The main goals of the quiz game:
| Linguistic objectives: | to revise vocabulary to develop student’s speaking skills to stimulate student’s imagination and creative abilities |
| Other objectives: | to build co-operation between the members of the groups (teams) to develop a sense of group identity to enjoy music and develop a sense of rhythm to introduce aspects of English-speaking culture to the students |
| Preparatory work: | Students use their general knowledge of the topics. Classes choose participants for the game. Teacher prepares materials (tasks) for the game and prizes. |
Equipment: A cassette recorder, audiocassettes, cards with the special tasks.
Procedure
The teacher starts the game, greets the teams, jury and spectators and gives short information about the game. The quiz is divided into three parts and involves 3 kinds of tasks:
Answer the questions.
Sing the song (or collect all parts of the song together in the right order).
Draw your own Christmas / New Year / Valentine card and write the greetings in the cards.
The teacher asks the questions and the team that gives the correct answer faster, gets the points. They can get 10 points for a short answer and 50 points max for a more extended one.
Then the teacher gives the printed words of the song to the teams, plays the song on the tape, asks the students to follow the words and sing to music when it sounds again. The teams have got 3 min for preparation and then every team sings the song in turn.
For the last part of the game the teacher gives each team pieces of paper and coloured pencils and asks them to draw their own Christmas (New Year, Valentine) cards and write the greetings in the cards. The students have only 3 min to do it. While they are creating their cards, silent music sounds.
After every part of the game the jury gives the opinion and marks the tasks of the teams. The teams count their points. At the end of the game the jury announces the final score and congratulates the winner – the team with the most points. All the teams get prizes.
Questions for the game
- When is Christmas celebrated in Great Britain?
- Whose birthday is celebrated on Christmas?
- What are traditional Christmas Songs? How are they called in Britain?
- What is the name of the day before Christmas Day?
- What country gave us the tradition to decorate the Christmas tree?
- When was the custom to decorate the Christmas trees with candles and presents introduced in Britain?
- Where does the most famous Christmas tree stand in London?
- Whose present is it?
- What do they call Father Frost in the West? Where does he live?
- What does Santa Claus look like?
- How does Santa Claus travel?
- How does Santa Claus enter houses to give children Christmas presents and where does he put them?
- What are the traditional Christmas colours?
- Why do little children sometimes write letters to Santa Claus?
- When did the custom of sending Christmas cards to friends and relatives appear?
- What is the traditional Christmas food?
- Who helps Santa Claus with his work?
- Do all British people celebrate New Year?
- When do they celebrate it? When is New Year’s Day celebrated?
- How do they celebrate New Year?
- In Great Britain there are traditions to let the Old Year out. What are these traditions?
- What are New Year’s resolutions?
- Do people always keep them?
- What is the name of New Year’s Eve in Scotland?
- What is the Scottish tradition in observing New Year’s Day?
- What gifts does the First Foot bring?
- What do the First Foot gifts mean?
- Why do they welcome a man, and not a woman?
- Who was the Roman god of love?
- When is St.Valentine’s Day celebrated?
- How is it celebrated?
- Who was Valentine?
- What happened on 14 February?
- What is Gretna Green famous for?
- What is the name of small letters which people send each other?
- What is usually painted in Valentine cards?
- What do Valentine cards look like?
Songs
1 Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year.Good tidings to you
Where ever you are.
Good tidings for Christmas
And a Happy New Year.
2 The traditional Christmas song “Jingle, Bells!”
Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh,
O’er the fields we go,
Laughing all the way.Bells on bob-tail ring,
Making spirits bright.
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight.
| Chorus: | Jingle, bells! Jingle, bells! | Chorus: |
| Jingle all the way! | ||
| Oh, what fun it is to ride | ||
| In a one-horse open sleigh. |
3 “Christmas Tree”
4 “My Bonnie”
Theme quiz game on culture studies “Great Britain. London.”
Objectives: to consolidate students’ knowledge about Great Britain and London to practice and develop speaking skills
Preparatory work: Students are offered short information texts, pictures and video episodes on Great Britain and London.
Students use their general knowledge of the topics.
Students choose participants for the game.
Teacher makes questions.
Equipment / Organization: Decorate the classroom with appropriate pictures, posters, flags, maps, portraits.
Organize places for the teams, jury and spectators.
Write questions on cards (A4). They will help students form their answers using correct structure.
(All the questions are divided into two topics: Great Britain and London. Each question has “a price” of 5 or 10 points. If the question intends a short answer, it costs 5 points and it costs 10 points if students need to give a more extended answer.)
Think about prizes.
Procedure
The teacher starts the game, greets the teams, jury and spectators and gives short information about the game. The starting team calls out the topic and the price of the question, for example “London-10”. The leader / teacher shows the card with the question and reads it. The team answers. If the jury accepts the answer, the team gets the points. If members of the team can’t answer the question, the leader does it himself/herself in order not to break the atmosphere of the game. The teams choose questions in turn.
