2012 News quiz - Teachers notes

7/30/2019 2012 News quiz - Teachers notes

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News quiz 2011

Ideas on how to use the quiz

Team quizDivide students into groups of 3-4 and give each group cut-up strips with thequestions (without numbers). Ss answer the questions in groups. Ask for

feedback and award a point for each correct answer.

Then give out the answer sheet and ask Ss to match the questions with theanswers. A stapler might be handy too to staple the cut-up question strips tothe answer sheet. Ss find the answers to the questions they didn't know orwerent sure about.

NB. This activity works better with similar-ability students grouped together.Ask early finishers to underline / highlight useful lexical chunks in the newsquiz (see LanguageFocus below). Weaker groups can be given fewerquestions.

Table quizThe same activity can be done with the teacher acting as quizmaster. Supplyeach group with a numbered sheet for writing the answers on (not providedhere). The questions can be divided into the following categories:

SPORTS Questions 1, 8, 10, 12, (15)ART & ENTERTAINMENT Questions 3, 5, 11, (16), (17)SCIENCE Questions 4, 6, 14GLOBAL ISSUES - Questions 2, 7, 9, 13

NB. 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 theanswers, ask them to find information on the Internet in groups/pairs. Eachpair / group then shares with the class what they have found. This can also beassigned as out-of-class work.

Suggested websites for lower intermediate students / young learners:CBBC (Children's BBC) News Round: www.bbc.co.uk/newsroundOur Little Earth: www.ourlittleearth.comSimple English Wikipedia: http://simple.wikipedia.org

The upper-intermediate version has 17 questionsThe lower intermediate version has 14 questionsFor weaker learners, use the first 10.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsroundhttp://www.ourlittleearth.com/http://simple.wikipedia.org/http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsroundhttp://www.ourlittleearth.com/http://simple.wikipedia.org/


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Mini-presentationsAsk each student individually to choose one news story they are familiar withand share with the rest of the class (or in their groups) what they know aboutit. Give them about three minutes each. Ask Ss to find out more about thetopics they didn't know about and make another mini-presentations for nextlesson.

Top 15 / Top 20Get Ss to add more questions to the quiz and then ask other teams. Forexample, with the upper-intermediate version you can get Ss to add 3 morequestions to make it a Top20 list. With the lower-intermediate version, askstudents to add 1 more question to make it Top15.

RankingAsk Ss to rank the stories in order of importance to make a Top 10 HottestNews of the year list (or Top 12 of 2012). To turn it into a writing activity, youcan use Tricider with students writing arguments in support of a particular

news item.See this video tutorial: www.teachertrainingvideos.com/tricider

Make your ownAsk your Ss in groups to design similar quizzes based on the local news storiesof 2012 using lexical chunks (see below) from the original quiz. NB. Make surethe news stories from your country have not been included in the original quiz.

Language focus: grammar

Present PerfectYou can draw your students' attention to the use of the Present Perfect in thenews quiz.

How many actors have played the role of James Bond in the series?How many Tour de France competitions has he [Lance Armstrong] won?

NB. Now that Lance Armstrong's career in sport is officially over, using the PastSimple here would probably be justified - a possible topic for grammardiscussion with more advanced students.

Ask Ss to make similar sentences about writers, film stars, sportsmen, etc.How many Grand Slams has Nadal won?How many Harry Potter novels has J.K.Rowling written?This can be contrasted with the past simple questions:How many albums did Whitney Houston release?How many novels did Charles Dickens write?
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/triciderhttp://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/tricider


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ThePassiveAsk Ss to highlight the examples of the Passive constructions in the quiz.Which of them can be changed into the active voice?

For example, was closed for two consecutive days is used rather than theactivevoice closed for two consecutive days to emphasise how the event wascaused by external circumstances

Examples from the upper-int version:

was [] stripped of his [] titles = lost his titles; had to return his titleswas shot in the head = took a bullet to the head (?)Why was she targeted? = why did she become a target?were sentenced to two years in prison = got a two-year prison sentence

Examples from the lower int. version:Skyfall was released = Skyfall came outEuro 2012 was held = Euro 2012 took placewas shot in the head = took a bullet to the head (?)

Language focus: lexis

The quiz contains a lot of collocations and other lexical chunks which are worthpointing out. They can be written on the board or highlighted if you are using aprojector (and MS Word) or IWB. I've highlighted some below using thefollowing colours:

Collocations with VerbsAdjective + Noun collocationsOther chunks

Alternatively, if your students have all the questions in front of them, you can"dictate" the chunks you want them to underline. For example,

1) Underline a collocation which means "became very popular on the Internet;spread very fast (like a disease)" = went viral

2) Underline an expression which means "were very excited" = were over themoon

etc.

