Past, Present, or Future?
Adventures in Healthcare
Where in the World?
What To Do When...
The Weird English Language
100

Roman architects design and build the Coliseum in Rome, Italy. It is considered a modern marvel of architecture

Past! The Coliseum was built between the years 72 AD and 80 AD

100

In 2023, Newsweek did a story on a woman named Lauren Canaday of Virginia. She was technically ______ for 24 entire minutes!!!

 Dead!!! She had a heart attack while at home, her heart stopped beating entirely, and it took medical first responders awhile to get to her! When they did, they were able to revive her!!! 

100

This large southern Asian country, which is technically a sub-continent all by itself, has the largest population (most people) in the world

India! There are an estimated 1.46 billion people in India, and China is close behind, with 1.4 billion!

100

If someone is cut, you must apply _______ to the wound until medical personnel can examine it, or until bleeding stops

Pressure. Use a clean cloth, gauze, or a clean piece of clothing to tightly wrap the area if it is on an arm or leg, preferably by tying it around the area if possible. If it is not in a location that you can tie anything around it, push down firmly on the area with a cloth or gauze and seek medical care immediately. If no one is home to help, call your trusted adults!!! 

100

In the English language, the letter combination of ough can be pronounced _____ different ways!

(Closest guess)

Eight!!! 

 

  • /ʌf/ (as in "rough"): rough, tough, enough
  • /aʊ/ (as in "plough"): plough (or plow in American English)
  • /uː/ (as in "through"): through
  • /oʊ/ (as in "dough"): dough, although, though
  • /ɔː/ (as in "thought"): thought, bought, fought, ought, brought
  • /ə/ (as in "thorough"): thorough, borough
  • /ɒf/ (as in "cough"): cough, trough
  • /ʌp/ (as in "hiccough"): hiccough (now usually spelled "hiccup")
200

The designer of the very first truly flying, not hovering, car wins the J.D. Power and Associates Award for Innovative Excellence

Future! We do not have truly flying cars by technical definitions, only those that hover, and while J.D. Power is a real entity, that award doesn't exist...yet

200

Sometimes, in rare cases, a person can be born with these extra digits. I wonder if basketball or soccer gets any easier if you have these...

Extra fingers or toes! According to the Boston Children's Hospital, about 1 baby is born with the condition out of every 500-1,000 babies!

200

Tomatoes (the modern version that we know) originally came from this country before Spanish explorers took some back to Europe and they became the global staple that they are today. Hint: it's closer than you think!

Mexico! While the cousin plant of the modern tomato started in places like Peru and Chile, Mexico was the first to breed and cultivate the plant, making it what we know today

200

If you are cooking on a stovetop, and a grease or oil fire breaks out, what do you do???

(Points for any answers that mention correct methods; the important part is that kids know how to respond to these kinds of emergencies!)

First put a lid on the pan that is burning, or on top of the burning surface, to cover it as much as you can, because fires need oxygen to burn. Turn off the heat source!!! Do not put a rag or anything that might burn onto it! DO NOT put water onto it!!! Water will make the grease kind of explode and it's really dangerous! Put a large amount of baking soda onto the fire if it's small. If there is a fire extinguisher or kitchen fire tool close by, follow the directions on it and use it. Open any windows and turn on any fans. Make sure any adults in your house are made aware. Call 911 immediately if there is open flame or if the above tactics don't work, or if you feel unsafe. 

200

The "ghoti gag" is a prank that you can pull on your parents! If we follow the rules of English, we can use the word ghoti in place of a real word. If the "gh" is pronounced like in enough, the "o" like in women, and the "ti" like in nation, ghoti is actually an acceptable spelling for...???

Fish!!! "Gh" (F), "O" (i) "Ti" (sh)

The English language is so weird!

300

NASA confirms that the Perseverance Mars rover has found rocks that contain evidence that there was (or is) organic life on Mars

Present! The rocks found contain traces of water and other organic material that suggests that chemical reactions between living organisms occurred! That's huge!