When the questions are over, the jury makes the score.
While the jury is counting the points, the leader can play a mini-quiz with the spectators. The leader reads in Russian short extracts from literature works by British and American writers. The task is to guess and name the author and the book. The teams can get 10 additional points for each extract from their fans.
The leader can also add a bonus game “British cities”. The names of British cities are written on cards and the cards are cut into two pieces. The team who is the first to match two halves together and build the correct names wins this round and gets bonus points.
At the end the jury announces the final score. The team with the most points is the winner. The jury may wish to mark the best players in the teams for special features, for example: the most active player, the most intelligent player, the most artistic player, etc.
Questions on GB and London
- Look at the poster and name the place.
- Look at the photo. Can you name this person?
- Name the biggest clock in Britain.
- Prince William. Can you name his parents?
- What church is the greatest church in London?
- Why is the Clock Tower called Big Ben?
- London. Trafalgar Square. Whose statue is on the top of the column?
- Why is Tower Bridge called so?
- What is the most ancient historic building in London?
- What event takes place in the Tower every night at 10 p.m.?
- Who founded the Tower of London and when?
- What appears in Trafalgar Square every year at Christmas?
- 10 Downing Street is the place where … .
- What is another name for the British flag?
- What city is the capital of Wales?
- Which countries does the UK consist of?
- What is the population of the UK nowadays?
- Name five or more British cities.
- How many pence are there in one pound?
- The National Gallery. Is the admission free or the Londoners have to pay money?
- What is the major language in the UK?
- What city is the capital city of Northern Ireland?
- Which country is the largest in the UK?
- What colour is the British flag?
- What is the name of the river in London?
- What do you know about the ravens in the Tower?
- London. Trafalgar Square. What can you see at the bottom and around the column?
- A famous literature character lived in Baker Street. What’s his name?
- What is special about Tower Bridge?
- London. Westminster Palace. What does the flag on the top of the Victoria Tower show?
- This building in London was originally founded as a monastery. Name it.
- This building is Queen’s residence in London. Name it.
- What is the oldest and busiest part of London? Why?
- What can you see inside the towers on Tower Bridge?
- London. What can you find in the West End?
- The National Gallery. What can you see there?
- Westminster palace. What are the names of the two towers?
- What is another name of Westminster Palace?
- What is the oldest bridge in London?
- Name five or more British writers.
- Who was the first English king crowned in Westminster Abbey?
- Prince William. Why is he going to join the army or navy after university?
- Westminster Palace. What does the flag on the Victoria tower show?
- What is the main square in London?
- Two British towns are known as university towns. Name them.
- What has been inside the Tower of London during its long history?
- Where does British Parliament seat in London?
- What is the crowning place of English kings and queens?
- Who guards the Tower?
- What is the full name of Great Britain?
- Where is “the whispering gallery “ situated? Name the building.
- Who was called “the architect of London” after the great fire of 1666?
- Prince William. Has he got any brothers or sisters?
- Why is Westminster Abbey often compared with a mausoleum?
- In which part of London are most of Government buildings situated?
- What bridge is the symbol of London?
- Who lived in Sherwood Forest and fought against the sheriff of Nottingham?
Short texts on Great Britain and London
Westminster Palace and Big Ben: Westminster Palace is known as the Houses of Parliament. This is where British Parliament sits. The modern Westminster Palace was built in 1840 after the fire on the historical place of the old Westminster Palace.
There are two towers: the Victoria Tower and the Clock Tower .The Victoria Tower holds the documents of both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The British flag (is known as Union Jack ) on the top of the Victoria Tower and the light inside the Clock Tower show that Parliament is in session.
Big Ben is the name of the huge clock bell on the top of Big Ben. It is the biggest one in Britain. It was called Big Ben after Sir Benjamin Hall, who looked after the building of the clock.
Prince William: Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was 20 years old on June 21 2002. He is а very popular member of the Royal family and looks a lot like his mother, Princess Diana. Like his father Prince William went to Eton College, an exclusive boys-only boarding school. He left it in 2000 and then went to Chile to help in a charity project. At the moment he is studying Art History at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland.The Prince likes to be active and loves sport, especially swimming, tennis, skiing, rowing and cycling.
After university Prince William is going to join the army or navy. This is a family tradition. The Prince doesn’t want to become King, but one day in the future people will call him King William III of England.
Saint Paul’s Cathedral: St. Paul’s Cathedral is the city’s greatest monument and the masterpiece of the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren. He is known as “the architect of London” for he planned the building of London after the Great Fire of 1666 with wide streets and houses made of bricks. St.Paul’s is the fifth church put at the same site. It was built in 1675-1710 and the building went on for 35 years.
From far away you can see the huge dome with a golden ball and cross on the top. The dome is the second largest in the world after St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. The “Whispering Gallery” which runs round the base of the dome is so called because a whisper can be heard from one side to the other.
Inside the church there are monuments to national heroes. The Duke of Wellington, Admiral Nelson, Joshua Reynolds and Christopher Wren are buried there. An inscription in Latin says: “If you seek a memorial, look about you”.
