::A Geek in Korea::

My students are facing a series of grueling tests in two weeks at their elementary and middle schools. Our school has end of term tests for our report cards  coming up next week.  All this and I have to write individual comments for each student with specific guidelines to improve their studying, develop the kindergarten syllabus, as well as teach the rest of my classes. Several of my students will be going on picnics in the next week as well, forcing me to juggle my schedule around to make sure I am able to test and evaluate everyone before we go on a week vacation as well.

In these sorts of situations, the best way to get students to study vocabulary is to never let them realize they are studying vocabulary at all. Is that some sort of ESL Zen koan?

My method for studying vocabulary today was "call out bingo", where students get to pick from a word list, then write down their choices on a bingo sheet. They then called out one word on their turn, and listened to everyone else’s words, crossing out any word called. This practices speaking, writing, listening and pronunciation in one lesson. The goal is to be the first person to completely fill in the bingo sheet crossing off all the words written. No collaborations between players is allowed.

This sort of activity can take a good ten to fifteen minutes per game, and it’s filled with students speaking. Directors and mothers love that sort of thing. All the teacher has to do is make sure no one cheats, make sure people know what the last person said, and keep the pace of the game moving. Marking off the words said as it goes around keeps you busy, as well as lets you make sure no one crosses something out by accident. Also, you can see which words students need the most help with pronouncing by simply putting a check next to the word when it was called.

I actually took this idea from a teacher at my last school, who also made the students translate all the words as homework before they could start the game. The students came to class with the bingo sheet filled out and completely translated for next class. Getting kids to look up 25 words in a dictionary for a game is difficult, so this should only be attempted after you’ve played the game a few times in class so the kids know why they are doing the work The only problem arrises when multiple people finish filling in the board at the same time. Multiple rewards must be rationed out to keep people playing.

I also let them play past when the game has a winner. That way the students with good listening can gloat. Most frequently, students that chatter during class will miss a word or get distracted and forget to mark off something on their card. When the game ends and people start telling them, "We said that one, you could be finished if you listened better!" They get the point that paying attention has direct benefits, like not looking silly and saying the same word twice.

The best part about it is that you can define the word list, then make sure everyone is practicing new vocabulary if you desire. The bigger the word list, the longer the game. It is rather boring when no one shares the same words though, as people just go around the circle listing off words, meaning it might be twenty four or more times around the class before students complete their cards. A general rule would be for a twenty five slot bingo card, a 60-80 words maximum limit would work.

I did this twice today, and both of my classes liked the activity. We played two games in class, and had people really get excited when it was down to the last few words. Everyone got a prize, but the few bonus stickers I gave out as a reward for good listening skills paid off. Simple activities like this turn a day with little time to plan into a winning set of lessons that students learn from and still enjoy. Once a month vocabulary review that the students actually look forward to? Who would have thought?