Bingo in 16 Languages

Overview

This lesson plan is a regular game of bingo, but students learn greetings in 16 languages. The focus is on the fact that all of the 16 languages we chose are spoken by people in our town. You may want to substitute other languages.

Lesson Plan

There are several documents attached, described below.

Big language and hello: This is a document containing the word for hello or similar greeting in 16 languages, which could all be posted on the board. This version contains two Native American languages spoken close to our city, so you may want to substitute other more relevant languages for your students.

Big language hello pronounce: This document provides some psuedo-phonetic pronunication help below each greeting. These are also printed large so they could be posted on a board.

Languages and hellos: These are bingo cards with the languages and a greeting in 16 languages. The caller can call out the greetings and the languages so the students can learn them both (and become familiar with some of the unfamiliar sounds). You may want to substitute different languages for some of these.
(See the attached pronunciation help document for tips on how to say the words.)

Hello only: These are bingo cards with the greetings only in the 16 languages. The caller can first call out the greetings themselves. Then for a harder challenge, the caller could call out the language name and the students must find the corresponding greeting in that language. Again, you may want to substitute different languages for some of these.

Languages only: These are bingo cards with the 16 language names. The caller can say the greeting, and the students must find the corresponding language. Again, you may want to substitute different languages for some of these.

List of languages and where spoken. This document is just that. Many of the languages are, of course, spoken in many different places. The locations given here are the areas with the most speakers or the most well-known (to my students) locations. We wanted to make the point that all of these language were also spoken in our town and by students in the school, so your list could be different to reflect that.

Class Time Needed

1 hour

Subject(s)

General linguistics
Language arts
Other

Grade Level

Grades 1-2
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8