What’s one way of helping your kids improve their Spanish while they have fun and learn to love the learning process as well? Bingo! Playing games is one of the best ways to teach your kids a new language. It’ll be super beneficial for them, because they won’t really even notice they’re studying.
So if you’re considering this strategy to help your kids with their Spanish skills, congrats! We’re sure they’ll have a great time and learn important things, and so will you!
We recommend you play Bingo in Spanish. To help you out, here’s a Spanish guide on how to play it.
Why Should I Play Bingo in Spanish with My Kids?
It’s fun!
Like we said above, playing games is fun. This means that if you play games to learn a new language, the learning journey will be much more fun than a normal study session. Kids will be enjoying the game and will want to win.
This is especially beneficial for children that don’t enjoy learning Spanish. Because now you’ll be showing them that Spanish learning can also be fun. It’s not all about learning grammar structures and passing stressful exams.
If kids learn through games and fun, they’ll want to know more. Who knows? Maybe they’ll be the ones asking you to play a game in Spanish with them next time…
Immersion
Learning Spanish through immersion is a great way of learning. This means that the students shouldn’t use their mother tongue a lot during the learning process. They must be immersed in the language through the different activities they do.
So, they should speak, hear and do things fully in Spanish, even if they don’t understand everything yet.
So this could be doing things like hearing music in Spanish, talking to their teachers in Spanish, reading books by Hispanic authors… Oh, and of course, playing games in Spanish.
So, playing Bingo in Spanish will be a form of immersing them in the language.
It’s a very natural and casual way of learning, and an effective one. Think about it: It’s how we learned our native language, by hearing the people around us talk in it, slowly repeating the sounds and phrases, and doing activities in that language.
Popularity
Bingo is a highly popular game. So your children will have more chances at having friends willing to play it in Spanish. Because other children might also love the game and might also be learning Spanish.
But wait, that’s not it! Bingo is not only popular in the US but all around the world! This is great news for someone that’s learning a new language. You and your kids can meet people from other countries that speak other languages, including Spanish, to play it with.
Imagine your children playing this game with other kids, maybe from Colombia or Argentina. This is great news, because your kids will get to practice with natives. So they’ll improve even more their pronunciation, fluency, listening, and Spanish comprehension.
They might even learn and acquire a specific accent depending on who they’re playing and spending time with. After all, practicing your Spanish with natives is the best way to improve.
Acquire basic vocabulary
Bingo it’s a great game for all Spanish learners, yes, even those at a basic level. Because when playing Bingo, there must be a person pulling some balls with a letter and a number on them out of a bin and saying the letter and number out loud.
This means that all the players will get to learn the names of numbers and some letters in Spanish. This is basic Spanish vocabulary that all students learn when they’re starting their language journey. Even natives learn some of these things first. Your kids will use these numbers and letters forever.
And if your kid is the one assigned to say these words out loud, even better! He/She will also get to practice their pronunciation!
How to Play Bingo in Spanish
What you’ll need:
- Bingo cards for each player / Cartones de Bingo para cada jugador
- Balls with the letters and numbers of the Bingo cards painted on them / Pelotas con las letras y números de los cartones de Bingo pintados en ellos
- One bin with the Bingo balls in it / Un contenedor con las pelotas de Bingo en él
- Many tokens for each player / Muchas fichas para cada jugador
- A gift for when someone wins / Un regalo para cuando alguien gane
Let’s play!
- Choose one person to be the caller of the game. This person can also play; it’s optional. / Escoge una persona para ser el llamador del juego. Esta persona también puede jugar, es opcional.
- Everybody must sit down at the table. / Todo el mundo debe sentarse a la mesa.
- Distribute one Bingo card for each player. / Distribuye un cartón de Bingo para cada jugador.
- Distribute various tokens to each player. / Distribuye varias fichas a cada jugador.
- The caller will start spinning the Bingo bin and then take one of the balls out of it. Immediately, the caller will say out loud the number and letter that’s on the Bingo ball that she took out of the bin. So all the players hear the number. Of course, everything must be said in Spanish. / El llamador va a girar el contenedor de Bingo y luego sacará una de las pelotas de ahí. Inmediatamente, el llamador dirá en voz alta el número y letra que está en la pelota de Bingo que sacó del contenedor. Así todos los jugadores escucharán el número. Claro que todo tendrá que decirse en Español.
- If that letter and number are on the card of one of the players, that player will have to mark with a token the square of their card that corresponds to that number and letter. Make sure to listen carefully, so you don’t miss a number, because that could make you lose the game. / Si esa letra y ese número están en el cartón de uno de los jugadores, ese jugador deberá marcar con una ficha el recuadro de su cartón que corresponde a ese número y letra. Asegúrate de escuchar con cuidado para no perderte un número, porque eso podría hacerte perder el juego.
- Repeat steps from 5 to 6, so the players will start marking their Bingo cards more and more. / Repite los pasos del 5 al 6, así los jugadores empezarán a marcar sus cartones de Bingo cada vez más.
- When one of the players has fully marked one of the rows, columns or diagonal lines — that means 5 of his/her numbers in one line have come out and he/she has marked them on the card— the player must shout “Bingo!” The caller will check that the card is marked correctly. If the card was marked correctly, congrats! You won the game and whichever gift the players or the game’s organizer chose to give. / Cuando uno de los jugadores haya marcado completamente una de las filas, columnas o líneas diagonales — eso significa que 5 de sus números en una sola línea han salido y él/ella los ha marcado en el cartón — el jugador deberá gritar “¡Bingo!” El llamador checará que el cartón haya sido marcado correctamente. Si el cartón fue marcado correctamente, ¡felicidades! Has ganado el juego y el regalo que los jugadores o el organizador del juego decidieron dar.
- Everybody will have to clear their cards by taking out the tokens that are on them. / Todo el mundo deberá limpiar sus cartones quitando las fichas que están sobre ellos
- Put the balls you had taken out back into the bin. This way you all can start a new game. / Pon las pelotas que sacaron de vuelta en el contenedor. De esta manera todos podrán empezar un nuevo juego.
- Repeat all of the steps above to play again. Make sure to mix the Bingo cards before distributing them again, so nobody gets the same card again. / Repite todo los pasos de arriba para jugar de nuevo. Asegúrate de mezclar los cartones de Bingo antes de distribuirlas de nuevo, así nadie recibe el mismo cartón de nuevo.
You can play with many Bingo cards at the same time. This will be harder, but it’ll help your kids put more effort into staying focused on the game. This can be a good thing to do to raise the level of the game.
TruFluency Kids Knows More Ways of Having Fun Learning Spanish
If you want more ways for your kids to learn Spanish in a fun way, we’re your solution! TruFluency Kids is an online Spanish immersion school. We’re fully committed to your kids’ language journey and that is clear in the way we teach them.
Our native tutors teach through all kinds of fun and common activities for kids. They’ll sing, dance, do crafts, read, cook, and play games in Spanish in every single class. So there’s not one boring lesson with us! It’s both a natural and joyful way of acquiring Spanish.
Plus, all lessons are based on our Bellieu Method, which consists of encouraging students to speak in their target language. There’s going to be time for all children to speak in every single class! This is the best way of achieving Spanish fluency.
But hey, don’t believe us! Check our testimonials.
