Odd-One-Out(Speaking Game)

Odd-One-Out(Speaking Game)

This game has proven popular as an end of lesson game with plenty of interest and some genuine English practice.

You give each student a slip of paper with only oneword on it. All of the words are the same, except one. For example, bee, bee, bee, bee, butterfly. The student with "butterfly" is the "odd one out". No one knows anyone else's word, so no one knows who the odd-one-out is (even the odd-one-out himself). The odd word should be similar to the other word, so "bee" and "butterfly"are fine, not "ant" and "house".

Each student in turn makes a statement about their word.

For example:

A: "It is an insect."

B: "It is beautiful."

C: "It's small."

And so on.

After a round of sentences, there is a voting round. Everyone just points to the student they think is the odd-one-out. The student with the most votes is eliminated. Ties can be decided at your discretion. Then the teacher checks the card of the student who was voted out. If s/he is the odd-one-out, it's game over and the others win. In this example, B has all but given him/herself away as the odd-one-out, since a butterfly is beautiful, but a bee is not.

Continue until the odd-one-out gets eliminated, or there are only two students left. If the odd-one-out is eliminated, the others win.If s/he is not eliminated with only two people left, s/he is the winner. If the group is large, let the odd-one-out win if there are, say, 3 students left.

Variation:

You can also have a separate detective, who does not have a word, and whose job is just to select thestudentto be eliminated at each turn. It still needs the teacher as the moderator, to determine whether the odd-one-out has been caught at the end of a round. The detective is on the same team as all the others, and is not allowed to see what the words are.

SAMPLE WORDS (it doesn't matter which one is the odd-one-out's word):

bee, butterfly

window, door

apple, banana

bus, ship

plate, cup

pants, hat

book, pen

cat, dog

chocolate, ice cream

grass, flower

SEE BELOW FOR A SAMPLE SET OF CARDS