English idioms and their Russian equivalents

The same activity can be done for weather vocabulary (using little sketches of different types of weather) or for colours (using sheets of paper of different colours).

Another way is to ask students to brainstorm the words in a particular lexical area, such as plants. They may come up with words such as: roots, branches, seed, to blossom, to bloom, to plant.

Once you have checked that students have understood the literal meaning of all the words involved, ask them to guess what the metaphorical meaning of these words might be.

And once you have established the metaphorical meanings for these words (such as the roots of a problem or to plant an idea in somebody's mind) ask students to write a story using as many of these words as they can.

I find the stories are always very inventive, and reveal the real pleasure that students take in using another language creatively.

Improving knowledge of 'chunks'

Many metaphors occur not as isolated words, but in 'chunks' of language. Some of these 'chunks' are idioms that cannot really be varied. Some examples are:

to be 'down in the dumps'

to 'fight like cats and dogs'

Other 'chunks' can be varied, but generally occur as collocations in fairly limited combinations. Some examples are:

a 'fatal mistake / decision'

to 'waste time / money'

When teaching metaphors we should encourage students to note them down and learn them as 'chunks' - this will help students to remember them better and use them appropriately.

We can revise students' knowledge of these chunks by writing a list of chunks on the board with important words missing, e.g. fatal in fatal decision, or cat in to fight like cat and dog. Working in teams, students should then fill in the missing words and write sentences using the chunks.

Using English creatively

As we have seen, many metaphors in English form part of the ordinary repertoire of the native speaker. We can help students to learn some of these fixed metaphors while simultaneously encouraging them to play creatively with language. One way is to ask students to write short poems with one of the following titles:

Weather metaphors

A sunny smile

An icy look

A stormy relationship

People metaphors

A chip off the old block

A rough diamond

A shoulder to cry on

An ugly duckling

A fairy godmother

Parts of proverbs

A new broom

Early birds

Birds of a feather

Silver linings

A rolling stone

Developing student autonomy

Finally, we can develop students' awareness of metaphors by encouraging students to 'collect' metaphors - by noting them down when they encounter them on the Internet, in pop songs, etc. These metaphors can then be explained and discussed in the classroom. You may even want to keep a record of these on a wall poster….and at the end of the term ask students to vote on the most useful metaphor, the most surprising metaphor, their favorite metaphor, etc.

2.2.2 Focus on authentic speech and idiomatic language in classes

Objectives: Developing students' guessing skills, developing reading and listening skills on the base of idioms.

Target group: 4^th year students

Level: Intermediate

Organization: Class

Time: 80 min.

Step 1. Reading the Text.

Read the text “The Case of the Friendly Prank”

People love Tom Comeuppance because of all of his good traits--and despite his one very bad trait. Tom is never satisfied with anything. He always finds something to complain about and wish for, and he usually complains and wishes about the same thing for a long time. Most of the time, he also ends up getting what he has been wanting, but even then he still finds something to complain about soon after. This kind of behavior sometimes drives his family and friends crazy.

Lately, Tom has been complaining about needing a car even though his family just recently helped him get his own apartment near the school he attends, the Merlin Institute of Technology (MIT). His friends also got together and bought him a ten-speed bicycle for his birthday. This is what Tom has been saying:

"I'm tired of walking and riding around so much. I need a car. I sure wish I owned that 1965 Ford Mustang that's for sale over at Bob Fisher's used-car lot."

His friends at MIT, who are studying mechanical engineering with him, are also tired -- they're tired of hearing this from him so much. In fact, they cant stand it any more. They've put up with it long enough. In other words, they are simply fed up. This is the way they let him have it in the cafeteria Friday afternoon.

'"Car, car, car'--that's all we ever hear from you these days. It's really wearing thin."

"Enough already! You sound like a broken record!" 'Yeah, could you change the record, please?"

But these words didn't hurt Tom. They rolled off him like water off a duck's back. He wasn't even bothered when the same kind of thing happened at his family's house, where he went for dinner on Saturday. The members of his family are very different in their jobs and interests--his father is a crane operator, his mother is a science fiction writer, his sister is a body builder, and his brother is a magician--but they are all alike in loving Tom very much. Even so, there is a limit to how much their love can tolerate from him. These were their words:

"Tom, you're starting to get on my nerves with all this car talk."

"You're really rubbing me the wrong way, too."

"I'll be even more honest with you -- you're going to drive me to drink!"

"Tom, you know the expression, Every cloud has a silver lining'? For you, the expression should be, 'Every silver lining has a cloud.'"

On Sunday, Tom spent the whole day in the library. When he got back to his apartment Sunday night, he found a very big and very unusual gift waiting for him. You could have knocked him over with a feather when he saw it. There was a note attached to it that read.

