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On the one hand, idioms are an ever-changing, regionally variable and downright tricky part of the English language. On the other hand, Idioms are very common in spoken (and increasingly) written English. To achieve natural fluency (especially spoken), they are required. I’ve come to the conclusion that Idioms are a worthwhile teaching endeavour, but only to my Upper-Intermediate and Advanced students.
There are a vast number of idioms in English used in so many different contexts (e.g. shopping, workplace, sports) that tackling the category with your students can be daunting. Here are some of my suggestions for teaching idioms to your ESL students.
Most idioms in English fall into a thematic group (e.g. Idioms describing food, Idioms that use weather vocabulary). It’s best to organize your idioms lessons around one specific thematic group. Idioms are complex and they can also be difficult to explain to your ESL students. Remember the link between their literal meanings and their current use is not always clear (e.g. the origins of bite off more than you can chew may be easier to rationalize to your student than cold feet). For these reasons, I avoid introducing more than 8 to 10 idioms in one given thematic lesson.
Some ESL teachers will go over a list of idioms with their ESL students. I don’t recommend this approach! It will be very difficult for your students to retain the meaning and use of idioms without discovering their context first. Ask students to guess the meaning of idioms, then introduce them in context:
Your students need to be very comfortable with the individual vocabulary that makes up an idiom before you teach them the idiom in whole. Make sure your ESL students are at an Upper Intermediate level or above before embarking on idioms lessons.
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13 Comments
Thank you for an interesting way of teaching idioms. I really like it.
Hi Thuy Pam, thanks for stopping by and thanks for your kind words! We hope you get a lot of teaching use out of our series.
This is great! And it would be wonderful if the masters of dullsville who write the ESL books I have access to could incorporate something like this into every lesson. I think I will work on adding these kinds of exercises into my own lessons.
Hi Timothy, thanks for your kind words. Are you teaching in a classroom or providing tutoring? It would be my pleasure to show you around Off2Class. Sign up for an account (free trial) and feel free to reach out to me if you’d like a private tour, kris {at} off2class {dot} com
Hi
Thank you for your way for teaching idioms.
Hi
Very interesting. This way of thematic teaching will help students remember idioms and use them in proper context. Thanks for sharing the lesson.
Hi Aparna,
Thanks for stopping by! We hope you get a lot of great teaching use out of our idioms section. Let us know how you go!
Kris
Hi Kris,
Thanks for your reply. It would have been great if I got this idea 10 years ago when I was teaching my students in India. I can apply this method only with my daughter (going to be four this month) that too after six or seven years from now. Nevertheless, I really liked the idea as part of my own learning.
Yes, I agree Idioms should be taught in context without the use of a list. Often students used to approach me (many times almost in tears) requesting we make the class more practical by learning street expressions they can use with their friends in public. Indeed, I pushed right over and did so with much success. Nowadays, I simply plan two or three 10 minute lessons a week on Idiomatic language related to the day’s theme before my students asked. In sum, my evaluations get strong and stronger as a result.
Quite helpful! Could you possibly suggest any books containing such thematic contexts so that idioms appear easy to get and remember? Thank you.
I don’t know about any specific books, but I’d definitely recommend our lessons for learning idioms!
Kris
For the previous five years in Vietnam (& this year in Australia) with Intermediate & above levels
I used a similar approach to yours which worked well
The real trick seems to be to also use the odd taught idiom(s) at odd occasions in the same week
Cheers Lou
Indeed, Lou, spaced repetition is critical for retention! Thanks for the reminder.