Vocabulary and Spelling Review Games

As ESL teachers, it is easy to fall in love with a few easy and exciting classroom games.  These are the games that get all your students fired up, shouting at the board, and using English is authentic ways.  However, when a learner with visual impairments enters the classroom, many teachers discover that their favorite games are not accessible to that learner.

So here are 2 games to try with your class:


Vocabulary Bingo
Materials: small flashcards (the size of business cards or smaller), a list of spelling or vocabulary words to review.

• give each student several small flashcards.  The number will depend on how large you want your bingo board to be (9, 16, 25).
• Have students choose words from a predetermined spelling or vocabulary list to copy onto the cards. Students who use braille can use a slate or Perkins Brailler to make the cards.
• Show students how to arrange their word cards in a grid.  The order of the words should be different for each student.
• Now begin calling off words from the list.  You can just read the words if the objective is sight-wording.  Or you can read only the definition if vocabulary review is the objective.
• As a word is called, the student flips over that card, keeping it in place.  When a complete row or column of words is turned over...BINGO!

The game can be played over and over again by rearranging the cards and students now have vocabulary flashcards to take home or use in other classroom activities!

If you have existing vocabulary bingo cards, you might use this alternate approach only for learners with vision impairments.

Group Spelling Bee
This is an activity that my class does regularly to prepare for our weekly spelling test.  At first I thought it was going to be a very competitive activity but it turns out that we laugh more during this game than any other.  I also appreciate the level of focus and attention that it takes.  Everyone in the classroom has to be focused on a single task to make it successful.

Materials: a list of spelling words.

• If students have not already had time to study the spelling words, offer a few minutes of independent practice time.
• Ask everyone to stand up in a circle.
• The teacher reads the first spelling word.  Students will take turns saying each letter in the word.  If a student makes a mistake, he or she must sit down and the next student starts again with the first letter of the word.

This activity works well with a medium to large class and requires the teacher to do some 'conducting' by pointing to each person when it is there turn to give a letter.  If a blind learner is not able to sense when it is there turn, the student next to them might be asked to touch their hand or shoulder to help signal their turn.