| ESL (English as Second Language) - also known as | | | | students then play bingo with the teacher taking the |
| EFL (English as a Foreign Language) - is the process | | | | role of bingo caller. Of course, all the activities |
| of teaching of English to people who are not native | | | | associated with the game, not just the bingo calls, |
| speakers of the language. Many people attend such | | | | should be conducted entirely in English. |
| classes in order to improve their English language skills, | | | | ESL bingo is a lot of fun, and because words and |
| and may do so for business or professional reasons, | | | | phrases can be chosen for around any subject, it is |
| or just for the fun of it. | | | | flexible enough to be adapted to practising the |
| In typical ESL classes, as many as possible of the | | | | vocabulary relating to any topic. |
| classroom activities are conducted in English, so as to | | | | The main requirement that ESL teachers need to play |
| encourage fast learning. Typical classroom activities | | | | this bingo game in class is of course a set of bingo |
| can include reading, speaking, role-play, and games. | | | | cards printed with their chosen words or phrases. |
| One such game that is well-suited to ESL is bingo. | | | | While it is possible to buy preprinted bingo cards, these |
| In ESL bingo, students are each given bingo cards | | | | don't give you a choice of words/phrases and can be |
| printed with English words or phrases, rather than the | | | | expensive. A much better solution is to download |
| usual numbers. The words or phrases may be chosen | | | | some bingo card maker software, and then the |
| around a particular subject or topic, for example, travel | | | | teacher can print out custom bingo cards, containing |
| or food, or they can be taken from a general list. The | | | | anything she wants, from her computer. |