At Home Challenge Cards and Guide for EFL/ESL Self-Study

They are easy for students to understand, which leads to higher motivation and participation

They can be used between lessons to study and review, allowing for more effective use of class time

They are completely free to download and use. (Some activities require a Student FUN!box membership, however)

Schools can see a participation rate over 90% with At Home Challenge Cards

They contain multiple videos featuring several teachers to help improve listening skills

They can be customized by schools and teachers

At Home Challenge Cards are free supplementary resources that were created to give students more opportunities to study and review at home using the thousands of resources found in the BINGOBONGO FUN!box, a popular online resource library and teaching platform.

By simply scanning any QR code on the At Home Challenge Card, students can play interactive games to review vocabulary words and grammar. There are also several exciting videos that review content for each lesson, teach how to do the worksheets, and introduce other fun topics.

**A student FUN!box membership is required for students to access some resources found in the At Home Challenge Cards.

The easiest way to use the At Home Challenge Cards is to print them out and staple them directly onto each student’s homework assignment. FUN!book pages tear out of the books, so for each lesson, students only need to take home that week’s worksheets and At Home Challenge Card. This greatly simplifies the homework process, and significantly reduces lesson planning time. This is one reason the FUN!book/At Home Challenge system is so popular with teachers, students, and parents.

After each lesson, students should finish their assigned worksheets and then scan some or all of the QR codes found on the At Home Challenge Card. After scanning a QR code, a game, video, or review activity will appear on the screen. Students can then watch the video or do the activity and color in the “I did it!” check box.

We recommend having students do their favorite activities at least six times through the week between English lessons (e.g. 6 QR codes one time each, or 2 QR codes three times each). It is not uncommon, however, for students to do all the QR codes multiple times and fill in every checkbox.

The bottom row of QR codes on any At Home Challenge Card has video tutorials of various teachers actually doing the worksheets. If a student doesn’t know what to do on the worksheet, misses a lesson one week, or wants to check their answers, they can just watch the video featuring various English teachers from around the world. This is also a great way to improve listening comprehension.

As soon as students understand how to scan the QR codes to load the activities, they will be able to independently study English at home as long as they have access to a smartphone, tablet, or computer. Teachers should spend some time in lessons explaining how to scan the QR codes and explain what kinds of resources will be used.

Once students understand the process of doing At Home Challenge Cards, teachers should try to find ways to motivate students. Giving a physical reward such as BINGOBONGO FUN!books Stickers or Pet Cards will greatly maximize students’ motivation to study at home more using At Home Challenge Cards.

Step 1: Print and staple the At Home Challenge Card to the homework (teacher)

Step 2: Scan the QR Codes in any order

Step 3: Log in if required

After logging in the first time, the FUN!box will remember that you’re logged in for that device.

**iPhones and iOS devices may load scanned QR codes in a safe-mode browser if the default browser is Safari. If you are required to log in every time you scan, you can either change the default browser to Chrome, or click the Safari icon.

Step 4: Watch the video, play the game, or do the activity

Step 5: Close the browser window or launch the QR Code Scanner again

To prevent children from leaving the FUN!box or accessing irrelevant resources, there are no menus or external links. Students simply close the browser and scan the next QR code.

Step 6: Color the “I did it!” checkbox and write the date

Step 7: Students bring their completed At Home Challenge Cards to the next class

The teacher can then see how many students are participating regularly, as well as which resources are the most popular and effective.

The benefits of At Home Challenge Cards will be clear as soon as you start using them. To get the best results, teachers should carefully explain the process to students in lessons so that they know what to do when they go home.

The teachers at Step by Step English School have even created a fun video to help students get in the habit of scanning QR codes and doing the activities. This is a great activity to assign to students before officially starting to use At Home Challenge Cards. In this activity, students must watch the video and find a secret code. If they find it, they can write it down and show it to the teacher in the next lesson for some kind of reward (stickers, Pet Cards, stationary, etc.)

This activity requires a student membership, so it’s a great way to verify that all the students can log in and access every resource. This activity also helps students stay motivated to do the activities in the At Home Challenge Cards every week!

To do this activity, simply download and print the QR code below and give it to the students to take home. After they scan and log in to their account (requires active Student Membership, they can watch the video above and learn about prepositions of place and funny wet animals. After they find the secret code in the video, they must write it down and give it to their teacher in the next lesson for a reward (we recommend a pack of Battle Eggs Pet Cards).

By doing this activity, teachers can verify that students can successfully scan the QR codes and log in. It also helps set up a great routine for doing At Home Challenge Cards in all the following lessons!