It’s that time of year again! That’s right – President Trump will give the 2020 State of the Union Speech on Tuesday, February 4.

What to expect

• A lot of clapping
• Some signature phrases
• Horn tooting
• Political drama

But this year’s speech is happening at an interesting time. As of publication date, the impeachment trial has just begun in the Senate. There is a chance (very small) that Trump could be gone before the SOTU. If there are any changes in the Presidency or new terms that come up, I may edit the boards.

Otherwise, we can probably expect the same type of speech – long and not that exciting. But you can make it a bit more interesting with these bingo cards. 

When I taught US Government, students were required to watch, but I wanted to make the process a bit more exciting. While there are a lot of bingo cards available on the internet, it’s usually just a single card. I wanted to make it more exciting for my students by making more cards. Nothing roped in my students faster than competition!

Just quick notes on the cards themselves: There are 4 different cards. Players will spend most of their time listening for the terms on their cards. However, the ones in italics are actions – look for those!

I’ve had one action in the boards forever “Someone in the House falls asleep” and it finally happened last year!! I never thought that would actually happen, so who knows with some of these!

2020 State of the Union Bingo Cards

Directions for 2020 SOTU Bingo

For funsies:

Invite friends over to watch. Print out as many copies of each card as you need. Hand out to friends. If you’re adults and want to include adult beverages, more power to you!

For teachers:

Copy one 2020 State of the Union bingo card on 1 side and the watching guide on the other. I required students to complete the watching guide by the next class.

If students don’t have access to a TV during the speech, it will also be on the radio and the internet. They will be able to watch it almost immediately afterward on the internet.

In class, we spent most of our time going over the viewing guide and it always led to some interesting conversation. It’s also useful to follow some of the president’s proposals over time – which ones progress and which ones don’t.

Hope this makes the State of the Union a bit more fun and leads to some healthy competition!

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