Westminster Abbey: Westminster Abbey is a fine Gothic building in the center of London just opposite the Houses of Parliament. It is the most important and famous of all historic buildings in Britain. Since the time of William the Conqueror (1066) Westminster Abbey has been the crowning place of the kings and queens of England.
It was founded as a monastery but later it was rebuilt. The present building dates from about 1480 but the West Towers were added in the 18-th century.
The Abbey is sometimes compared with a mausoleum because there are tombs and memorials of almost all English monarchs, famous statesmen and scientists, writers and musicians. Some monuments are made of gold and precious stones.
In Poet’s Corner the most important English literary men are buried: Dickens, Shakespeare, Burns, Byron, Kipling, W.Scott…
There is also the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
The National Gallery: On the north side of Trafalgar Square you can see the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery next to it.
The National Gallery was begun in 1824 when 38 pictures were bought by the Government. The collection contains pictures of all the European schools of painting between the 13-th and early 20-th century. Now there are more than 2.000 paintings in the collection. There are no pictures by living artists. Some pictures are bought by the Gallery, some are given by rich people and some are lent.
The admission is free and all are welcome to come and see the collection.
To the east of the Gallery there stands a very beautiful church. It is the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (1726). Many wooden churches in America are copies of this church.
Tower Bridge: The river Thames flows through London and there are 17 bridges over the Thames.
Tower Bridge is the gateway to London from the sea. It is the most famous but not the oldest bridge in London. It was built in 1894 not far from the Tower of London. This bridge quickly became the symbol of London. It’s the only Thames bridge which can be raised.
There are two towers on it and two walkways on the top between the towers. The north tower houses the machinery of the bridge and in the south tower there is an exhibition on the history of London bridges.
Trafalgar Square: Trafalgar Square is the most famous of London squares. It is situated in the centre of London not far from Westminster and Buckingham Palace. It was laid out in Victorian times on the site of the Royal stables.
The square was named after Admiral Horatio Nelson. He defeated the French Fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. In the middle of the square stands a very tall column (1842) Its height is 50 m. It is the monument to Lord Nelson. His statue is on the top of the column. The statue is 5 m high. Bronze relieves show his most famous victories. The four bronze lions at the bottom of the column were cast from the cannons of the ships. There are two beautiful fountains and historical British people around the column. There are lots of pigeons. They are nearly tame and you can feed them just from your hand.
Trafalgar Square is the place for political demonstrations and it is the popular meeting place for both tourists and Londoners.
Norway sends Britain a huge Christmas tree (thanks for war help).
London. The Capital of Great Britain: London is not only the capital of Great Britain. It is a huge port, a commercial and science center and the seat of the British Government.
It is situated upon both banks of the river Thames.
The most important parts of London are the City, the West End, the East End and Westminster.
The City, or the Square Mile, is the oldest part of London. Most important companies and banks have offices there.
The West End is the western part of London between the City and Hyde Park. The City and West End are the heart of the capital. Here you can see historical buildings, theatres, museums, fashionable shops and gardens.
Westminster with Government buildings is the next part of L-n.
The East End is the poorest part of the capital.
The Tower of London: The Tower of London is a famous trademark of London and the most ancient historic building. It was founded by William the Conqueror in 1078. From the 11-th century the Tower has been served many purposes and it is full of history.
The Normans built it as a fortress and a palace. At first it was the king’s residence. From the 15-th to 18-th century it was a state prison. The grey stones of the Tower could tell terrible and sad stories because many kings and queens, princes and churchmen were imprisoned and executed there. It was a mint until 1810. For some time it was the first royal observatory. For 300 years there was the royal zoo. Since 1640 it has been the place where the Crown Jewels are kept. Today the Tower houses the unique collection of Royal arms.
42 Yeomen Warders known as “Beefeaters” guard the Tower and live there. A group of 8 ravens live in the Tower as part of its history. The legend says that if the ravens disappear the Tower will fall. That is why the birds are carefully guarded, too.
Every night at 10 p.m. there is the Ceremony of the Keys. It goes back to the Middle Ages.
The UK: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland consists of Great Britain – that is England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. They are ruled by the same government but each country has its own capital city and emblem. The population of the UK is about 56 million people. The major language is English, though some people speak Welsh and Gaelic.
The largest country is England. Most of the population live there (46 million). The capital of England is London. Its emblem is a red rose. Scotland is separated from England by mountains. Its capital is Edinburgh and its emblem is a thistle. Wales covers the western part of Great Britain. Cardiff is the capital and a daffodil is the emblem of Wales. The capital of Northern Ireland is Belfast and the emblem is a shamrock and a red hand.
Main cities: Birmingham, Manchester, Cambridge, Oxford, Leeds, Stratford-upon-Avon, Dublin, Nottingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Plymouth, Bristol, Southampton, Dover, Brighton.
( Literature extracts (in Russian) are enclosed)