Odd one out

Objective & content

By the end, A1- pupils can say which picture is the odd one out and why, with simple words they already know: The scooter is the odd one out. It's blue. The others are yellow. The bank is 23 projectable slides: a how-to slide with an example, then 11 sets of four pictures, each followed by an answer slide that rings the odd one out and gives the reason.

Pedagogical guide

Use it as a five-minute warm-up for speaking in pairs. In each set, the four pictures come from different groups (a tennis ball, a lemon, a submarine and a scooter), so the answer is not the obvious category: pupils have to look and notice something (a colour, the number of legs, what it can or can't do). Each set has one answer, but a pupil who finds another good reason deserves a point too. The sets are interchangeable: two or three per lesson.

Suggested procedure

1. (1 min) Show the how-to slide and read the example together.
2. (3 min) Show a set and say the four words together. In pairs, pupils find the odd one out and say why, then show the answer slide: who found it?
3. (1 min) Pupils who found another good reason say it to the class.

Adaptations

• [S] Write It's ... The others are ... on the board, and give a clue (Look at the colours!) before pupils answer.
• [A] Pupils choose four words of their own, and the class finds the odd one out.

Materials & prerequisites

A projector or screen; the bank is a 16:9 PDF, one slide per page, with no printing needed. Assumes colours, it's, it's got and it can / can't.