(Skkn 2023) techniques recommended to enhance learning of idioms for 12th graders at nguyen xuan on high school

Further examples of applications’ recommended methods in learning idioms - Techniques: Using pictures to learn idioms pictorial elucidation Procedures: Step 1: The teacher provides a

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TECHNIQUES RECOMMENDED TO ENHANCE

NGUYEN XUAN ON HIGH SCHOOL

SUBJECT: ENGLISH

School year: 2022-2023

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TECHNIQUES RECOMMENDED TO ENHANCE

NGUYEN XUAN ON HIGH SCHOOL

SUBJECT: ENGLISH

Co-author: NGUYEN THI THUY NGA

VU THI THUY Phone number: 0983328302

0984378237

School year: 2022-2023

I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale……… 1

1.2 Aim of the study……… 1

1.3 Research questions……… 2

1.4 Scope of the study……… 2

1.5 Design of the study……… … 2

II DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical and practical background 1 Definition of idiom……… 3

2 Types of Idioms……… 5

3 The characteristics of English idioms……… 5

4 The importance of idioms………7

5 Difficulties of students’learning’idioms……… 9

Chapter 2: Methodology 1 Settings ……… ….10

2 Participants……… … 11

3 Data collection methods……… 12

3.4.1 Interviews……… 12

3.4.2 Questionnaires……… 13

3.4.3 Tests……… 13

3.5 Data analysis……… 13

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion 1 Findings ……… 13

1.1 Before the study……….……13

1.1.1 From the questionnaires ……… 13

1.1.2 From the interviews ……… 16

1.1 3 From the tests ……… 16

1.2 After the study ……… 17

1.2.1 From the questionnaires……….17

1.2.2 From the interviews………18

1.2.3 From the tests ………18

2 Discussion ……… 19

2.1 Difficulty 1: Usually understand idioms’ meaning literally……… 19

Solution 1: The transparency of an idiom……… 19

Technique 1: Using pictures to learn idioms (pictorial elucidation)……….19

Technique 2: Learning about the origin of idioms………20

Solution 2: Learning methods to increase familiarity of idioms ……… 21

Technique: Translating idioms into Vietnamese idioms……… 21

2.2 Difficulties 2: Be less exposed to idioms in academic English ………… 22

Solution: Applying context to learning idioms……….22

Technique 1: Making sentences, dialogues, or stories with idioms……….….22 Technique 2: Watching English movies, videos, or clips ……….23 Technique 3: Using online games……… 23

3 Further examples of applications’ recommended technique in learning idioms

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I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

There is no denying that English is a crucial language in the modern world The number

of people learning English has substantially increased over the past few decades English is the only language used by everyone to stay up with technological breakthroughs in the age of computers Because of this, more people are interested in learning English, and parents are letting their children connect with the language from

an early age in all skill sets The children must equally master speaking, listening, writing, and reading, the four fundamental skills One thing is necessary for kids to acquire all skills: vocabulary, which is regarded as the building block of language Vocabulary is the foundation or core of learning any foreign language in order to facilitate communication, as demonstrated by practice Without a vast vocabulary, learners will not be able to communicate or convey their thoughts effectively Vocabulary learning thus becomes extremely important and necessary for both teachers and pupils Idioms are a part of the vocabulary An idiom is a term that is frequently used in language to express certain sincere notions These words are crucial for expressing original ideas and bolstering the assertion Additionally, it results in a deeper comprehension of the language Idioms and phrases are frequently used in various competitive tests because of this The variety of English idioms may initially confound students It is a known fact that kids find it quite difficult to take examinations, especially high school exams, because they are extremely hesitant to acquire new words and idioms and because their vocabulary appears to be very little

As a result of the aforementioned fact, teachers must develop novel approaches and discoveries to raise the standard of instruction and assist students in making substantial advancements in their use of the language in authentic situations

From my teaching experience, I see that 12th-grade students at Nguyen Xuan On High School, as well as other Vietnamese students, face significant challenges in learning and practicing Idioms Due to a lack of professional expertise and adequate learning methods, they frequently become confused when doing idioms questions As

a result of the foregoing, I've come up with the concept of conducting an investigation into these issues and offering different techniques to make improvement the current

situation Hopefully, the study, titled "Techniques recommended to enhance the

learning of idioms for 12 th graders at Nguyen Xuan On High School" may help

people who have struggled with or become bored with learning idioms in the future

