Bingo mingle

in Grammar

Leonardo de Waal, Colombia

In the event you have students who are stressed out or just plain bored by the dull approach to teaching grammar, there's a game you can play that will lure students into a communication approach to what is being taught. I used this for teaching Present Perfect tense. It is just like bingo, but involves the students mingling and asking questions.

  • In a 4 or 5 by 5 grid write statements like 'Has never been to Colombia’, or ‘Has been to the cinema twice this month’ in each cell and so on until your grid is filled.
  • You might want to have different Bingo cards to create more variety.
  • Students will then mingle as a whole class and ask each other questions to try to fill the grid up.
  • Standard Bingo rules apply about winning the game. (Creating a row or column etc. with answered questions)

You can of course adapt this for many different language points. It a a good way to introduce a game element in to the typical mingle or 'find someone who' activities. Good luck!