Quiz Show

Kevin Davies

OBJECTIVES:

1. Reviewing grammar learned previously

2. Practicing listening skills

3. Having a fun time while filling an entire class period

PROCEDURE:

1. Be surprised (even though this is not the first time something like this has happened) when your JTE tells you that since today is (INSERT REASON HERE) they would like to play a game and do you have anything that would take an entire period, be fun, review past grammar, and be ready to go in, ohh, 9-10 minutes?

2. Come up with 4-5 categories. I used Food, School, Movies/TV, Sports, and Textbook. Write five questions for each category. Examples are “What is Mark’s sister’s name?” for the Textbook category, or “What is the newest movie from Hayao Miyazaki?” for Movies/TV. I was able to hammer out 50 questions in about 8 minutes with just a little help from my JTE. You should also include questions that play to the recent grammar points such as using past tense or comparatives. You will then need to rank the questions in order of difficulty from 10 points to 50 points.

3. In the classroom simply write the categories on the board and write 10, 20, and 30 below them. Explain to the students that it’s a Trivia Game and have them get into lunch groups. I let them make up their own team names which made things a bit more fun.

4. The rules are simple. Whoever gets the question right chooses the category and points for the next question, ala Jeopardy. Answers must ALWAYS be given in complete sentences, and grammar is just as important as the correct answer. Once a student has correctly answered a question, they cannot answer another until everyone in their group has done so. This way you avoid the one kid answering every single question dilemma.

5. Then, it’s just a matter of letting them pick questions and trying to get the correct answer out of them. They will likely get pretty energetic before long and being practically jumping out of their seats (or literally in some cases) to answer the next question.

6. After about 10 questions have been answered, add the 40 point questions to the mix, and after another 3-5 questions have been done add the 50 pointers in. This keeps it fresh and gives teams a chance to catch up. I made the mistake of putting all the questions up at one time when I first did this and by halfway one team had answered most of the high point questions and was way out in front.

7. Go until all the questions have been answered or until time is up, whichever comes first. Count up the scores and declare a winner. Give them something. Anything. My sister sent me cocktail umbrellas as a joke so I gave those away. Ridiculously huge hit.

NOTE:

It’s all up to you how much review you want to mix in here. I have now done this with every class in my school and it was a success with them all. Just tweak the questions for different grades and you’re ready to go all over again.