1.2 Aim of the study

The goal of this experimental study is to determine a basic understanding of Idioms and other related topics My study's specific goals are as follows:

- Getting a base on Idioms

- Studying learning Idioms of 12th graders at Nguyen Xuan On High School and finding out the encountered difficulties in learning idioms

1 What difficulties do 12 th graders face when learning idioms?

2 What are the techniques used by 12 th graders to deal with those problems?

1.4 Scope of the study:

Although English idioms are a fantastic treasure to discover for the benefits it brings, they are widely regarded as one of the most difficult subjects for English learners to master, requiring a significant amount of time and effort to research In addition, it

is a fact that they can be seen in every situation when we learn English Therefore,

it is impossible for us to go through all of them Due to the study's limited scope, it focuses mostly on learning conditions and effective techniques for reducing current challenges in learning idioms and helping students use them in the right situations

On the whole, the participants of this study:

- Being interviewed: 8 teachers

- Questionnaires are used for 135 students

- Applying lesson plans using recommended techniques

1.5 Design of the study:

A table of contents with page numbers makes it very easy for readers to acquire a clear overview of the research report It also makes it easier and faster for readers to find the information they require This study is divided into three main sections:

- Part I: The Introduction includes: Rationale, Aim, research questions, Scope,

Design, and Methodology of the Study

- Part II: The Development consists of three small parts:

Chapter 1: is the presentation of background theory which provides readers the basic knowledge of “Idioms”

Chapter 2: set of the survey questionnaires, interviews, and tests - give the situation analysis, subjects, and data collection instruments

Data Analysis - shows the detailed results of the survey and makes a comprehensive analysis of the collected data Findings and discussions

Chapter 3: Gives suggested methods and techniques for 12thgraders at Nguyen Xuan

On High School to learn idioms more effectively

- Part III: The Conclusion presents an overview of the study, suggestions for further

research, and limitations of the study

According to traditional grammar, idioms have always been considered a special

lexical category not only because of their structure but also because of their very

specific usage in each language Some authors consider idioms as units that are

semantically, structurally, and functionally equivalent to words in a sentence Typical of this view is the definitions in the idiom dictionaries, Trask, Weinreich, etc An idiom is considered a phrase whose meaning extends beyond the meanings

of the words that make up it (Trask 1999: 119) Weinreich (1969: 42) considers that

an idiom is a word unit consisting of two elements with multiple meanings The

Collins English Dictionary (2006) defines an idiom as an expression, such as a

comparison, whose words have no literal meaning, but which are classed as word expressions that act in the text as a unified unit The Longman Dictionary of

multi-Idioms (2000) defines an idiom as a collection of words that have a different

meaning from the meaning of each individual word when put together

Larson (1984: 142) calls idioms "special combinations", or "fixed word

combinations" that have only a total meaning, but the meanings of these combinations are not the meanings of the individual words added together each other, but rather a metaphor (249) An idiom is a phrase of at least two words that is not taken literally and that semantically functions as a unit (Beekman and Callow

1974 - quoting Larson 1984)

According to Baker (1992: 63), idioms and fixed phrases are at the bottom end of

the word association scale: flexible associative and clear in meaning They are constant combinations, rarely have variation in form and, in the case of idioms, the meaning cannot usually be inferred from the individual elements unless the speaker

is trying to make a joke or play on words, otherwise, you cannot do any of the following with an idiom: change the word order, remove a word, add words, replace the word with another word, change the grammatical structure

Therefore, Makkai (1972) has noted users as well as researchers about the complexity of idioms Makkai describes idioms as a unit of meaning but syntactically unpredictable, and very complex, so it's easy to get lost when used

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Vietnamese language researchers have also tried to come up with some definitions

of idioms, but due to different research approaches as well as the semantic and grammatical complexity of idioms, there is still no consensus unified Most Vietnamese researchers consider idioms to be units equivalent to words in terms of function, grammatical structure, and semantics Cu Dinh Tu (1973) said that "idioms are built-in units that carry the function of naming, in other words, used to name things, properties, and actions" Similarly, Ho Le (1976) defines "idiom as a combination of words - many words combined and have solid properties in structure, glossy in meaning, used to describe an image, an image, a character, a certain attitude” Diep Quang Ban (1998: 6) calls them "given structures consisting of two

or more words that are lexical and linguistically stable France" According to Do Huu Chau (1999: 71), these are phrases that have been fixed, so they have the same strict, available, mandatory, and social nature as words

