ESL Nationality Activity - Ireland Quiz

This ESL nationalities activity contains 2 quizzes about Ireland.

Hand out quiz A and B to pairs of students. This is a student-centred activity, so you only have to monitor pronunciation during the exercise.

Good activity for St. Patrick's Day.

1. What Irishman wrote Gulliver’s Travels?

Answer: Jonathan Swift

2. Which famous ship was built in Ireland?

• The Titanic
• The Lusitania
• HMS Victory

Answer: The Titanic

3. Irishman John Holland invented which

• Superglue
• A self-propelled submarine
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Answer: Submarine

4. Which actress is Irish?

• Ellen Page
• Emma Watson
• Saoirse Ronan

Answer: Saoirse Ronan

5. Which group is Irish?

• One Direction
• Boyzone
• Take That

Answer: Boyzone

6. Irish architect John Hoban designed which building?

• The Empire State Building
• The Gherkin
• The White House

Answer: The White House

7. Irish physicist John Tyndall was the first to prove

• The greenhouse effect
• That lightening is a unit of electricity
• That the earth was round.

Answer: The greenhouse effect

8. Were there really snakes in Ireland before Saint Patrick removed them, yes or no?

Answer: No

9. Which writer was not Irish?

• J.R.R. Tolkien
• C.S. Lewis
• Oscar Wilde

Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien

10. Newgrange passage tomb in Ireland is older than the Pyramids of Giza. True or false?

Answer: True

1. What Irishman wrote Count Dracula?

Answer: Bram Stoker

2. During the Celtic festival Samhain, it was believed the dead roam the earth. This festival today is known as:

• Carnival
• The Day of the Dead
• Halloween

Answer: Halloween

3. In the 1800s a landlord in Ireland increased the rents of his tenants. The local community ostracised him in retaliation and after a while his name was included in the dictionary as a verb. What was his name?

• Captain Isolation
• Captain Ignore
• Captain Boycott

Answer: Captain Boycott

4. Which actor is Irish?

• Colin Farrell
• Colin Firth
• Tom Cruise

Answer: Colin Farrell

5. Which band is Irish?

• Metallica
• U2
• The Rolling Stones

Answer: U2

6. Irishman Richard Martin founded the

• Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
• Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Elders
• Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

Answers: Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

7. Ireland has the oldest working __________ in the world?

• clock
• lighthouse
• car

Answer: Lighthouse

8. In the sixteenth century there lived a woman called Grace O’ Malley. She was a famous __________

• Pirate
• Queen
• Inventor

Answer: Pirate

9. The first transatlantic flight flew from Canada to Ireland. True or false?

Answer: True

10. How many people are believed to be of Irish heritage in the world?

• 40 million
• 70 million
• 150 million

Answer: 70 million