ESL Bingo [JavaScript]
This is an automated way for ESL teachers to make up game cards for comprehension bingo. Each student gets a game card, and the teacher reads out the word/phrase list in order. The first student to correctly identify all the words/phrases on their card wins.
Reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the cards and the word list are randomized. This makes it difficult to predict who will win.
This is a variant of a program I wrote for Catherine's ESL teaching in 1999. The original was written in Perl, and wrote out LaTeX source. This one is a bit easier to use.
Example Word List
To see sample output, copy the following lines into the text box, and select 12 words/phrases per card, and 12 cards. Select "Show cards in new window", and then print preview the resulting page.
This party themed wordlist is Copyright © 2002, Catherine Raine. (And no, our parties aren't that weird if this is the dialogue …)
When were you born? Where were you born? When did you start school? When did you finish school? When did you graduate? When did you immigrate? When did you learn to drive? Did you join the army? Did you rent an apartment? When did you get married? Surprise! Blow out the candles! Make a wish! Hide! Open the presents! Invite the guests. Have a party. What time is the party? How many guests are coming? Please answer the door. I'd like to buy a gift for my wife. How much is it? Do you have it in another colour? What is your favourite colour? Can I help you? Can I have a discount? How are you paying? I have some cash. Do you accept credit cards? Would you like me to gift wrap it? I hope she likes the gift. I'm sure she will like the gift. Have a nice day! Thank you! You're welcome. Excuse me. No problem. I beg your pardon.
Bugs
Though this works fine on Mozilla 1.1 Linux, it doesn't work at all on IE5 under Mac OS X. And I thought that JavaScript was meant to be cross-platform …
It's much more picky on card numbering than it needs to be.