A Toolbox for all Language Educators
A Toolbox for all Language Educators

Practicing Numbers with Artworks

This is a 20-minute interactive winning game in which:

  • Students team up;
  • They observe a set of artworks on Slides;
  • They hypothesize the date of each artwork among 4 options. (I usually give 20 to 30 seconds for each artwork.)
  • We check their answers together.
  • Each group that gave the right answer scores one point.
Quiz: Slide of a question. The quiz should be written in the target language.  

An alternative way of implementing this quiz

Each team focuses on 4 artworks they individually picked. After about 5 minutes, students share the answers they convened with the whole class. They score a point for each right date they gave. The asset of this alternative is that it gives students the opportunity to choose and focus on artworks they found arresting. On the other hand, it implies printing the images out.

Quiz: Slide of an answer. Artwork: Unknown artist, “Smiling” Figure,7th–8th century, Mexico, Mesoamerica. Public domain Image from The Metropolitan Museum

The activity was designed for students with a beginner level of proficiency but with a bit more participation (for instance, by asking students to elaborate on their choices), it would fit an intermediate-level class. 

Material:

I have run a similar quiz with names of countries.

All images from the quiz are fair use or public domain and many come from the Metropolitan Museum Collection.

By Angélique Aristondo