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Sporcle.com is a page that provides a huge collection of quizzes of all kinds. For my classes I like using those where language has to be linked to imagery. There are some very creative ideas on this site waiting to be discovered. You can add them to a class at the end when some time left or at the beginning as an introduction or supplement to a topic.
Sometimes, when you start with a sporcle quiz it can also evolve into a full swing lesson. This happened in one of my classes when we played a geography quiz where you had to identify all 50 states of the USA. For one, it took much longer than expected, and then we ended up talking a lot about the single states, researching them on the internet. For something like this to happen, though, it is important to change the setting “timer” to “practice mode”.
And, as with all these kinds of pages, they are overwhelmingly rich in what they have to offer and what you can choose from, so you need to keep a close record of those items you found for yourself or your groups that were of special interest or most enjoyable. Besides being fun, sporcle quizzes are great for visual, topical vocabulary practice. Below is a selection of sporcles I have done and liked.
Note: I make it a point to buy subscriptions to all pages or resources I use on a regular basis. For one, to keep them ad free, but, more importantly, to keep them – period. Nobody can offer stuff for free long term, there has to be some source of income. And the internet makes it possible for all of us to contribute small amounts to keep things running. I never understand why it takes Wikipedia so long to reach its annual donation target. Wikipedia is an astounding phenomenon. The quality of most articles is high and regularly checked; you can get a whole education from Wikipedia, no matter what some teachers(?) might tell you.
So I also have a subscription to Sporcle. (Sporcle with ads is pretty unbearable, to tell the truth).
In general my favorites are those with visuals. There is a little symbol behind each quiz that tells you roughly what kind of format it has.
Recently played and found good
Groups of Three – Odd one out
16 Little X Pictograms – these are a collection of various topical quizzes where you have to find out what word or expression is depicted by the pictograms. For example: 16 Little Food Pictograms
Harry Potter Bunker Quiz (Bunker quizzes are generally fun and cover all kinds of topics – sporcle bunkers)
Music: Beatles Songs by Image
The Third Thing you Need to Know (interesting series)
And it’s Halloween time again: Halloween Trivia Field
Computers
Computer Pioneers and Scientists
Engineering
Engineering Projects by Decade
I Need an Engineer: match descriptions with types of engineering (links up to Guardian article on high ocean treaty)
Seven Wonders: Engineering Feats
Structural Engineering: Can you pick the static term…. this one is definitely our of my range of expertise, but could be interesting to try in conjunction with checking images of the examples mentioned.
Finance, trading and insurance sporcles
Insurance terms (short, for review)
Legal Language
Legal World or Wizarding World
Legal Terms Quiz (challenging, best done after a few ‘Legal Language Clicks’)
Flags
Flag emblems (very challenging)
Flag Border Maze Quiz (this one too, but interesting idea. If it turns out to be way too difficult, open a map…(you still need to know the flag))
Miscellaneous
Deceptionisms (Strange words, are they real?)
Extinct animals (too difficult, but sounded interesting)
Speed Geography (fun)
Complete the 60ies song with a picture
Super Science Bunker (minefield)
Name 10 in 30 seconds – US presidents
Language
This whole section is interesting.
A vocabulary quiz: The Definition of MSU
I Have A Feeling – also great vocabulary practice
100 years of words – there are several of these, they go through the decades starting with the 20ies ( I did 20ies and 2000s)
100 years of words III Goes through 70 up to late 90ies
Sports
Sports 7 -1 (teams sports e.g.)
History – Match persons with images
Who am I History Famous People
Historical figures featured in Indiana Jones (one of my favorites)
Smithsonian Timeline – Match the items from the Smithsonian collection with when they were produced or created (rather challenging I thought, but worth trying)
The TIME of the Americas – pick the correct TIME magazine cover
Sorting squares – 20th Century People
Emoji riddles
Emoji sporcles; explore for more; 1980 Hits in emojis; Idioms by emojis; Album covers (challenging); Phases of the Moon; Chinese Zodiac signs;
Film sporcles
Barbenheimer – Barbie or Oppenheimer
Two movies that couldn’t be more different from each other came into the movie theaters at the same time, which has been followed by quite some comments and some sporcles.
