Bingo:

• There are many ways to use bingo to teach English. Bingo is one game everyone has heard of and a fun game that can be used to teach new vocabulary, numbers and grammar points, depending on how you create your bingo cards. It is easy to use bingo to teach English.
• B a s i c I n s tr u ct i o s 6 These simple instructions apply to all 10 Bingo games. Make two copies of the call list. Keep one copy intact, and cut apart the second one and place the slips in an envelope.

Eyes down its Bingo Time!! Before you begin lets customize your game! Choose between numbers 1-75 or 1-90. You can have sound effects, to add to the atmosphere as each ball is called. The Bingo phrases can be said out aloud or again it can all be turned off. The clear display shows the number called and the matching bingo phrase.

Bingo is a great game for practicing questions/answers as well as negatives. Children want to draw the cards themselves, so I make Bingo a guessing game. As an example, for the people set:

One students takes a card and asks the other students 'What's he?' The other students guess 'Is he a mailman?' 'Yes. He's a mailman. / No. He's not a mailman.'

This will work across the board for almost any set varying the question/answer. ex. What's this? Is it ~.

Ognib:

This is just what it sounds like, Bingo in reverse. Students choose five pictures and circle/place chips on them. If one of the students choices comes up, they can erase their mark or remove their marker. When all have been removed the student wins and shouts, 'OGNIB!' This is a great change of pace and will last longer than bingo. You will see about 80% of the vocabulary appear before you get a winner.

Gimme that:

Have the students look at their cards for 10-15 seconds and memorize them. Then draw cards one at a time and say the vocabulary word. If that word appears on the student's bingo card the student will say something like, 'I want that card.' 'May I have that card.' (or 'Gimme that.' which I don't actually endorse.) Another option is to elect a group leader to read for each round. Award one point for correct choices and minus 2 for incorrect choices. This game is also known as Wordwish and I Want That Card

For One on One or pair work:

Hide your bingo card from the other's sight. 'A' can call out one item and 'B' gets to mark his card. Then the 'B' calls out any item and 'A' gets to mark his card. Continue this until one person gets bingo. The first person to get bingo wins.

This can be done as a class activity and see how many wins each students can get during the allotted game time.

Another one on one game is to have A draw a card and B gets 3 guesses. If B can guess within 3 tries B can place a marker on her bingo board. If not, a can place a marker on her bingo board and then play shifts to B who draws a card. Then A gets 3 guesses. The first to get bingo is the winner.

For Large classes:

Break large classes into small groups of 5-6 students or less. If you play as a whole class you really limit the amount of interaction the students have. It will be difficult to orchestrate at first. I generally have one group play, while all the others huddle around and watch. Once you've played in groups a few times it will be easier. If you are practicing q&a as well, make sure you drill the language very well before letting the groups play. There are 12 bingo cards in each set on this site. If you generally work with large classes you might want to make 4 sets of 12. It is not necessary to have 48 different cards.

English Bingo Card

Cut Throat Bingo: For 3-4 People

Bobby Zoom Bingo English Version

One person draws a card and the others try to guess. The person who guesses correctly may place a marker on his bingo card as can the person who drew the card. The others may not. The person who guessed correctly draws the next card and play continues as above until someone gets bingo. The game may end in a draw with 4 players.