Referring to the figurative and semantic unity of idioms, Nguyen Van Tu defines:

"Idiom is a fixed phrase in which the words have lost their independence at a high level of meaning, linked into a solid, complete block Meaning they are not created

by the meaning of each element These idioms are figurative or may not be” (1986)

In addition to the completeness of meaning, Nguyen Thien Giap (1999: 77) argues that idioms have an additional sensuality

The common point of the above viewpoints is that they all consider idioms to be syntactically and semantically complete units, even though they are composed of many words, and are stable and structurally invariant Thus, to facilitate the analysis

in this study, we consider an idiom as a combination consisting of at least two

words: structurally, it is not possible to change the position or replace the words, syntactically complex and unpredictable; about semantically, the meaning of an idiom is not the sum of the meanings of the words, it acts in the Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Vietnamese Studies as an independent, complete and unified unit in one language and get community use that language acceptable

For examples:

1: “Break a leg” means good luck

e.g Today's the big game, eh? Break a leg!

2 “Have one's head in the clouds” means be unaware or unrealistic about

something

e.g Amy “has her head in the clouds” if she thinks she's going to pass her exams without studying

3 “Keep one's chin up” means try to be cheerful

e.g Keep your chin up I'm sure you'll make some friends soon

4 “Pat on the back” means recognition or a thank-you

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e.g The party organizers deserve a pat on the back for a job well done

5 “Cat’s got one’s tongue” means said about someone who doesn’t speak (usually

due to shyness)

e.g It looks like the cat’s got one’s tongue, Lucy Are you always this quite?

2 Types of Idioms:

According to Palmer in his book: Semantic: A New Outline (1976), idioms could be

divided into three types: phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, and partial idioms

According to grammatical function, idioms can be divided into five types: Nominal idioms (subject and objects), Adjectival idioms (complements), Verbal idioms (predicates), Adverbial idioms (adverbials), and Sentence idioms

In O'Dell and McCarthy (2010: 22-32) idioms are classified into eight The types include (1) Similes, which compare two things and always include words such as 'as' or 'like'; (2) Binomials, a type of idioms in which two words are joined by a conjunction, usually 'and'; (3) Trinomials, which are similar to binomials, which three words are joined; (4) Proverbs, which are short sentences which refer to something most people have experienced and give advice or warnings; (5) Euphemisms, a type of idioms used to avoid saying words which may be offensive

or considered unpleasant; (6) Cliché, often used in certain common, everyday situations, such as everyday conversation, advertising slogans, and newspaper headlines; (7) Fixed Statement, an idiom that we can often hear and use in daily conversation; and (8) Other Languages; mostly from Latin or French

English Idioms can be classified in different ways but in this study, idioms are classified in two main ways: syntactic classification and semantic classification It often uses a variety of metaphors/personification methods, common phrases, and which are used very commonly in most written texts

+ Example:

- Pull up one’s socks: try harder

- Boil the ocean: taking up an almost impossible or over-ambitious project

- Hit the sack: go to sleep

3 The characteristics of English idioms:

Generally, idioms have the following characteristics:

non-6

Although the word that makes up the idiom has its own literal meanings, in the idiom they have lost their individual identity We cannot predict the meaning of an idiom from the sum of its parts:

E.g: “One smart cookie” means” a very intelligent person”

“Wear the trouser” means “be in charge, make the rules”

b non-substitutability:

1 Constituents cannot be replaced:

Constituents of idioms cannot be changed or replaced For example, “kick the bucket” (which means “to die”) cannot be changed to “kick the pail” or “strike the bucket”

2 Word order cannot be changed:

The word order cannot be inverted or changed For instance, “by twos and threes”,

“at sixes and sevens” and “tit for tat” cannot be turned into “by threes and twos”, “at sevens and sixes” and “tat for tit”

3 Constituents cannot be deleted or added to:

The constituents of an idiom cannot be deleted or added to, not even an article Take the idiom “out of the question” for example, it means “impossible” If the article

“the” is deleted, the idiomaticity will be lost and it will signify “no question” instead

c non-modifiability:

We cannot modify an idiom or apply syntactic transformations Some idioms are fixed and do not present internal variation, while there is also a large proportion of idioms that allow for different degrees of internal variability, and with a variable number of elements

Syntactically frozen idioms cannot be syntactically transformed into the passive and still retain their figurative meaning

E.x.1: I don’t give a pin # A pin isn’t given by me

(means don’t care about someone, something…)

