Bingo revisited
 

We all know the BINGO game, so I won't explain how it works. It is most often used in ESL classrooms to reinforce alphabet and vocabulary word recognition, but it can also be used to encourage speaking and sentence building. Here's how:

I use BINGO to review sentences/grammar points we have learned. You need to replace the B-I-N-G-O with sentence starters. For example, lets say your students have been learning how to express likes and dislikes, and how to conjugate the verb like. Here's what you could replace the letters BINGO with:

B --> "I like..."
I --> "She likes..."
N --> " I don't like..."
G --> "He doesn't like...."
O --> "Do you like?...."

Then, on the chalkboard write down 24 words that will work to finish ANY of the sentences. For example "apple" could finish any of those sentences (I like apples, She likes apples, etc). So you write down a bunch of words like apples, dancing, swimming, cookies, English, puppies....etc. Have the kids fill the words in on the bingo sheets and make sure they each write the words in random order so that they don't end up with identical cards. When everyone's finished (this can take a long time, by the way), you can play BINGO in the tradtitional format with the teacher calling out the sentences like "She likes dancing" and the kids marking down on their card if they have that combo, OR let the kids call out the sentences themselves (this is where the speaking comes in). Let the kids put up their hand and call out a combination from their card, like "Do you like puppies?". All the kids listen and check their cards for that combo, and then another student has a turn to make a sentence. The variations on this game are endless. I play it at the end of each unit to review the sentences and grammar we've used.

Note: The kids need to be familiar with regular BINGO before introducing it in this format, otherwise it's very difficult to explain unless you have a teacher helper. Even so, the first time will be a little confusing, but once they understand it you can use this game forever. Also, I strongly suggest having stickers or something for BINGO rewards.

Bingo/Musical chairs fusion...
 

When playing either regular bingo or the bingo I mentioned in my previous post, you can make it a little more exciting for squirmy little ones who are tired of sitting still by combining it with musical chairs. Have your desks set up in a circle (that's how my class is) with a BINGO card at every seat and turn the chairs around backwards. Play the music and have the kids go around the circle as in musical chairs. When the music stops the have to sit at a Bingo card. The teacher (or a student, see previous post) calls out "B, elephant", or whatever. The students check the BINGO card in front of which they are sitting(NOT their original Bingo card), and mark it if they have that combination. Then the music starts again, and around they go. This makes the game totally random, as they are constantly sitting in a different spot. They can only call "BINGO!" if they are lucky enough to get a line of 5 on the card they are sitting at at that moment. It's silly and frustrating in a funny way, and helps them burn off some energy.

I have another variation of Bingo.Actually this is based on a British game show Hexegons. You can play the game with either squares or hexegons.
Simply make a 4 by 4 grid on the board. Randomly place letters in each box.Put the class into two teams and have them play rocks scissors paper. The team to win gets to choose a letter. For example A ask a question that begins with the letter A. For example name the coldest state in the U.S. The team to answer the question Alaska. Claims that square and places their icon in the square. The first team to claim an entire row without being bloked by their opponent wins the game.