Bingo and much more!

OBJECTIVE - To recognize and practice vocabulary items.
AGE - Young learners (children)
PROFICIENCY LEVEL - Beginners and low intermediate
MATERIALS - Several sets of cut-out pictures ( 5 x 5 or a little bigger) of vocabulary you want to work with: food, animals, clothing items, furniture, colors, occupations, etc., kept in individual envelopes. It would be ideal to have 10 or more pictures in each set.

These pictures can be copied from pictionaries and other photocopiable books.

After drilling the vocabulary items with the class, hand out the envelopes and ask students to organize them in a grid-like pattern on the floor or on a larger desktop. 

The activities listed below will move from simpler to more demanding; from recognition to production.
  
       Activity 1 - BINGO!

• Ask students to choose, say, six pictures and put the others back in the envelope. They will leave the pictures chosen face up on the floor/table.

• Start calling out names of the items randomly. Students who have that item will remove it from the floor/table and put it back in the envelope. The student who finishes all his/her pictures first is the winner. 

          Activity 2 - MIMING

• This activity can only be done with certain classes of words, such as animals and occupations.
• Students choose one of their cards and are invited to mime the item to the whole class. The other students will try to guess the item. 

       Activity 3 - LISTEN AND IDENTIFY

• With all cards facing up, students pick up the card that corresponds to the description the teacher makes. They place these cards on a row separate from the grid they have on the floor/table. 

For example, the teacher will say, "This fruit is red outside and white inside." "This animal has four legs and a big tail. It barks." 

• When they are done, the teacher can check their extra row.

           Activity 4 - CLASSIFYING

• The teacher asks students to set aside items with certain characteristics that he/she is going to mention. 

For example, "Put aside all the animals that can fly; all the wild/domestic animals; all the food items that are healthy/junk; all the dangerous occupations, etc."

• On a more productive levels, students can take turns giving the instructions.

      Activity 5 - ODD MAN OUT

• In pairs or small groups, students choose four cards, but one of them has to have different characteristics. They display their cards on the floor and the other students say which card is the odd man out, and why.

For example: a cat, a dog, a rabit, a lion - the lion is the odd man out because it is a wild animal.

                        a dress, a purse, a skirt, a suit - the suit is the odd man out because it is worn by men.

This activity was suggested by Daniela Lyra, from Brasília, Brazil. Many thanks to her.