The World's Best Countries: Games and Activities

If you had a choice of a country to live in, where would you choose? What would your criteria be?

Newsweek recently compiled a list of the best countries in the world based on health, economy, politics and the quality of life. The project took them several months to complete, but their results are now available. Click on the image below to browse the scores and rank of the country of your choice, interactively.

Do you agree with the list?

This topic provides endless possibilities for classwork. You can have debates, web quests, conversations on food, culture, weather, etc., work on grammar points such as conditionals, and so on.

Below, I provide you with two point-and-click games: the first is on the geographical locations of the best 20 countries, and the second is one on their flags.

If you have any interesting ideas on how you can use this topic for your class, why don't you share it here with  others?

    

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Flags of the World
Capitals of the World
Latitude & Longitude, explained
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Find these Cities
Countries & Nationalities

Singapore rocks F1 again! Reading comprehension

Read the short text and answer the questions that follow.

Last year, we saw the first Formula 1 night race being inaugurated amidst the bright Singapore night, and we saw how fortune smiled on Alonso making him the surprise winner in spite of having a lacklustre Renault under his control.While it's doubtful whether Alonso can turn the wheel of fortune to his favour again, we can be sure of yet another fascinating inauguration. Formula 1 now wants to present not just a grand sporting event, but a grand entertainment package: this year, the sounds of the engines roaring at more than 300 km/hour will not be the only noise that cuts across the Singapore night skyline, but spectators will also be rocking to music from the likes of people like ZZ Top, Simple Minds and Beyoncé.

F1 ROCKS™, stretching from 24-26 Sep, will be broadcast around the globe. Would we see Schumi trying to sweat excess baggage off, or Alonso bopping with Hamilton to Beyoncé?

Now, answer the following questions.

1. The English language has quite a few idioms with the word 'fortune', two of which were used in this post. What are their equivalents in your language?

2. Very often, we don't say what we mean directly, but we used metaphors and other means, and you'd need to read between the lines to see the hidden meaning. Could you explain what I was trying to say or refer to when I wrote the following?

a. 'the noise ... cuts across the ... night'
b. 'Schumi trying to sweat excess baggage off' and
c. 'Alonso bopping with Hamilton...'
d. '... the bright Singapore night'