Barbie sporcle – Barbie by occupation
Barbenheimer, the ultimate quiz
The Shining, also worth re-watching around Halloween, is considered to be one of the best Stephen King adaptations. For those who know the movie, there are some fun Sporcle quizzes related to various aspects of the film.
Figure out the movie from the emojis
Plants and Flowers (in film titles)
Hitchcock movies match the year
American Werewolf in London (very difficult)
Star Wars pick the right movie scene
Movies that feature contagious diseases and outbreaks
Food sporcles
Name the fruit by pictures of its inside
Foods that are White, Red, Green, Yellow, Orange, Brown, Pink, Blue/Purple
Harry Potter sporcles
Harry Potter: Close-Up Quiz, places and things in close up
Match the screen shots There are so many screen shot quizzes or match the scene with the hint, I won’t list too many. This can be just explored on the spot with Harry Potter fans.
Holiday sporcles (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween)
Christmas
Christmas Quiz, 15 quiz questions covering different fields
16 Little Christmas Pictograms, an emoji quiz
Can you name the Christmas movies? Christmas film scenes quiz
Can you name the 24 Things associated with an American Christmas
And some more Christmas food from different countries
Additional note:
The good thing about online teaching is having the internet at your disposal. Things can develop spontaneously (and differently from originally planned – I would have definitely failed every German teacher training exam where you have to follow your lesson plan to the minute with anticipated learning goals – OMG I would have sooo failed :-); and keep being reminded why I didn’t want to become a school teacher).
In my last Christmas session, we supplemented a Christmas food quiz with How to Make Christmas Pudding and spent some time with listening to Jamie Oliver, with and without subtitles. From there I searched for more Christmas related cook shows. One I found and liked is related to the Christmas pudding topic – How to Make it the Victorian Way. Another is an episode of The Hairy Bikers, also one of my favorite British cook shows. The topic calls for a post of its own.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving trivia (some quiz questions relating to historical aspects connected to the holiday. A note of caution here: Many common American historical narratives are more mythical than factual, so for a more differentiated historical review of Thanksgiving you will have to go elsewhere ;-)).
Halloween
Halloween Sporcle costums pictograms (a little challenging)
Halloween related things (Halloween images)
Geography sporcles
States of the USA; World countries this one is quite challenging, but on the page are links to other, similar quizzes. Countries by emojis; Guess the place from the clues given;
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(Original selection to be integrated into the above list)
Plants and Flowers (in film titles) I went to this category after watching the video of the opening concert of the Barcelona Opera House after months of being closed due to corona. This is the greatest most fascinating concert I have ever seen.
Plants and Flowers in Songtitles
Who am I (picture click) Another one of those And another one (the easiest)
General categories quiz One out of four Another one
Name the US States Find the US States US History list of quizzes
Images of words that end in -age
Food quizzes: Pictogram foods Foodcubes Food in Movie titles Name the fruit by pictures of its inside
Foods that are White Red Green Yellow Orange Brown Pink Blue/Purple
Health and Diet (7) Technical terms
Body related quizzes Body parts in pictograms Name parts of digestive system Pop quiz anatomy Anatomy of the brain Match the body parts to the right category Body parts starting with L (advanced)
Around the house Put words into right categories Another one of the former Kitchen utensils Another one Odd but useful kitchen gadgets Identify pictured kitchen gadget
Film sporcles The Shining Psycho Hitchcock movies match the year American Werewolf in London (very difficult) Complete the film titles Actors of Marvel movies Bad movie dads Star Wars pick the right movie scene Match images from same movies Movies that feature contagious diseases and outbreaks
(Not a sporcle quiz): The most popular Pandemic Movies
Household objects by their pictures
Household items by pictures
History Match the image with the event
US politics and history Senate or House
Grammar and other fun language stuff Find mistakes Find mistakes on signs Elimínate the odd one out (challenging but fun) Grammar terms
Sporcles for learning or practicing German
(10) German: Numbers Quiz (sporcle.com)
(10) German: Colors Quiz (sporcle.com)
(10) German: To Be Quiz (sporcle.com)
(10) German: Time Quiz (sporcle.com)
Words borrowed from German
(10) The 3rd thing you need to know: German Loanwords Quiz – By MrWhiplash (sporcle.com)
Some general knowledge stuff
(10) The 3rd thing you need to know: Germany Quiz – By MrWhiplash (sporcle.com)