Ordinal Numbers- Trivia Quiz

A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Students test each other with interesting general knowledge questions that can be answered with first, second, twenty third, etc, followed by a presentatiob of how to pronounce and write ordinal numbers.

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Lesson Plan Content:


Ordinal numbers trivia quiz

Ask your partner one of the questions on your worksheet, listen to their answer, then give them hints like “The real number is much bigger” and “It’s quite a lot smaller” until they guess exactly the right ordinal number. Then take turns doing this and guessing your partner’s numbers in the same way.

Useful language for giving hints

(That’s close but)

the real number is

a lot/ much/ far

quite a lot

slightly/ a little/ a bit

a tiny bit/ very slightly

bigger – smaller.

Ask about any numbers, sentences, etc you couldn’t understand.

What kinds of numbers are usually given as ordinals (e.g. places in a league table)? Brainstorm ideas, then check and find more from the worksheets.

 

Student A 

  • Which wedding anniversary is called “paper”? The first.
  • Which number American president was George Washington? The first.
  • What number letter is beta in the Greek alphabet? The second.
  • Which was the best floor in ancient Roman apartment buildings? The second.
  • Which American football Super Bowl did the New York Jets last win? The third.
  • What floor did Michael Jackson hold his baby out the window from in 2002? The third.
  • What number James Bond was Roger Moore? The fourth.
  • Which King Rama was Thai King Mongkut, famous from The King and I? The fourth.
  • According to the carol, on which day did my true love give me gold rings? The fifth.
  • What number Disneyland Resort was Hong Kong Disneyland? The fifth.
  • In which century did the Muslims first conquer Palestine? The seventh.
  • What number Disney Princess was Mulan? The eighth.
  • What number on the Chinese zodiac is the monkey? The ninth.
  • In which century was gunpowder first used? The tenth.
  • What number Disney Princess was Merida from Brave? The eleventh.
  • What was Leicester City’s final position in the 2016/2017 season, the year after they won the English Premiership? Twelfth.
  • Which floor in a hotel is often considered unlucky? The thirteenth.
  • Which number Dalai Lama’s real name was Lhamo Thondup? The fourteenth.
  • Which floor balcony did Tom Stilwell fall from and survive in 2013? The fifteenth.
  • Which number American president was Abraham Lincoln? The sixteenth.
  • What number letter is pi in the Greek alphabet? The sixteenth.
  • In which position did F1 driver Michael Schumacher start before winning the 1995 Belgian Grand Prix? Sixteenth.
  • Which birthday marks British young people’s coming of age? Eighteenth.
  • Which floor did they live on in the American sitcom Frasier? The nineteenth.
  • What number championship for Manchester United was their Premiership win in 2012/13? Their twentieth.
  • On what day in May 1972 did Ceylon change to Sri Lanka? The twenty second.
  • What number letter is omega in the Greek alphabet? The twenty fourth.
  • Which number US president was Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt? The twenty sixth.
  • What will be the last day of February in 2048? The twenty ninth.
  • What is the last day of April? The thirtieth.
  • What is the last day of July? The thirty first.
  • Which number American president was John F Kennedy (JFK)? The thirty fifth.
  • Which wedding anniversary and Jubilee is called ruby? The fortieth.
  • Which number American president was Donald Trump? The forty fifth.
  • Which American football Super Bowl did the Philadelphia Eagles win? The fifty second.
  • Which floor was the French Spiderman Alain Robert arrested on when he was illegally climbing the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia? The sixtieth.
  • From which floor of the World Trade Center did Brian Clark rescue Stanley Praimnath after the plane hit their tower on 9/11? The eighty first.
  • On which birthday does the UK queen send citizens a telegram? Your hundredth.


Student B

  • If the British say “ground floor”, which floor is that in American English? The first.
  • What number on the Chinese zodiac is the rat? The first.
  • Which floor of the White House does the President’s family live on? The second.
  • If the Americans say “third floor”, which floor is that in British English? The second.
  • What number book and film was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? The third.
  • Which number American president was Thomas Jefferson? The third
  • In which century did Armenia become the first Christian country? The fourth.
  • What number on the Chinese zodiac is the dragon? The fifth.
  • What number book and film was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? The fifth.
  • Which floor did Lee Harvey Oswald shoot President JFK from? The sixth.
  • In which century was Buddhism brought to Japan? The sixth.
  • What number Disney Princess was Pocahontas? The seventh.
  • Which King Henry of England had six wives? The eighth.
  • Which King Rama was King Bhumibol of Thailand? The ninth.
  • Which King Christian of Denmark was the only King of Iceland (until 1944)? The tenth.
  • What number on the Chinese zodiac is the dog? The eleventh.
  • In the song, on which day did my true love give me drummers drumming? The twelfth.
  • On which birthday do Jewish boys have their Bar Mitzvah? Their thirteenth.
  • In which position did F1 driver Lewis Hamilton start before he won the 2018 German Grand Prix? Fourteenth.
  • In which century did the Chinese Ming dynasty start? The fourteenth.
  • Which special girls’ birthday is called the quinceañera in Mexico? Fifteenth.
  • Which King Louis of France had his head cut off? The sixteenth.
  • Which girls’ birthday do Americans call “sweet”? The sixteenth.
  • In which century did Galileo discover the rings around Saturn? The seventeenth.
  • What number letter is sigma in the Greek alphabet? The eighteenth.
  • Which King Louis ruled France for about 20 minutes in 1830? The nineteenth.
  • Which birthday used to mark British young people’s coming of age? Twenty first.
  • On what day in September 1987 did Senator Joe Biden withdraw from the American presidential race? The twenty third.
  • Which wedding anniversary and Jubilee is called “silver”? The twenty fifth.
  • What will be the last day of February in 2050? The twenty eighth.
  • What is the last day of September? The thirtieth.
  • What is the last day of January? The thirty first.
  • Which number American president was Franklin Roosevelt (FDR)? The thirty second.
  • Which number president was Barack Obama? The forty fourth.
  • Which wedding anniversary and Jubilee is called gold? The fiftieth.
  • On which birthday do Japanese adults complete one cycle of their lives and wear special red vests? The sixtieth.
  • What was the highest floor of the World Trade Center firefighters reached on 9/11? The seventy eighth.
  • Which floor did Philippe Petit start his 1974 high wire walk between the World Trade Center twin towers from? The one hundred and tenth.

 

Work together to pronounce these ordinal numbers

  • 1st
  • 2nd
  • 3rd
  • 4th
  • 5th
  • 6th
  • 7th
  • 8th
  • 9th
  • 10th
  • 11th
  • 12th
  • 13th
  • 14th
  • 15th
  • 16th
  • 17th
  • 18th
  • 19th
  • 20th
  • 21st
  • 22nd
  • 23rd
  • 24th
  • 25th
  • 30th
  • 31st
  • 32nd
  • 34th
  • 40th
  • 44th
  • 52nd
  • 60th
  • 78th
  • 81st
  • 100th

Check as a class or above.  

Work together to pronounce and/ or write the ordinal versions of these numbers:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 40
  • 44
  • 52
  • 60
  • 81
  • 100

Make up or find at least one example of each of these ordinal numbers:

  • Centuries
  • Days/ Dates
  • Birthdays
  • Anniversaries and jubilees
  • Heads of state and/ or religious leaders
  • Floors of buildings
  • Parts in a series (of novels, movies, etc)

 

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