Try the Game Zone with your students
Benelux
Motivate your students with The Big Challenge
Be part of the 630,000 students each year taking part in this educational, in-school event.
Fabulous prizes to win
The Game Zone
A modern, interactive contest
Easy to organise
100% motivation
Everyone has a chance of winning
Motivation guaranteed
The contest inspires them to do their best.
100% engagement
All students and all levels benefit from taking part.
Fun all year
The Game Zone is an enjoyable way to prepare.
Effort rewarded
They make real progress in English and win a prize.
Get ready for the contest
Your account
Personalise the Game Zone and manage your Big Challenge registration.
Training
With the Game Zone, your students make progress every day while having fun.
Before the contest
Finalise the preparations so that the contest goes smoothly for you and your students.
The Stormink Deventer
Our great first year students, celebrating the Big Challenge awards
Name: Dalton Den Haag
Town: Den Haag
Country: The Netherlands
First time we entered 'The Big Challenge' and what fun it has been! Plus lovely results and prizes to boot, so 'Here we come, 2019!'
Zuyderzee Lyceum, Junior Emmeloord. Proud winners of level 1 and 2, including two regional winners! We are so proud!
Our students at Zuyderzee Lyceum Emmeloord, Junior enjoyed the contest and did their utmost to get good results
Het Stormink Deventer. We won beautiful prices.
Ronerborg, Roden Well done 1B!
The Stormink Deventer
Our great first year students, celebrating the Big Challenge awards
Name: Dalton Den Haag
Town: Den Haag
Country: The Netherlands
First time we entered 'The Big Challenge' and what fun it has been! Plus lovely results and prizes to boot, so 'Here we come, 2019!'
Zuyderzee Lyceum, Junior Emmeloord. Proud winners of level 1 and 2, including two regional winners! We are so proud!
FAQs
Why must schools register a minimum of 35 students?
In the organisation of the contest, there are costs that are proportional to the number of students registered in a school but there are also considerable overhead costs like printing and shipping, data management, maintenance and updates of the technical infrastructure required for the online contest, server rental, parcel preparation… which remain the same despite fluctuations in contest registration. We have to impose a minimum number of students in order to balance our budget.
In the organisation of the contest, there are costs that are proportional to the number of students registered in a school but there are also considerable overhead costs like printing and shipping, data management, maintenance and updates of the technical infrastructure required for the online contest, server rental, parcel preparation… which remain the same despite fluctuations in contest registration. We have to impose a minimum number of students in order to balance our budget.
Should I register only my best students?
Our goal at The Big Challenge is to motivate all of your students to learn English. Registering only your best students to show off their talents misses the point. Registering everyone, whatever their level, might just create the momentum that will push some of them to make that extra effort and discover that English isn’t that difficult, that they too can improve and succeed.
Our goal at The Big Challenge is to motivate all of your students to learn English. Registering only your best students to show off their talents misses the point. Registering everyone, whatever their level, might just create the momentum that will push some of them to make that extra effort and discover that English isn’t that difficult, that they too can improve and succeed.
Who pays the registration fees?
The registration fees are paid by students’ parents or by the school, or sometimes both. Some municipalities help cover the cost as well.
How are the registration fees used?
The Big Challenge receives no financial aid of any kind and is funded exclusively by fees paid by participating students, that is 5€ per student, or 4.17€ once the VAT has been paid. These fees cover the printing and shipping of the registration kits and posters as well as development costs, maintenance and updates of the technical infrastructure required for the online contest, rental of numerous servers needed to operate the contest, management of the data base containing all the participants by an external provider and especially score calculation and the establishment of three rankings, the purchase, production, delivery and storage of prizes, prize parcel preparation by an external provider and finally, delivery of prize parcels to schools. These fees also finance the development and maintenance of our website as well as the different applications so that students can practise free of charge all year long.
The Big Challenge receives no financial aid of any kind and is funded exclusively by fees paid by participating students, that is 5€ per student, or 4.17€ once the VAT has been paid. These fees cover the printing and shipping of the registration kits and posters as well as development costs, maintenance and updates of the technical infrastructure required for the online contest, rental of numerous servers needed to operate the contest, management of the data base containing all the participants by an external provider and especially score calculation and the establishment of three rankings, the purchase, production, delivery and storage of prizes, prize parcel preparation by an external provider and finally, delivery of prize parcels to schools. These fees also finance the development and maintenance of our website as well as the different applications so that students can practise free of charge all year long.
Create your account
Fabulous prizes to win
- 100% of participants receive a certificate, a pencil and a poster of an English-speaking city.
- Students who are first in their level receive a special First Class Honours diploma and a School Award medal.
- Over 50% of participants receive an additional prize: Bluetooth headphones, speakers, a power bank, an English-language comic book, diaries, flags, English reader books and more.
- The national and regional winners receive prestigious trophies, the gold First Class National Honours diploma and The Big Challenge T-shirt.
- With all these prizes, the end-of-year prize-giving ceremony at school is a wonderful occasion to celebrate your students’ achievements.
Train all year in The Game Zone
Awaken your students’ interest in English with games that they’ll love. Covering a wide range of skills necessary for learning English, the Game Zone games are specially created by teachers to support classroom teaching.
Learn more about the Game Zone >
A modern, interactive contest
The test consists of 45 questions covering vocabulary, grammar, expressions, pronunciation and culture. There are reading comprehension questions based on short texts, and audio extracts to test listening skills. Most questions are accompanied by images to illustrate the question and provide context.
All you need to do this online Contest is a computer or tablet with an internet connection and a pair of headphones for the audio questions.
Easy to organise
- Register your students online.
- A few days before the contest, we will send you a link to the contest internet page where your student will connect on the day of the contest.
- You have nothing else to do. Once the contest has taken place, we correct the tests and establish rankings. You will receive the results and prizes towards the end of May.
100% motivation
- Students train all year in the Game Zone (over 10 million games played in 2019).
- They are prepared to win the prestigious trophies, medals and tablets.
- Parents say that they have never seen their children so engaged.
- With all this additional effort, students make significant progress in English.
Everyone has a chance of winning
- The Big Challenge is an inclusive event. Thanks to the brand new Game Zone, your students can practise all year long and get ready to give their best on the day of the contest. And to reward their effort, everyone will receive a prize regardless of their score.
- In addition, in each school, students have a real chance of winning a grand prize! All they need to do is answer half of the questions correctly to be entered into a draw and win an Award.
Find out more about the Awards
The online Contest
The Big Challenge Contest is done on computer or tablet. It is
- a modern contest, adapted to their learning
- an interactive experience with text, images and audio
The audio component makes it ideal for testing your students’ listening skills. In addition, the contest is easy to arrange in your school with no papers to receive or send. You can organise several sessions in one day if you need.
