Speaking activity: Social bingo

Spanish 🇪🇸

Beginner🅰️ - Intermediate 🅱️

Sometimes it can be hard to aimlessly produce conversation on top of the potential discomfort of using a language you aren't fully confident using yet. When my students are going to a country where their target language is spoken, I try to prepare some activities for them to have some direction and goals to aim for. One of them is Bingo, which I'd been wanting to share here for a bit now.

The bingo card

You can download and use this card as is, or you can make your own, with elements more relevant to you. I made this one using the Backyard BBQ Bingo template from canva.com. But there are tons of different templates to choose from!

Card content for text processors

1. Tiene perro

2. Trabaja en una oficina

3. Habla tres idiomas

4. Está estudiando

5. Tiene más de tres hermanos/ as

6. Le gusta el flamenco

7. Toca la guitarra

8. No tiene hermanas/ os

9. Trabaja desde casa

10. Tiene familia en otro país

11. Juega online regularmente

12. Tiene una alergia

13. Está de vacaciones

14. Es de América del sur

15. Le gusta dibujar

16. Es de España

17. Tiene un blog

18. Hay más de cinco plantas en su casa

19. Le gusta la lluvia

20. Va al gimnasio regularmente

How to play

Here are a couple of guidelines/ suggestions on how to play, but by all means, creativity is valued and I encourage you to make as many variations as you'd like.

The overall idea is to find someone who matches the criteria described in each cell of the bingo card: someone who plays guitar, who speaks three languages, etc.

Active approach

You can let people know that you are learning Spanish and have this bingo you are trying to complete, maybe ask them if it's OK to ask them a few questions, and then proceed to ask. This approach would make more sense if there is a specific time frame, either by choice or external circumstances.

The idea here would be to try to aim to move away from strict questionnaire format. After each answer, try asking a follow up question, for example:

A: ¿Juegas online regularmente? B: Sí A: Ah, y ¿a qué juegas? / ¿Qué juegos?

B: Juego a Hearthstone

Passive approach

You strike conversations normally, and keep the bingo element more to yourself. Like, you are playing, but have your attention on the game as a "background task" (I love the idea of "background tasks," as you may see in future articles).

Whenever you spot relevant information in conversation, you cross it off your bingo at some point. Bear in mind, things like seeing someone walking their dog wouldn't count (in my books, at least) towards crossing "Tiene un perro" unless you actually speak with them about something in the target language.

The end of the game

The game ends either:

• when you cross all cells

• when the time frame you have set up for yourself ends

• when you decide

Script

Here you have some examples of questions you can ask:

🇪🇸	🇬🇧
¿Tienes perro?	Do you have a dog?
¿Cuántos hermanos tienes?	How many siblings/ brothers do you have?
​¿Dónde trabajas?	Where do you work?
¿Vives aquí?	Do you live here?
¿Te gusta jugar? ¿Te gustan los juegos?	Do you like to play? Do you like games?
¿Hablas otros idiomas? ¿Qué idiomas hablas?	Do you speak other languages? What languages do you speak?
¿Te gusta el flamenco?	Do you like flamenco?

Spending time online, with your notes, or with a dictionary in order to prepare these questions in advance is a very good way of revising and solidifying both your language knowledge and your capacity for independent learning (so important!).

Wrapping up

What do you think of this type of activity? Would you add any other variations? Share your opinions, ideas, experiences and further questions in the comment section!

Good learning!