Inaugural Inter-House History Quiz

On Friday 13th October 2017, student representatives from the House teams stayed after school to pit their wits against each other, on a range of questions covering many topics from the History curriculum here at BIS HCMC. Students with a love for the subject could come to share their knowledge and make new friends in House teams made up of a range of year groups. It was organised by our team of History ambassadors and supported by their History teachers. 

Do you know the Tollund Man’s nationality? Do you know when the teddy bear was invented? Do you know what Gandhi looked like when he was in primary school?

In an effort to expand the range of Inter-House activities at BIS HCMC, Toby Le and Tamsin Williams took time out from their busy IB schedule to put together an invigorating and challenging set of questions, designed to test even the strongest History enthusiast at the first ever Inter House History Quiz. Students representing Hanoi, Hue, Dalat and Saigon came together on the afternoon of Friday 13th, hoping that the day would be lucky for them, and they would be crowned winners of the inaugural competition.

Questions covered a range of topics from across the year groups including Tollund Man, the Romans, Slavery, Civil Rights, Empire and Decolonisation, Inventions and Events of the 20th Century, as well as the History IGCSE and the IB curriculum. Some questions were multiple choice and others accepted a range of answers from around the world and over time. Some rounds had visual prompts including ‘Name that Leader’ with pictures of historical figures when they were young, or ‘Name that Event’ with famous historical photographs, where students had to say what was happening. Questions targeted at particular year groups allowed everyone a chance to be a valuable member of the team, but were helped by older students who might know the answer from their previous History studies. Sometimes this was not as easy to remember as you might think, so it was good revision for them too!

History teachers Mrs. Lowry, Mr. Fortune and Mr. Goundry were all there to lend a hand and offer clues for the most difficult questions, but were careful not to let their own House affiliation affect their ethical standards. Perhaps they also learned something new along the way!

It was a closely fought contest, with Hue eventually becoming victorious, with 87%. In second place, Saigon and Dalat were tied with 81% and Hanoi was in 4th place with 79%. All students received House Points for their participation and the winning students will receive their certificates from Mrs. Lowry and organiser Toby Le, Year 13. The names of students from the winning team were: Leo Rodrigo Heran Balbuena (Hue House Captain), Ashley Lee, Duc Tri Nguyen and Will Cartlidge in Year 10, Rosa Heuveling van Beek in Year 13, Rosie Battersby and Nam Do in Year 8 and Yui Okada and Raghav Dwivedi in Year 7. Congratulations to Head of House, Ms. Gallagher and all participants. Thank you to everyone who came along to make the event a success!

We will be back next year, bigger and better than ever where we hope teams will come together again to defend, or steal the title from Hue.  

Ms Lowry, Head of History