See my article Revisiting Texts on the TeachingEnglish website to get a betteridea how I do it: http://tinyurl.com/revtexts

Note that a lot of Verb + Noun collocations in the upper intermediate versionconsists of seemingly easy combinations of two known words (e.g. make +history,play + host etc)
http://tinyurl.com/revtextshttp://tinyurl.com/revtexts


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News quiz 2012

1. The London Olympics kicked off with a spectacular - and at times peculiar - OpeningCeremony directed by the acclaimed British director Danny Boyle. Who jumped from ahelicopter as part of the Opening Ceremony?

2. In October 2012 the New York Stock Exchange was closed for two consecutive days forthe first time in over a hundred years. What caused the shutdown?

3. The music video for "Gangnam Style" by the Korean singer Psy went viral in 2012 andbecame the most watched video of all time on Youtube. What does the word"Gangnam" mean?

4. NASA scientists were "over the moon" in August 2012 when the huge robot, Curiosity,reached its destination. Which planet did it touch down on?

5. What American superstar, who, for the last 10 or so years, has been in the spotlightmainly for her addiction problems and turbulent personal life, died the night beforethe prestigious Grammy awards?

6. Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner made history as the first man to break the speedof sound in a free-fall from over 35 km above Earth don't try that at home! What softdrink company sponsored his jump?

7. Two Australian radio DJs faced a public backlash in December 2012 when their prankcall turned into a tragedy. Who did they play a prank on?

8. One of the greatest cyclists of all time, Lance Armstrong fell from grace afteraccusations of doping and was consequently stripped of his Tour de France titles andbanned from cycling for life. How many Tour de France competitions has he won?

9. The World didn't end on December 21 as some suspected. The calendar of whichancient civilization predicted the end of the word?


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10. Who is Usain Bolt and why was he in the news in 2012?

11. The James Bond series celebrated its 50th anniversary with the release of the eagerlyanticipated Skyfall starring Daniel Craig. How many actors have portrayed James Bondin the series?

12. UEFA promised to crack down on racism after allegations of racism in the Euro 2012host nations. Which two Eastern European countries played host to the tournament?

13. A 15-year-old girl, Malala, from a remote village in north-west Pakistan was shot in thehead by the Taliban. The incident caused a public outcry in the country. Why was shetargeted?

14. As if your life didn't revolve enough around Google products, Google unveiled ProjectGlass in April 2012 showing the world that the promised sci-fi future is here. What doesthe new product do?

15. Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open final after a gruelling 5hour 53 minute match, the longest Grand Slam final in tennis history. Who was hisopponent?

16. Three members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot were sentenced to twoyears in prison sparking global protests from leading figures in the art world. Whatwere they accused of?

17. 2012 marked the 200th birthday of one of the most prolific British authors. Which one?


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News quiz 2012: easier version (lower intermediate)

1. The Olympics kicked off in London in July 2012. Who jumped from a helicopter as partof the spectacular Opening Ceremony?

2. In October 2012 the New York Stock Exchange was closed for two days in a row for thefirst time in over a hundred years. What caused the shutdown?

3. "Gangnam Style" by the Korean singer Psy went viral in 2012 and became the mostwatched video of all time on Youtube. What does the word "Gangnam" mean?

4. After eight months of travel, the space robot Curiosity reached its destination in August2012. Which planet did it land on?

5. What American superstar died the night before the Grammy Awards in February 2012after a long history of drug problems?

6. Felix Baumgartner made history as the first man to break the speed of sound in a free-fall from space don't try that at home! What soft drink company helped him organisehis jump?

7. Two Australian radio DJs made headlines in December 2012 when their prank phonecall turned into a tragedy. Who did they call?

8. One of the greatest cyclists of all time, Lance Armstrong had to return all of his Tourde France titles after accusations of drug use. How many times has he won the Tour deFrance competition?

9. The World didn't end on December 21 as some suspected. The calendar of whichancient civilization predicted the end of the world?


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10. Who is Usain Bolt and why was he in the news in 2012?

11. Skyfall starring Daniel Craig was released in October 2012 in celebration of the 50th

anniversary of the James Bond series. How many actors have played the role of JamesBond in the series?

12. Some black players became victims of racist behaviour at the Euro 2012 footballcompetition. In which two Eastern European countries was Euro 2012 held?

13. The 15-year-old girl Malala from a remote village in north-west Pakistan was shot in thehead by the Taliban. What was her "crime"?

14. In April 2012 Google showed the world that the future is here when they revealed theirnew invention called Project Glass. What does the new product do?

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2012 News quiz - Teachers notes