News quiz 2015 Ideas on how to use the quiz Competition – in teams Divide students into groups of 3-4 and give each group cut-up strips with the questions (without numbers). Let Ss first go through the questions in groups, then ask for feedback and award a point for each correct answer. Later on, give out the answer sheet and ask Ss to match the questions with the answers. A stapler might be handy too to staple the cut-up question strips to the answer sheet. Ss find the answers to the questions they didn't know or weren’t sure about. Classroom management tip: This activity works better with similar-ability students grouped together. Ask early finishers to underline / highlight useful lexical chunks in the news quiz (see Language Focus below) or come up with catchy titles for each question (see Headlines below). OR give weaker groups fewer questions. Table quiz The same activity can be done with the teacher as a quizmaster. Supply each group with a numbered sheet for writing answers on (not provided here). The quizmaster reads out the questions, and each team has to write their answers down. The quiz can be divided into three rounds with the questions grouped as follows: POLITICS & ECONOMY - Questions 1, 6, 8, 11, 12 SCIENCE & GLOBAL ISSUES - Questions 2, 4, 7, 9, 10 SPORT, SHOWBIZ & GOSSIP – Questions 3, 5, 12, 14, 15 Classroom management tip: This activity would work better with students divided into mixed-ability / heterogeneous groups.
Webquest If you have access to the Internet in your classroom, instead of giving Ss the answers, ask them to find information on the Internet or on their smartphones. Each pair / group then shares with the class what they have found. This can also be assigned as out-of-class work.
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Mini-presentations Ask each student individually to choose one news story they are familiar with and share with the rest of the class (or in their groups) what they know about it. Give them about three minutes each. Ask Ss to find out more about the topics they didn't know about and make another mini-presentation for the next lesson. Ranking Ask Ss to rank the stories in order of importance to make a Top 10 Hottest News of the year list. To turn it into a writing activity, you can use Tricider with students writing arguments in support of a particular news item. See this video tutorial: www.teachertrainingvideos.com/tricider From 15 to 20 The quiz has 15 questions. Ask Ss what news stories from 2015 they would add to the list to make it 20.
Headlines After answering the questions, Ss in groups decide on a title for each news story. They can then present their titles to other groups who should guess which story it relates to. Some possible titles/headlines are: Fall from grace (Question 3) Divisive dress unifies the internet in debate (Question 5) Make your own quiz Ask Ss in groups to design similar quizzes based on the local news stories of 2015 using lexical chunks (see below) from the original quiz. NB. Make sure the news stories from your country have not been included in the original quiz.
Language focus The quiz contains a lot of collocations and other lexical chunks which are worth drawing students’ attention to. They can be written on the board or highlighted if you are using a projector (and MS Word) or IWB. I've highlighted some using the following colours – see pp. 5-6: Verb + Noun collocations Adjective + Noun/Noun + Noun collocations Other chunks 2
Noticing If your students are already used to noticing (and, possibly, underlining) chunks and collocations when reading, you can “test” their noticing skills. Give out the same quiz with key words blacked out (see pp. 7-8). Tell them you’re testing their memory – only, of course, you’re also testing their knowledge of common lexical patterns. Lexical chunk dictation Alternatively, if your students have all the questions in front of them, you can "dictate" the chunks and collocations you want them to underline. For example, 1) Find a chunk used twice in the quiz which means “following something or as a result of something” = in the wake of / in its wake 2) Underline a collocation which means "finish unexpectedly" = came to an abrupt end 3) Underline a verb-noun combination which means "take part in voting" = went to the polls See my article Revisiting Texts on the TeachingEnglish website to get a clearer idea about how it is done: http://tinyurl.com/revtexts
Post-teaching lexis You can spend some time elaborating on and experimenting with many lexical items in the quiz. Refer back to the quiz and ask the following questions
The dress debate was raging on the Internet. What else can be raging? (storm, forest fires, teenage hormones)
Volkswagen rigged the tests. In what other context is the word often used in the news? HINT: the subject is mentioned in the quiz. (election: the results can be rigged)
What do you think may have happened to the Volkswagen shares as a result of the scandal? Find a word in the quiz which can describe the fall of the share price (plunge)
Sepp Blatter abused his power. What other things can one abuse? (drug abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse) Translate these into L1. Do you always end up with the same word for “abuse” in L1? 3
In the same question (Question 3),which word can be used to describe what happened to Lance Armstrong a couple of years ago? banned from: he was banned from cycling
Other items to post-teach reign as FIFA president
Who do we normally refer to when we talk about reign? (king/ queen /monarch)
death and destruction
is an example of alliteration. Do you know other phrases like this? (live and learn, short and sweet, prim and proper). Read about binomial expressions HERE
leave smb. stranded
Can you think of other reasons why you might be left stranded? (flooding, delayed flights)
keep track of
What other things can you keep track of?
curb
What other things can the government curb? (inflation, spending)
Vocabulary expansion Give your Ss a list of vocabulary items for self-study. Tell them to study them at home using an online dictionary (see here: bit.ly/lextools) and relate them to one of the news stories mentioned in the quiz. In other words, they first learn new words out of context (even though online dictionaries provide pretty good contextualised examples) and then ”insert” them into the context. List of items magnitude avalanche altitude debris bailout to surpass
Answers (don’t give these to Ss) Earthquake (Question 4) Earthquake (Q 4) Plane crash (Q 2) Plane crash (Q 2) Greek referendum where the bailout was rejected (Q8) Facebook surpassing their previous record (Q10) or Serena Williams surpassing Martina Navratilova (Q12)
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News quiz 2015 with highlighted chunks 1.
