Useful Idioms
Useful Idioms for Lower-Intermediate to Advanced Students (Teacher's Resource)
My students often tell me that they want to learn idioms. But, in the past, I always found it difficult to find a list of idioms/phrases that was general enough to be useful for everyone. So, I finally broke down and made my own idiom and phrases list. Below is the result of hours of idiom compilation and writing.
Item example: off the top of your head He asked me to tell him a joke, but I couldn’t think of one off the top of my head.
The online list contains definitions. However, I did not provide idiom definitions in the downloadable list two reasons. Firstly, students are more interested when they can try to figure out the idiomatic expression and guess its meaning by themselves. I tried to provide enough context for this in my examples. Secondly, you, the teacher, will be there to define the expression if need be. You need to prove your use somehow :)
Notes:
* I am North American, so naturally, this list contains idioms that are most familiar to English speakers in North America. * There are approximately 195 idioms, totaling 11 printed pages. Don't try to teach them all right away! Progress slowly, and finish them off page-by-page over the course of six months or so. * It's difficult to divide idioms into difficulty levels. I tried to begin the list with the easiest/most common expressions and then finish it with slightly more specific/advanced idioms. Many of the idioms on the last few pages are work-related.
Advice
* Maybe save 15 minutes of class to study idioms. Don't spend a whole class on idioms. * Only cover 10 or so idioms with your students (you don't have to do a whole page) or they won't remember them well. * Always review the idioms you studied in the previous class. Here is a good warm-up activity (requiring pictures) to review them. * After you have taught 10 or so idioms, do this role-play activity to give your students a
My students often tell me that they want to learn idioms. But, in the past, I always found it difficult to find a list of idioms/phrases that was general enough to be useful for everyone. So, I finally broke down and made my own idiom and phrases list. Below is the result of hours of idiom compilation and writing.
Item example: off the top of your head He asked me to tell him a joke, but I couldn’t think of one off the top of my head.
The online list contains definitions. However, I did not provide idiom definitions in the downloadable list two reasons. Firstly, students are more interested when they can try to figure out the idiomatic expression and guess its meaning by themselves. I tried to provide enough context for this in my examples. Secondly, you, the teacher, will be there to define the expression if need be. You need to prove your use somehow :)
Notes:
* I am North American, so naturally, this list contains idioms that are most familiar to English speakers in North America. * There are approximately 195 idioms, totaling 11 printed pages. Don't try to teach them all right away! Progress slowly, and finish them off page-by-page over the course of six months or so. * It's difficult to divide idioms into difficulty levels. I tried to begin the list with the easiest/most common expressions and then finish it with slightly more specific/advanced idioms. Many of the idioms on the last few pages are work-related.
Advice
* Maybe save 15 minutes of class to study idioms. Don't spend a whole class on idioms. * Only cover 10 or so idioms with your students (you don't have to do a whole page) or they won't remember them well. * Always review the idioms you studied in the previous class. Here is a good warm-up activity (requiring pictures) to review them. * After you have taught 10 or so idioms, do this role-play activity to give your students a