Purpose: 

To help students review vocabulary

Preparation time:

10 minutes

Materials:        

Pictures of vocabulary words, if needed

Preparation:   

Generate lists of vocabulary words. Find pictures of the vocabulary words, if needed.

Procedure:  

1. Present the student(s) with a set of six words. Five of them should fit neatly into a category, one should not fit.
   For example: milk, bread, apple, tire, cheese, banana 
2. The student(s) should: identify the category; identify which one doesn’t belong; say what category the odd item should be placed in.

Notes:
For beginning-level ESL students, use pictures of the items. For students with some literacy ability, use the actual words.
You can make this activity as simple or as difficult as you want through your choice of categories: e.g., food, items of clothing, months of the year, nouns, words that would occur on a resume.
Remember to tie the chosen words to your students’ goals for learning English.