Whether your students are in school or have been out of school for… a while, school vocabulary is a staple of all English textbooks. Here is a simple School Vocabulary Activity for your beginners based on the vocabulary from the Cambridge A2 Key Vocabulary list. If you don’t know this vocabulary list, it’s the same one Cambridge bases their A2 KEY tests on. Use this during your lesson plan, at the beginning of class for a warm-up, or at the end of class as a review. It works great both online and offline, for groups as well as individual students!

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How it works

Share the PDF or print a copy for your students. Each card contains 5 words or phrases. One of them doesn’t fit the rest.

Students must find the odd one out and explain why. Simple!

For example: “Lesson doesn’t fit the rest because the other words are different stages of schooling.”

Play as a group or let your students try to find all 9 answers individually. Then, check the answers as a class. Give a point for each correct answer (the odd one out and the explanation).

Here is a list of answers for you, just in case:

1:  Subject – the others are objects in the classroom;

2:  University – the others are subjects at school;

3:  Ruler – the others are people at school;

4:  Course – the others are verbs related to school;

5:  Term – the others are types of things students must do at school;

6:  Lesson – the others are stages of education;

7:  Information – the others are books you might find in a classroom;

8:  Recess – the others are subjects or lessons at school;

9:  Bookshelf – the others are places or rooms in a school.

Ideas to take it further:

1. Set a time limit!
2. Have students add elements to each box after the mystery has been solved.
3. Students make their own odd one out boxes and challenge the class.

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