Thirteen students lined up in front of the school doors at 8 o’clock sharp, clutching their sharpened pencils, geared up and ready to scribble all their answers in the shortest time possible, in order to win the prize… an 8-pack of local beer and a packet of crisps! The students hollered at me when I suggested that we wait for the late comers for a few minutes, so I had to give in and lead the contenders to a local Irish pub.
As soon as we walked through the pub doors, the students occupied the sofa and seats that were closest to the bar, and without any hesitation, divided themselves into three groups. I was astonished at the students’ behavior. I had never known they had such a competitive streak in them. I was actually scared that the students were going to find this challenge boring. But to my surprise, the contestants were all alert and ready to start.
I had originally prepared 3 different general knowledge quizzes; one that had 50 questions and another two that had 25 questions each. I decided to be lenient with them, especially since it had been so hot and humid in the last few days so I handed out a copy of the short quizzes to each group and set a time limit of 15 minutes.
All of a sudden, the students were discussing a question, screaming the answer of another and when the 15 minutes were up, I had to beg them to stop debating. They were disappointed because they weren’t sure about some answers and wanted more time to think.
Time for round two! As soon as I handed out the questions for the second quiz, the students, keen as boxers waiting for the bell to ring, as soon as I said the word “GO” their drive to compete kicked in again. After a further 15 minutes, I signalled the end of round two.
Isabelle, one of the students, declared she hadn’t had enough yet. She begged me to hand out the longer quiz. I thought it was too much for them. However, they unanimously agreed to take on the last challenge. The 50 question-long quiz. This was going to be hard.
It took longer them than they expected. I was glad for I could relax for a while after witnessing such keen competition. I wondered what had gotten into them. Thirty minutes later, I collected all their answers and proceeded with counting the points.
It was definitely a close call; however with a total of 40 points, we had a winning group! (See pictures below) The losing two teams were not pleased at all but still congratulated the winners. The quiz completely exhausted them, and one by one the students left the bar and went home to relax.
I was just glad the winners didn’t sing “we are the champions”! That would have been really embarrassing. 😉
written by Katrin Risiott