In the wake of the November attacks in Paris, many world landmarks were illuminated in the colours of the French flag in solidarity with French people. What do the three colours of the French flag represent?
2.
An Airbus 320 en route from Spain to Germany plunged from the sky in March 2015 and crashed into the French Alps killing all those on board. What was the cause of the crash?
3.
Sepp Blatter’s reign as FIFA President came to an abrupt end in 2015 after he was banned from football for eight years for abuse of power. What country does Sepp Batter come from?
4.
In April 2015, a massive earthquake hit Nepal causing death and destruction, and leaving many mountain climbers stranded in its wake. What famous mountain is Nepal home to?
5.
One of the hottest debates raging on the Internet in 2015 was over the colour of a dress. Some people claimed it was white and gold, while others believed it to be: ___________
6.
What multinational technology company expanded its range of products in April 2015 when it launched a new watch which allows you to make calls, keep track of your workout and pay for groceries?
7.
Although the evidence that there is life on Mars is still not conclusive, NASA made a startling discovery in September 2015. What did they find on the planet?
8.
What European country went to the polls three times in 2015: twice for national elections and once for a referendum?
9.
In December 2015, the leaders of nearly 200 countries agreed to curb the rise in global temperatures. What temperature target was set in a landmark agreement signed in Paris?
10.
Facebook reached a major milestone and set a new record for daily users in 2015. How many people used the website in a single day in August 2015?
5
11.
Refugees continued to flee a bloody civil war in Syria and seek asylum in other countries. Which country took in most Syrian refugees in 2015?
12.
After her victory at the 2015 Wimbledon tournament, 33-year old Serena Williams became the oldest woman to win the title in the Open Era. Who set the record for the oldest female Wimbledon winner before her?
13.
Which car manufacturer came under fire in September 2015 after it was revealed that it had been rigging emissions tests on their diesel vehicles?
14.
Any member country of the European Broadcasting Union is eligible to take part in the annual Eurovision Song Contest. However, in 2015, the invitation to participate was extended for the first time to a non-European, non-member country. Which one?
15.
After months of rumours, former Olympic gold medallist Bruce Jenner came out as a transgender woman known as Caitlyn Jenner in April 2015. In what sport did (s)he win the gold medal in 1976?
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News quiz 2015 with blanked out words (20 in total) 1.
In the wake of the November attacks in Paris, many world landmarks were illuminated in the colours of the French flag in solidarity with French people. What do the three colours of the French flag represent?
2.
An Airbus 320 en route from Spain to Germany plunged from the sky in March 2015 and crashed into the French Alps killing all those on board. What was the cause of the crash?
3.
Sepp Blatter’s reign as FIFA President came to an abrupt end in 2015 after he was banned from football for eight years for abuse of power. What country does Sepp Batter come from?
4.
In April 2015, a massive earthquake hit Nepal causing death and destruction, and leaving many mountain climbers stranded in its wake. What famous mountain is Nepal home to?
5.
One of the hottest debates raging on the Internet in 2015 was over the colour of a dress. Some people claimed it was white and gold, while others believed it to be: ___________
6.
What multinational technology company expanded its range of products in April 2015 when it launched a new watch which allows you to make calls, keep track of your workout and pay for groceries?
7.
Although the evidence that there is life on Mars is still not conclusive, NASA made a startling discovery in September 2015. What did they find on the planet?
8.
What European country went to the polls three times in 2015: twice for national elections and once for a referendum?
9.
In December 2015, the leaders of nearly 200 countries agreed to curb the rise in global temperatures. What temperature target was set in a landmark agreement signed in Paris?
10.
Facebook reached a major milestone and set a new record for daily users in 2015. How many people used the website in a single day in August 2015?
7
11.
Refugees continued to flee a bloody civil war in Syria and seek asylum in other countries. Which country took in most Syrian refugees in 2015?
12.
After her victory at the 2015 Wimbledon tournament, 33-year old Serena Williams became the oldest woman to win the title in the Open Era. Who set the record for the oldest female Wimbledon winner before her?
13.
Which car manufacturer came under fire in September 2015 after it was revealed that it had been rigging emissions tests on their diesel vehicles?
14.
Any member country of the European Broadcasting Union is eligible to take part in the annual Eurovision Song Contest. However, in 2015, the invitation to participate was extended for the first time to a non-European, non-member country. Which one?
15.
After months of rumours, former Olympic gold medallist Bruce Jenner came out as a transgender woman known as Caitlyn Jenner in April 2015. In what sport did (s)he win the gold medal in 1976?
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