Trivia

I bet you didn’t know that January 4 is world trivia day. Well, I decided it would be fun to do trivia with my classes on that day. My students always ask what the word trivia means — well, questions that are asked and you guess the answers. Every year one class LOVES something. One year my kindergarten class LOVED the book I had on Scholastic videos, I Stink, about a trash truck. Another year when I taught 4th grade, my class LOVED readers theater. This year my class LOVES trivia. The first time I just asked them the questions and in teams (either solo, partner or small group) they would answer. For no prize. Just the glory of winning. This added unexpected skills for an ESL class. First off, some kids, even though they maybe present as not skilled in many subjects, are very good at trivia. Plus if you bring in questions from all disciplines — social studies, history, culture, math, literature — can show their skill in different subjects. AND it gets students talking and speaking which are super important skills for ESL students. Plus they absolutely LOVE it. Our class is so loud on these days. They are screaming, and worried about their points, participating and just 100 percent IN. So after time #1 I expanded it, and had them find the questions, and then the next time we did it, I used the questions they provided. Well, we have now done trivia 5 times in this fashion. Almost every time I almost lose my voice by the end of 5 periods :) It is the best time. And I let them use their notebooks from other classes so we have questions from history, and math (what is the formula for the Pythagorean theorem, what is the equation for finding the circumference for a circle, at what age can you drive, what is the capital of Mexico, how do you say mom in Vietnamese — their real questions).

Here’s an example trivia questions site: 250 Best Trivia Questions for Teens (With Answers) In 2023 (healthyhappyimpactful.com)