of bingo, bingo cards are simply printed with a set of numbers. In classroom versions of the game, cards are printed with words, phrases, math problems, or even musical symbols (depending on the subject being taught), at the teacher’s choice. Also, if the teacher wishes, he can also slightly modify the rules of the game. Some examples of educational bingo apps may include:

* Sight Word Bingo – Used in introductory reading classes – bingo cards are printed with words that students simply have to find (often words from Dolch’s sight word list, or just lists) .

* Vocabulary Bingo – Used in language classes: Bingo cards are printed with words in French, German, Italian, or Spanish, and students must find the corresponding word when the teacher says an English word.

* Math Bingo: Bingo cards are printed with math problems that students must not only find, but also solve.