How to play ESL Bingo.

This is a great game to play with your ESLCC. As long as you change the story, you can use the same game every time. Learners like taking home a vocabularly list, and the competitive element makes it fun and engaging. Another librarian from MPOE says: "Since we’ve been playing games, the participants seem to converse more freely and look forward to learning and having fun."

To prepare, print out a story and highlight 16 vocabulary words within the story. Make sure the story is at the appropriate reading level - even if you find something online, you'll have to edit some of the words. I usually adapt a story from http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com.

You'll need to bring the following materials:

• Copies of the story
• Paper with grids (4 squares x 4 squares) or have students make their own grids
• Pens or pencils
• Strips of papers with a word and its definition
• Some prize - sugar-free and regular candy, stationery

Then, follow these steps.

1. Pass out the story and grids. Read and discuss the story. Review the vocabulary words.
2. Instruct students to randomly fill in the squares with each of the words.
3. Explain that you can win with four across, down, or diagonally in case this is a new game for them.
4. I like the drama of pulling the strips out of a bowl but you can also just pick a word from a list. Read the definition of the word and wait for guesses. Provide hints if the guessing starts to slow down.
5. Continue until you have a winner.

You can expand the grid to 5x5 but it takes them a while to fill in the blanks and the game can get rather lengthy.