Global quiz
From AFSWiki
Time: 5-15 minutes
Purpose of Activity:
- Set the tone for active participation during a high-school presentation about AFS programs .
- Highlight that knowledge about other cultures is important for the future, but may not be common in the United States
Facilitating the Activity The questions below can be
- made into a handout and distributed to participants,
- displayed on a wall so that participants can answer on their own sheet of paper, or
- read aloud, with participants volunteering to answer
Questions for the quiz
- Which country has the largest film industry? (might be the U.S., or it might be India -- depends on how you measure. US makes more money, but as of 2002, India releases more national titles and sells more tickets. See comparison chart.)
- In what city is the world's tallest man-made structure? (As of January, 2009, it's the Burj Dubai in Dubai, although a building in Shanghai will soon challenge some of its height-related records. Previously it was the KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, USA. See updated list of tallest structures.)
- What country is Dubai in? (United Arab Emirates)
- On what continent is the world's largest shopping mall? (Asia: see list of largest malls. U.S. isn't even in the top 10.)
- True or False: All Arabs are Muslims. (False)
- What country has the largest Muslim population? (Saudi Arabia, United States, Indonesia, China)
- True or False: The number 4 is considered lucky in China and Japan (False: in Chinese, it sounds similar to the word for "death")
- True or False: Germans shake hands more often than the British. (False)
- When two people are formally introduced, in which culture is it improper to offer a handshake? (Traditional Muslims, Orthodox Jews, and Orthodox Hindus frown on any physical contact between men and women who are not closely related, so it would not be proper for a man to offer his hand to a woman. According to strict etiquette, this is true in U.S. culture as well: between a man and a woman, the woman should be the first to offer to shake hands. More on handshake etiquette.
- True or False: French people, in school and business, expect to be critiqued and do not expect to be complimented on their work. (True)
- Which country had the most internet users in 2008? (Japan, China, United States, India)
- Which country has the largest economy? (Russia, USA, Japan, China, India)
- Based on current trends, which country is likely to have the largest economy in 2050? (Russia, USA, Japan, China, India)
- What is the official language in Zimbabwe? (Shona, Matabele, Swahili, English, Portugese)
- The indigenous people in the Far West of China are closest, culturally, to people living in what other place? (Thailand, Alaska, Turkey, Beijing)
- True or False: Husbands and wives in Russia typically have different last names. (True)
- True or False: In the 1620's, the English were the first explorers of Australia (False: It's been inhabited for more than 42,000 years by indigenous Australians and visited sporadically by fishermen from the north. The first European discovery was by Dutch explorers in 1606. The British claimed the eastern half in 1770.)
- What sport is extremely popular in most former British colonies except the United States? (Cricket)
- What is the official language of Brazil? (Portugese)
- True or False: You should take chocolates to a Finnish hostess the first time you visit her home. (True)
