Learning Idioms

Introduce a few idioms and define what an idiom is (a word or group of words that have a connotative meaning different from their dictionary meanings). For example, you can tell students anecdotes such as the following:

Last weekend, I had planned on going hiking, but when I got up Saturday morning. It was “raining cats and dogs.” It was absolutely pouring. There was no way I would be able to go hiking after all. Then ask students what the idiom in context means. (Answer: It was raining heavily.)

Yesterday after work, I was so hungry. I drove to McDonald's and ate a Big Mac, a large order of fries, a shake, a Diet Coke, and an ice cream cone. I ate "like a pig." (Answer: I ate it all very hungrily and quickly.)

Tell students that idioms are all around us – in everyday conversations with fluent English speakers and in popular culture such as movies and music. By becoming familiar with some common idioms, they will gain both understandings of speech around them and will gain cultural comprehension that will allow them to participate in conversations. Tell students that they are going to learn idioms over the next (class periods/days/weeks) by watching videos and taking notes.

Demonstrate how students will watch the videos and take notes with the first section of the handout - Idiom Learning – Viewing Notes. Open the playlist and play one or two videos, pausing to allow students to take notes at the table.

You can do the video viewing and note-taking each class meeting as a whole class or assign it as homework.

After checking a set of idioms, have students practice using the idioms in conversation with the questions below each table on the handout. Students can also practice writing their answers and replying to classmates with an online discussion board. Review the idioms periodically with questions.

This Quizlet set can be used for review and practice.

You can also assign students to explore other idioms on the YouTube channel or use other websites and present an idiom to their classmates on a weekly or daily basis.

Sample Idiom a Day presentations.

Option 1: After all the idioms have been studied, practiced, and reviewed, assign groups to “quiz” their classmates on an idiom. Create a shared Google Slideshow and label slides with group numbers and names of students in that group (students could also make their own group Google or PowerPoint slides). Then one person in your group will open the link to the slideshow in chat. Assign each group one or more idioms that have been practiced. Tell students to talk with your team and then insert a picture, a sentence clue, a dialog, or something that is related to the idiom that will make your classmates have to recall from memory what the idiom is but that won’t be obvious.

Sample Group Idioms Quiz

After all groups have finished, have a designated group member present the group’s slide. The team to identify the idiom depicted first wins a point.

Option 2: Tell students that now that they know several idioms, they will teach their classmates an idiom. You may choose to have students work in pairs or small groups. Explain the assignment with a sample project you have created.

Step 1 - Write one of the following:

A. dialog between two people using at least one idiom and having a minimum of 8 lines

OR

B. A story of at least 5 sentences using at least one idiom

Step 2 - Create one of the following:

For the dialog - slides with your photo (or someone else’s) and another person’s and callouts for the lines of the dialog.

For the short story - slides with the sentences and images to illustrate them Demonstrate how to navigate the sites by projecting the sites from a computer. Let students browse for idioms that interest them and then take notes.

Sample Shared Class Google Slideshow with Idiom Presentations

Have students write their dialogs using (an) idiom(s) that you choose (if you choose to have them write dialogs) individually or in pairs. Collect the dialogs and provide feedback on comprehensibility, correct usage of the idiom(s), spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

Have students use PowerPoint or Google Slides (clip art call out / speech and thought bubbles can be inserted) or video to create a product for the presentation of their dialogs to the class.

Students could also be given the option of creating infographics about idioms they learn, such as those on the site Oyster English using Canva, Piktochart, Visme, or other infographic maker sites.

Have students present their idiom projects to the class. Audience members can be assigned to take notes (you can provide a list of students' idioms) on the definitions of the idioms presented.

Later you can give students a short quiz on the idioms that were presented.

Students will be able to determine the meaning of figurative and connotative language and idiomatic expressions and make oral presentations using digitally-created visual aids.