Most people are familiar with the game of bingo. While it is certainly that many of us tend to think of it as a mainly social activity played by older people at church and community groups, it is in fact a game that people of any age group can enjoy. Although bingo remains a game that is played principally as a leisure activity, the game is also suitable for classroom use, and an increasing number of teachers are now using bingo as an educational game.

Bingo has a number of attributes that make it ideally suited for use in schools, classrooms and teaching situations. These include the facts that the game, while being enjoyable, is very easy to learn and play, and does not require expensive specialist equipment or materials. However, the main attraction of bingo to teachers is that the game play can easily be adapted to teaching almost any subject to virtually any age range of students.

One area in which the game especially excels is in teaching foreign languages, including French (or English as a Second Language – “ESL”). Here are a few ideas for how teachers could use bingo to help teach French (in each case the teacher acts as the caller, and the students play the game, each using their own bingo card).

1. You could play bingo using numbered cards. The cards contain numbers printed as digits (e.g. “7″, “37″ and “69″), but the teacher calls out numbers in French (e.g. “sept”, “trente sept”, “soixante neuf”). This is a great way for students to familiarize themselves with the French language numbers.

2. You could play using cards containing letters of the alphabet, times or dates. Again, the teacher calls out all items in the French language.

3. You could play using bingo cards contain English words, and the teacher calls out French equivalents – or vice-versa.

As well as these variations based on what is printed on the bingo cards, you could also adapt the game play mechanics. For example, all conversation during the game must be in French, or students must repeat the teachers calls, or any other ideas you might have: really, your imagination is the only limit.

One thing that you are probably wondering about is where to get the bingo cards, and whether they are expensive. The answer is in fact very simple – and surprisingly cheap – you simply print them from your computer. You can download some ready-to-use free bingo printables from the Internet to get started. Eventually you’ll want to be able to prepare your own cards, and for this job, you’ll need to make a very modest investment in bingo card printer software. Such software can be used again and again, and will allow you to print cards whenever you want, in effectively unlimited quantities, containing any combination of words or other items that you like.By: Sunil Tanna

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