Activity

How Long Bingo

Students play Bingo but instead of a teacher reading out numbers, the students ask each other, "How long have you...?" The answer is the number they must circle.

Archived from Englipedia.
Originally submitted by Raymond Corrigan on June 14, 2010.

After practicing the Present Perfect tense, hand out the bingo sheet and have students fill it in with numbers from 1-16.

Students walk around, find a (new) partner and interview each other:

  • Student A: "How long have you played the piano?"
  • Student B: "I have played the piano for 9 years." (B can also say "I don`t play the piano" to get a new question.)

Student A circles '9' on their bingo sheet, then A and B switch roles.

Students A and B repeat from step 2.

VARIATIONS:

Teacher-interview variation: For low level classes, students take turns interviewing the teachers. All students circle the answers.

Pair-interview variation: For slightly less advanced classes:

  • Students make permanent pairs instead of walking around.
  • After A or B get bingo they tally whether they won (first bingo) or lost (no bingo) on the score card below their bingo table.
  • A and B repeat from step 2. with new pairs.

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS:

This can become a full lesson with the following steps:

  • Use the teacher-interview variation to give the class practice and confidence. Have all students repeat each question and praise the students asking questions.
  • Use the pair-interview variation of this game to check how well students can perform the activity and to help those with trouble.

Overall, the goal is for each variation to prepare students for the next variation.
teacher-interview --> pair-interview --> walkabout-interview.
In other words.
listening/repeating --> monitored-interviewing --> free interviewing

1
Submitted by Englipedia Archive May 7, 2020 Estimated time: 10-40 min
  1. janeenmp June 27, 2023

    This is a fantastic idea!

Sign in or create an account to leave a comment.