300
Those born with this condition, called Hyperdontia, can have an entire extra set of these, which normally have to be removed by a surgeon 

Teeth! Typically, people are born with their set of baby teeth and their adult teeth, but those with Hyperdontia can have extras, sometimes as many as a whole third set of teeth!!!

300

The tiniest country in the world is actually a city within a city. Vatican City, home to the Pope and Roman Catholics everywhere, is within the borders of this southern European country

Italy! Vatican City is inside of Rome, Italy's capital

300

If you stop breathing or become unresponsive (you don't respond to anything), someone needs to start giving you this to keep you breathing and keep your heart beating

CALL 911 first, immediately!!! Then start CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation

300

This three letter word is a verb (action word) and holds the record for having the most different meanings of any English word, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Hint: it's something you probably do almost every day at some point, because kids do this a lot

Run! There are at least 645 different uses of the word!!!

400

Anthropologists exploring primitive life on Earth find a rare relic of the human race and do not understand what its function was. The relic they found is called a Selfie Stick

Future! No doubt scientists will be confused by some of the things they find that were everyday objects for us

400

Halima Cisse, of Morocco, broke a world record in 2021 when she had nine of these AT THE SAME TIME!!!

Babies!!! Someone get this woman a vacation!!!

400

This small island country is located very close to Australia, was the first in the world to give women the right to vote, and the last in the world to have humans settle there, about 800 years ago! It is said that this country is the first to see the sun rise every morning, that it has the honor of having the longest town name on record, AND it can boast that the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films were all shot here!

New Zealand! Known for its natural beauty and friendly people, New Zealand's longest town name is...ready? Catch your breath...Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu!!! Say that five times fast!!!

400

What do you do if someone is bullying you?

(Any and all constructive answers get points because this one is important)

According to Stopbullying.gov, there are many things that kids can do if they are being bullied. They can tell the person bullying them in a calm, clear voice that they do not want them to do that anymore, they can tell a trusted adult who can help them make a plan to stop it, and they can walk away and stay away from the bullying person. Also, it's really helpful to stay near other kids and especially near an adult, as most bullying happens when an adult is not around or close by. Someone trying to bully someone else is less likely to try it if an adult is close by! Just don't hold your feelings in and take the bad treatment!!! You deserve to feel safe and be happy!!!

400

What do these English words have in common???

Reign, psychology, knee, write, doubt

A silent (and ultimately useless) letter!!! For reign, it's the g, for psychology the p, knee the k, write the w, and doubt the b!!! It would be so hard to figure out the correct spelling of these words if you were just learning English!!!

500

Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, invents the first network of global information sharing that can deliver encrypted (coded) information instantly anywhere around the world through computers

Past! This was the birth of the Internet, then called the World Wide Web, and it happened in 1989

500

Jeanne Calment of France was the oldest person to have ever lived in recorded history, reaching a whopping ______ years and 164 days!!!

(Closest guess)

122!!! Born on February 21, 1875, she passed away on August 4, 1997. She is officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest-living person and the oldest woman ever

500

This northern African country is famous for many reasons, is where the 365-day calendar came from, and toothbrushes were invented here! Men and women in this country's ancient society both wore makeup, cats were sacred animals, and the world's first architect designed one of the most famous ancient buildings in this country. Today, you can visit the ancient buildings made for the kings of old, sample some Koshari (a dish of rice, lentils, and pasta), and walk the streets of Cairo, where people walked thousands of years before 

Egypt! Located in the northern part of Africa right on the Nile River, and considered the bridge between Africa and Asia, it has been a center of trade and culture for almost 3,000 years!

500

What do you do if Evan turns into the Diaper Baby forever???

(All answers correct, lol)

Well, someone's gotta change his diaper...

500

How long does it take the average non-native (speaks a different first language) English learner to become conversational, or able to keep up an English conversation? 

(Closest guess)

According to Education Northwest, it generally takes someone just learning English 4-7 years to become fully conversational!!! However, research shows that people around the age of kindergarten, or 5-6 years, can master English quicker...