The Animal Quiz

Objective & content

A projected team quiz on animals, with photos, for one game of 20 to 30 minutes. The class plays in 2 to 4 teams through four rounds: Zoom in! (a close-up of a photo, then the whole animal), Who am I? (three first-person clues such as "I'm grey. I'm very big. I have a long nose."), Odd one out (find the animal or word that does not belong, 2 points) and Animal babies (complete a sentence with a word from the word bank). There are 22 questions and 26 points. Pupils name common animals (wild animals, farm animals, pets, birds and insects), read short clues and learn the names of baby animals.

Pedagogical guide

Every question slide is followed by its answer slide, so the class sees the answer at once and the teacher only keeps the score. Round 1 gets pupils guessing from a small detail (stripes, spots, a face) and the answer slide shows the whole animal. Round 2 makes them read three short clues in the first person ("I live in trees. I can climb. I like bananas.") and put them together. Round 3 asks them to notice a hidden link between three of four things (can fly or not, two legs or four, six legs or eight, fur and feathers or wheels). The answer slide gives the reason: read it aloud, because this is where the class meets sentences such as "A spider has eight legs." Round 4 gives the six baby names in a word bank (kitten, puppy, lamb, chick, duckling, calf), so pupils choose the right word for each sentence. The quiz stays at A1+ level, with short sentences in the present simple and "can", and everyday animal words, in British English (ladybird). Useful language for the teams: "I think it's a ...", "Number 2 is different.", "It's a baby cat.", "Look at the box!"

Suggested procedure

1. (3 min) Make 2 to 4 teams and draw a score table on the board. Each team has one sheet of paper and one writer.
2. (5 min) Round 1, Zoom in!: show each close-up, give 20 seconds to write the animal, then show the answer slide with the whole animal. 1 point for each right answer.
3. (6 min) Round 2, Who am I?: read the three clues aloud, one by one; teams write the animal. 1 point for each right answer. Show the picture on the answer slide.
4. (6 min) Round 3, Odd one out: teams write the number of the odd one. 2 points for each right answer. Read the reason on the answer slide.
5. (5 min) Round 4, Animal babies: leave the word bank on the screen; teams write the missing word. 1 point for each right answer.
6. (2 min) Add up the points on the board and show the last slide, "Who won?".

Adaptations

[S] In round 1, let teams say the animal instead of writing it, or write its first letter on the board. In round 2, read each clue twice, slowly, and show the clues one at a time. In round 4, point to the word bank as you read each sentence.

[A] In round 2, give an extra point to a team that guesses after the first clue only. In round 3, ask teams to say the reason in a full sentence ("A penguin can't fly."). In round 4, ask for the whole sentence ("A baby dog is a puppy.").

Materials & prerequisites

A projector or screen for game.pdf (50 slides in 16:9, one PDF page per slide, turned with the arrow keys), the board for the score table, and a sheet of paper and a pen for each team. Pupils should already know some everyday animal words (pets, farm animals, wild animals) and "I can ...", "I have ...". The quiz works well as a revision game at the end of a unit on animals, or as a reward at the end of a lesson.