Cosmo Quiz ESL Icebreaker Activity

Cosmo Quiz

Skills: Speaking/listening/reading
Materials Required: a Cosmo quiz or Cosmo-type quiz

If you are a guy, you may not be familiar with the quiz in each month’s edition of Cosmopolitan magazine. These generally predict something about your relationship style, finances, etc. In other words, they are quiz-style horoscopes. They are pretty fun to do as a group, because they are not meant to be taken seriously, but can tell you a little something about the quiz-taker.

Prep could not be easier. Simply find a few old issues of Cosmo and copy the quizzes. Some of them are a bit risqué, so decide for yourself if you want to edit them a bit. I’ve had all-female classes, and kept it a little racy, but all the students were about my age.

In class, begin with a brief discussion of personality quizzes: has anyone ever taken one, etc. Divide students into pairs or small groups of 3-4 and give them one or two quizzes with the results on a different page. Have them read the questions and discuss the answers, keeping track of their answers, if they want. You can wrap up with a survey of results and questions of how students feel about the quizzes. Are they accurate, fun, or a waste of time?

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Teaching Tips:

You can find quizzes on their website: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/content/quizzes/, but the questions are given one at a time, so if you can get your hands on print quizzes, it will make your life easier.

If you think they are inappropriate for your class, you can always just make up a quiz in the same Cosmo style: ten multiple choice personality questions with points assigned to each answer. There are usually results for three point ranges.

You can either give everyone one quiz and each group reads and answers the questions together, or you can have students alternate asking and answering. You can extend the activity by having students change partners and taking a different quiz.

Procedure:

In advance, gather several different issues of Cosmo magazine and copy the quizzes. You may need to edit the questions or leave some out.
Begin class by asking if anyone has ever taken a personality quiz and how they feel about them.
Divide students into pairs or small groups of 3-4 and give them one or two quizzes with the results on a separate page.
Have them read the questions and discuss the answers, keeping track of their answers, if they want.
Optionally, extend the activity by having groups change partners and take a new quiz.

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