E.x.2: I’ll eat my hat # My hat will be eaten by me

(means that you are absolutely sure that you are right to let other people know that there is no chance of your being wrong)

d Institutionalization:

According to Grant and Bauer (2004), institutionalization refers to the degree of recognition a particular phrase meets in a speech community There are idioms that have cultural roots and are understood only by those communities that share the same cultural values

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For example, people from different cultures can easily understand idioms such as

“cold as ice”, and “firm as a rock” due to their similar observations of the world

On the other hand, owing to different living environments, social customs,

religion, and other factors, some images cannot raise resonance

For instance, in Western countries, the navigation industry is fast developing and they have many idioms which are related to sea life and people from countries of continental civilization may not easily understand them

E.x.1: a big fish: an important and influential person

E.x.2: a fresh fish: a new prisoner

E.x.3: a poor fish: a foolish person

(http://www.languageinindia.com/june2009/urduidioms.pdf)

4 The importance of Idioms:

For English communication, pronunciation, tone, and body language are highly valued and are the top concerns for those who have just lost their roots in English However, when you reach a basic level of communication, that is, you can confidently speak in a standardized way with good pronunciation and good reflexes,

it is necessary to learn and apply English idioms

English idioms help your communication become more natural and according to many young people, it is "cooler" In fact, the use of these idioms is like adding spice to your conversation with friends and relatives, making it less bland and simple instead of using basic, easy-to-understand vocabulary and ordinary On the other hand, English idioms help you show your level and ability, especially when communicating with people who are inferior to you, you will easily receive admiration from the other side

4.1 Crisp and concise message

They are parts of the great legacy that humanity of past eras left for us:

They have historical values of high importance: Some idioms and proverbs might give us ideas about how the language used to be And since the evolution of the language is linked with the development of the society of indigenous speakers, studying it might provide evidence of how that society used to function

They are the peaks of the literature in past ages: There has to be a reason why they still thrive today whilst many other phrases are gone for good, and that is due to their nature of being the best Just like the evolution of an animal, only the best traits, in this case, the idioms and proverbs, remain We forgot or chose not to pass on other phrases for various reasons, i.e they aren't applicable anymore, or there are better versions

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They are advice, warnings, and lessons given to help us, the new generation: It is most common to find some knowledge in idioms and proverbs, especially the latter Furthermore, proverbs are pieces of advice themselves The topics of proverbs vary, from simple things such as "Don't play with fire if you can't handle the flame." to complex philosophical matters like "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

Observe it and see that a lengthy message is cut down to a crisp, creative, and condensed message It means you can express a lengthy message in a short sentence easily without changing the meaning Fluent English is a must for higher education

or normal conversation Therefore, include normal idiom phrases like cool as a cucumber and others in your dialogues For better understanding, kindly refer to English guides and authorized publications Studying more and more phrases will boost confidence in using idioms in a conversational tone

4.2 Helps in boosting conversational skills

You can gain quite many personal benefits by using idioms and proverbs in your daily conversation:

It is simply so cool to master the use of idioms and proverbs: To do that, one must sacrifice a great deal of time and have an unrivaled commitment Once you can use idioms and proverbs without misunderstanding, you will feel so great a sense of achievement that you have most likely never experienced before Your daily conversation with other people will have much more literary value due to your frequent use of rare and unique combinations of words, which you picked up during learning idioms and proverbs

You're likely to be respected and considered a person of high education by other people: Using idioms and proverbs frequently while conversing with folks will make them think that your command of the language is of high level, as you are capable

of understanding everything and using it without occasional blunders, unlike what many would be What's more, you will give off your aura of a person of intellect The deeper meaning in idioms and proverbs, with most likely fewer words, allows your conversation to be short while still being able to convey enough of your thoughts for the second party confabulating with you to understand

Idioms are often used in written and verbal communication It helps to showcase English proficiency with native peers Moreover, speaking idioms means that you understand the cultural context and the meaning of usage behind Once you are comfortable speaking idioms, you can opt for English language courses for higher studies as well

Several competitive exams and language courses in India and abroad have complicated idiom phrases and verb questions Therefore, practicing these concepts beforehand is essential to crack the examination Thus, it is advisable to practice

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conversational English first with the help of idioms Regular speaking also boosts speaking confidence

4.3 Carries marks for the exam

Finally, the exam is a major factor for which students prepare most things Preparing for idioms is nowhere exception Therefore, several competitive exams in India and entrance exams abroad have idioms and phrase-based questions Also, it carries important marks Thus, preparing for the same will deliver a positive outcome

Do not worry about the complex structure of idioms They are easy to understand once you are clear with the knowledge fundamentals Although understanding English is good, idioms help explore the language more and deeper, making you an intellectual person So, it was all about idioms and phrases Young minds can refer

to digital content or traditional books to understand the concepts in a more meaningful manner So, start the preparation from today itself!