"Surprise! You've been driving us up a wall. Now it's your turn. And this time, for once, don't look a gift horse in the mouth!"

Step 2. Idioms from the case.

Make a list of idioms in “The Case of Friendly Prank”, and beneath them write your guesses as to their meanings. Compare your results in class.

Step 3. Guessing the Meaning of Idioms I.

Listen to the tape and write the idioms that you hear in the blank spaces below. Then guess their meanings and write them on the lines beneath.

Exercise 2

Idioms

1. Hold your horses. I'll be ready to leave in just a minute.

2. I'm afraid that Hideo let the cat out of the bag and now everybody knows our plans.

3. Ravi thought he was being funny, but the fact is his joke went over like a lead balloon.

4. The basketball team is on a roll. They've won their last five games.

5. Nui is all up in the air about her planned vacation in Paris.

6. I was supposed to meet a new friend for dinner last night, but she stood me up.

7. Mr. Sato says that we have to learn to get our work done on time, so he has drawn the line on late homework.

8. Amedeo got in a jam with his parents because he forgot to tell them how late he would be getting home.

9. Fahad should have known better what to say in that situation. He sure put his foot in his mouth that time.

10. Martin was a great soccer player for many years, but he's all washed up now.

11. The police strongly suspected the owner of having burned down his own store in order to collect the insurance, so they asked him to come clean with them.

12. Some sales people have just the right touch--they can sell anyone anything.

13. Microwave ovens cook so fast that they really make cooking a breeze.

14. Her excuse for not getting her homework done was pretty wild, but it still rang true.

15. Mei-Ling got the jump on her homework and finished it a day early.

Step 4. Guessing the meaning of the Idioms II.

Listen to the idioms on the tape, think about the context they are in, and write your best guess as to their meanings. If you cannot guess the meaning, then try to include the idiom in a request for an explanation.

Exercise 3

Idioms

1. Mohammed didn't come to class because he's feeling under the weather.

2. Santha is great at growing plants--she really has a green thumb.

3. When her husband died, she went to pieces.

4. It's okay to be busy, but maybe you're spreading yourself too thin.

5. I haven't heard a word from you this morning. What's the matter--cat got your tongue?

6. Because of her husband's illness, Mary has become the breadwinner for their family.

7. I believed her! I thought she was serious, but of course she was only pulling my leg.

8. Anna has worked so hard for so many years that she's feeling burned out in her job.

9. With all the problems that Luis has, is it any wonder that he's got a bad case of the blues?

10. The basketball game wasn't even close. Our team got blown away.

11. On only our second date, he asked me out of the blue to marry him!

12. I knew my boss was having a bad day, but I didn't expect him to bite my head off.

13. Have you ever noticed how some people will talk your head off on the telephone?

14. People on the street who ask Mr. Lee for money aren't going to get any--they're barking up the wrong tree with him.

15. The view from the top of this mountain will take your breath away.

Step 5. Idioms from Students.

Present to your classmates other English idioms that you have heard, and they will share some with you. Try to guess meanings, and ask for explanation when you are not able to guess correctly.

Step 6.

Determine what an idiom is.

CONCLUSION

This paper has discussed the nature of idiomaticity versus nonidiomaticity in learner language and compared and contrasted nonidiomaticity with error. The complementary nature of generated language and formulaic, conventionalised language in discourse has been discussed and the gradational nature of idiomatic language has been delineated. The metaphorical nature of much idiomatic language has been emphasised and the central importance of metaphorical multiword units in language use has been insisted upon. In the context of Bartlett's Bartlett, F . C . 1932 . Remembering : A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. (1932) principle of "effort after meaning" pedagogical implications in terms of encouraging students to perform cognitive, problem-solving exercises in order to unearth the underlying meaning of the pervasive and structured metaphors informing idiomatic language have been sketched out. Finally, exercises indicative of these principles have been presented. At the end of my research the following conclusions can be made .The origin of idioms is closely connected with people's mentality .The present day English can't be considered full of value without idiomatic usage, as the use of idioms is the first sign of a certain language's developing. Idiomatic sentences enrich a language and the knowledge of idioms signal that the speaker knows the language on the level of a native speaker. The belles-lettres investigated by us revealed a great number of idiomatic sentences used by prominent writers in their works to make their language more expressive and colourful. This research proposes practical hints for teachers wishing to diverse their lessons with idioms. And we concluded that even languages belonging to different families may have similar or hemi similar idioms and those which differ dramatically can be guessed within the context. So idioms are integral part of language which make our speech more colourful and authentically native.

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