Don't you just love English, it's intricate characteristics, it's various elements that many a student state are designed purely for the purpose of causing confusion and deception. One of these elements considered by a large percentage of students to be one of the most confusing are idioms.
Idioms are words, phrases, or expressions that are either grammatically unusual, such as, “Turning a blind eye” or "Feeling under the weather", or their meaning cannot be taken literally, as in, “Nerves of steel!” This expression does not mean that you literally have rods of steel running through your body, but it is a metaphorical expression that means that you are displaying extreme bravery in a moment that includes varying degrees of danger or stress.
Unlike most sentences that have a literal meaning, idioms have figurative meanings. A literal meaning is when each word in a sentence stays true to its actual meaning. The figurative meaning is when a combination of words means something different from the individual words do.
If you take the sentence, The boy ate his lunch, you can figure out what the sentence means as long as you know what each part means. It's literal. But idioms don't work that way; they are figurative. Take the common idiom ''you let the cat out of the bag.'' If you take the literal parts and add them up, you would assume that it meant that a person was opening up a bag and letting a cat out of it. But that is not even close to what it means. The idiom doesn't even have anything to do with a cat or even a bag. Letting the cat out of the bag means to reveal a secret.
So, when you consider the importance of idioms, their relevance in everyday English, and the ever-increasing international opportunities that present themselves to non-English speaking people, how do we teach them to our students so that they are able to achieve a level of proficiency that is suitable for them to be able to possibly survive in an English speaking world?
Well, if you wish to follow the traditional path universally traveled by the majority of EFL institutions and teachers, firstly there are literally hundreds of websites partially, or fully dedicated to the study of idioms, and secondly, virtually every publishing house has at least one book series that is dedicated to idioms, and Englishes other pariahs; phrasal verbs and collocations.
On the other hand, if you wish to teach idioms more from the perspective of how a native speaker would learn them, keeping in mind that they don't use subject dedicated books when learning common expressions, then the way to do it is through reading, specifically fictional books. Fictional, rather than academic books, are a rich source of common expressions, be it idiomatic, phrasal verbs or collocations. Another excellent choice is auto-biographies or biographies because they too are more often than not full of these all-important common expressions.
In conclusion, it is impossible to understate the importance of idioms in the English language or the problems that a lack of knowledge in them could cause our students if, or when they are ever in a position of living, working or studying in an English speaking country. I believe that we teachers should, where possible, pay extra attention to their inclusion in our classes because when taught correctly, they can be a fun addition that the students can enjoy learning.
Below is a list of 20+ idioms that relate to family that includes explanation and example.
Good luck and good teaching.
(Be the) Spitting Image
- Meaning: Have a strong resemblance, often familial
- Example: Look at Madeleine. She’s the spitting image of her mother.
(Born) Out of Wedlock
- Meaning: Illegitimate, born to unmarried parents
- Example: I was born out of wedlock and raised by a single mother.
Accident Of Birth
- Meaning: Luck in something due to family good fortune
- Example: Yes, he became company vice-president when he was only 23, but that’s an accident of birth – his father is one of the major stockholders.
And His Mother
- Meaning: An intensifier for an inclusive noun or phrase such as everyone, everybody
- Example: Everybody and his mother is going to be at the fireworks. Let’s watch the on television.
Big Brother
- Meaning: Government, viewed as an intrusive force in the lives of citizens; government spying
- Example: Big Brother seems to grow more and more powerful as data about individuals is accumulated on social networks.
Blue Blood (adj.: blue-blooded)
- Meaning: Person of aristocratic background
- Example: The blue bloods generally keep to themselves, but a charity dance is a good place to see them dress up.
Bob’s Your Uncle
- Meaning: The rest is easy; you’re almost finished
- Example: Just enter the update code, register the new software, and Bob’s your uncle.
Father Figure
- Meaning: A mentor, a person who offers guidance
- Example: After I joined the company, Frank was a father figure to me. He gave me lots of valuable advice.
Flesh and Blood
- Meaning: Blood relatives, close relatives
- Example: When all is said and done, few people understand you like your own flesh and blood, even if you don’t get along with them.
Helicopter Parenting
- Meaning: Overattentive child-raising
- Example: The trend these days is toward helicopter parenting. When I was young children had much more independence, and I think it helped them.
Kith and Kin
- Meaning: Family (collectively)
- Example: When you go on a trip, it’s important to buy souvenirs for your kith and kin back home.
Like Father, Like Son
- Meaning: Sons inherit their fathers’ traits and preferences, often even without realizing it.
- Example: John was a great fisherman, and there’s his son Matt out on the water. Like father, like son.
Like Taking Candy from a Baby
- Meaning: Very easy
- Example: Just watch. Getting her to go out with me will be like taking candy from a baby.
My Old Man, My Old Lady
- Meaning: My spouse
- Example: I’d love to go to the mall with you, but I told my old man I’d go to the football game.
Pop the Question
- Meaning: Propose marriage
- Example: I bought a ring, and I’m ready to pop the question to Patricia.
Run in the Family
- Meaning: Be inherited (as a trait) by multiple members of a family
- Example: I’m not surprised Maria has started playing in a band. Musical talent runs in her family.
Small Fry
- Meaning: People or organizations with little influence; children
- Example: We’re still small fry compared to the major companies in the field.
Spare The Rod And Spoil The Child
- Meaning: It is necessary to physically punish children in order to raise them right.
- Example: Marlena is to permissive with her children. Spare the rod and spoil the child, I say.
This Is Not Your Father’s ____
- Meaning: This item has been much updated from its earlier versions.
- Example: You may not have liked this bat in the past. But this is not your father’s Louisville Slugger.
Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water
- Meaning: Eliminate something good while discarding the bad parts of something
- Example: Yes, the sales presentation has problems, but I don’t think we should start fresh with a new one. We don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Up the Duff
- Meaning: Pregnant
- Example: They hadn’t planned to get married, but Janice found out she was up the duff.
Comments
Post a Comment