Since I had been dealing with slow and challenging readers in my class, I was forced to think of more sensible ways to help them read. My years of seminars/workshops and so on were not enough to quench my thirst for healthier strategies. I almost gave up when some of my students couldn’t even read a single high-frequency word, which comprised seventy-five percent of the text. Imagine the feeling I had when some of them didn’t even have the slightest idea what we were doing, why there was a need for understanding, etc. One more thing, they would rather play, draw or color an animal, manga character or whatever their hands could get their hands on, than read the text presented to them. I asked around how to help these children acquire the habit of reading, make sense of the text, enjoy the companion of a book, etc. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the answer. I was helpless, blaming myself for choosing to handle them without any competition that I should have had in the first place.

The days passed. Forcing them to read a storybook or two didn’t help. He had even told them to bring their favorite books, but nothing happened. Nothing seemed to help. Then one day I discovered something.

As I was walking down the street, I heard women playing bingo. Oh wait a minute. These women had been playing this game and they didn’t even get tired of playing it. What could have been so special about playing bingo that made them so engrossed? Could it be the pot money? Bonding times? Or did they just want to kill time? A way to avoid boredom?

Something appeared in my mind. If I could use this game in my reading class, would my students be able to read? Would you enjoy our reading session when there was a part of the game like this, like bingo? Oh, I needed to find out.

When I got home, I immediately grabbed a pen, paper, and ruler. I made one bingo card, then another, until I had twenty-four pieces. Then, I wrote high-frequency words there that my students had a hard time recognizing. Right there and at that moment, I had an innovation! I was able to adopt the game of bingo in my reading class. Well, instead of using numbers like in bingo, I used sight words to meet the needs of my students’ reading problem. As for the name, I used Word which means dynamic, fun and meaningful.

After I started using it, my students had fun learning to read. Some volunteered to be the “caller” while the rest were busy playing with their classmates. As for the “pantantos” seeds, pebbles, colored cut papers were used. And since then my class had been full of fun when it was time to play and the motivation for reading increased.