The Christmas Quiz (A1+)

Objective & content

A projected Christmas quiz for the whole class, played in 2 to 4 teams in 20 to 25 minutes. There are three rounds of five questions: Songs and films, Christmas food, and Santa and friends. Most questions are A, B or C; rounds 2 and 3 each have one true or false question. Every question is worth 1 point, so the game has 15 points. The questions are about things pupils already enjoy (a famous Christmas song, Home Alone, Frozen, the Grinch, gingerbread men, Rudolph), so anyone in the room can have a go, even without special knowledge.

Pedagogical guide

The quiz is a reward, not a test: short questions in the present simple, three short options, and a quick answer slide after each question. Pupils read the question on the screen, talk in English in their team ("I think it's B!") and agree on one answer. Each question slide is followed by its answer slide, so the answer key is in the deck and the teacher only keeps the score. Some answer slides add a photo or a short reason ("They have red and white stripes."): read it aloud. The quiz works well at the end of the last lesson before the holiday.

Suggested procedure

1. (3 min) Show the first slide (how to play). Make 2 to 4 teams, each with one piece of paper and one writer. Draw a score table on the board.
2. (6 min) Round 1, Songs and films: show a question, give teams 20 seconds to write A, B or C, then show the answer slide and write the points.
3. (6 min) Round 2, Christmas food: the same, with one true or false question.
4. (6 min) Round 3, Santa and friends: the same, with one true or false question.
5. (2 min) Add up the points and show the last slide, "Who won?".

Adaptations

[S] Read each question and the three options aloud before the 20 seconds start. Let teams hold up fingers (1, 2 or 3) instead of writing.

[A] Before you show the options, ask teams to guess the answer with no help: 1 extra point for a right guess.

Materials & prerequisites

A projector or screen for game.pdf (35 slides in 16:9, one PDF page per slide), the board for the score, and a sheet of paper and a pen for each team. No preparation and no printing. Pupils need the letters A, B and C, "true" and "false", and simple question words (who, what, where).