As an ESL teacher, idioms are one of my favorite things to teach. To truly understand a language, we have to understand more than just basic grammar conjugations –  we have to know slang, jokes, idioms and the many other things that make a language unique. Today I’ll talk about 5 fun lesson plans to teach idioms to your ESL students. 

What is an idiom?

An idiom is a unique saying or phrase made up of words that, when combined, take on a whole new meaning than the individual words within the phrase. Idioms are common and students hear them every day, but they might not understand what they mean. They are tricky but important to teach to new English learners, especially as their listening and speaking skills improve.

Lesson plans to teach idioms – the fun way!

Off2Class has developed 30- ready-to-teach lesson plans that are entirely dedicated to idioms. Who would have thought there were that many idioms to learn? Here we have 5 of our most popular lesson plans on idioms.

Idioms describing people: This lesson plan focuses on common idioms we use to describe people, including black sheep and gold digger. 

Download the lesson plan here:

Idioms describing love: If your student is asked to go on a blind date, do you think they’ll know what it means? Maybe not, so use this lesson to teach them about idioms describing love. 

Download the lesson plan here:

Idioms describing food and eating: This lesson teaches idioms like eat like a bird and dig in. Most students love food, so they’ll love this lesson on idioms describing food and eating. 

Download the lesson plan here:

Idioms that use animal vocabulary: Animal idioms are tricky. Your student probably feels like a fish out of water, so kill two birds with one stone and teach them about animal idioms in their English class! 

Download the lesson plan here.

Idioms that use anatomy vocabulary: Imagine being a new English learner and being told to break a leg or pick his brain. Idioms that use anatomy can be weird and downright scary, so this lesson is a must for your ESL students.

Download the lesson plan here:

Wait! There’s more…

Students love learning about idioms and how to use them. You can use these teacher-led lessons to teach idioms and your students are guaranteed to leave class feeling more fluent than before. Don’t forget to sign up for your free Off2Class account to access the teacher notes and homework assignments. While you’re at it, check out the Lesson Library. All of Off2Class’s lesson plans are ready to teach, with added explanations and follow-up questions so that teaching English has never been easier!

If you found these lessons helpful, share them, and comment below. We love to hear questions and ideas from teachers like you!