Which One Doesn’t Belong?

This activity gives students practice in classifying items and finding similarities and differences.

Preparation

Decide on what vocabulary (or grammar structure) you want to use.

Procedure

1. Present, either as a handout, on the board, or via projector, one or more examples for the students to figure out, either individually, in small groups, or as a class. 2. The examples can check student understanding of semantic categories, collocations, verb tenses, register, idioms, etc.

Variations

1. There should be no obvious items that do not belong. In groups, students must decide which item on the list does not belong and why. Then, the groups present to the whole class. The group with the most creative and unique reasons wins. 2. Students can be asked to make their own examples for other classmates.

When to Use It

• To give students practice or review of lexical items or grammatical structures • To find similarities

Level

Depends on material

Skills

Practice

Materials

Handout, chalkboard, or digital video projector

Preparation Time

10 minutes

Activity Time

5–30 minutes