5 Difficulties of Students’ learning idioms

5.1 Difficulty in understanding the different meanings of expression from the meaning of each word

Most of the students have difficulty understanding English idioms because the idioms have different meanings from the translation of each word For example, "a piece of cake" if interpreted each word could be concluded that the meaning is part

of a cake while the original meaning is something easy This makes participants find difficulty because the meaning of English idioms is different if interpreted from the constituent word Idiomatic phrases have at least two interpretations: literal and metaphorical The literal meaning is what we get when translating individual words

in the expressions and combining the results into a whole Though easier to decipher, this meaning is not what the user of idioms wants to convey to the other party of their conversation On the other hand, the non-literal interpretation, the supposed way we understand those expressions, might be completely different and unrelated

to the literal meaning Their being a part of figurative language is the main reason for the difficulty in learning idioms

5.2 Difficulty caused by the scarcity of students found in the use of English idioms

Another difficulty that students encounter is that the students rarely found the use of English idioms Because of the mentioned nature of idiomatic expressions, it is hard for students, especially non-natives, to master their command of those phrases Finding an idiom that means what you want to deliver in your speech is a hassle, and even with the help of the Internet, it is not easy to do However, using that phrase

in exceptional circumstances when required is far more demanding, which frustrates students Furthermore, students would need to use academic speech in most of their presentations, so studying figurative language like idioms is not in their favor, which explains why most students won't actively find and use idiomatic phrases The findings were in line with Saleh and Zakaria (2013) and Alhaysony (2017), who

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found that one of the greatest difficulties in understanding idioms is the lack of experience in the students’ working with idioms

5.3 Difficulty caused by the lack of discussion of idioms in classrooms

In addition to following on from the difficulties experienced by students as presented above, students rarely find English idioms because English idioms are never taught specifically to them This is because we can only use idioms in context - exceptional circumstances, as mentioned above In classrooms, it would likely happen in Literature lessons or between the most intellectual students' conversations Using idioms outside those situations would be most unwise as if the meaning of the expression doesn't get through, there will be no one of enough calibers to explain it, therefore making the user's intentions unclear and resulting in a failed conversation Common language suffices the demand of most students anyway, so idioms are not needed

5.4 Difficulty in distinguishing between idioms and ordinary English phrases

Though hidden in meaning, idioms are still written and spoken like any other phrase Some may stand out, but most are extremely hard to notice For instance, telling a foreigner: "You can say that again." which means: "That's totally true." would result

in that foreigners being extremely confused and repeating what they had just said under the impression that you didn't catch it Continuing to tell that foreigner that you know they are "at sea", which means "confused", while both of you are on land makes the misunderstanding worse The foreigner in question clearly can not differentiate the idioms from everyday language and fail to continue the conversation without awkwardness

This is in line with Pimoneva (2011), one of the difficulties experienced by students was because of unspecified vocabulary and foreign language so they are difficult to distinguish whether the sentence was an idiom or a regular phrase

Chapter 2: Methodology

1 Settings

The study was carried out at Nguyen Xuan On High School in Dien Chau, Nghe An

A three-year course in English is considered to be one of the formal subjects in this school In their three years of learning, they study general English through pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary through eight parts in each unit: getting started, language, reading, speaking, listening, writing, communication & culture, and looking back & project The subject is mainly taught in formal settings

In the process of learning, students need to have opportunities to practice their English skills basically and systematically in an encouraging learning environment

In order to have good English learning achievement, teachers play an extremely important role in the learning process of students Therefore, teachers should always

Before carrying out this study, the teachers and students had been asked some

questions in Appendix 1 and Appendix 3 to find out more information about them

The following matrix depicts the participants:

Table 1: Participants’ characteristics

Teacher 8 3 males and 5 females 26-46 years old

Students 135 87 female and 46 males

+ 4 (unknown sex)

17-18 years old

3 Data collection methods

This study uses quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigate how difficult

learning Idioms among 12th graders is and suggest techniques to help students learn

idioms more easily and more effectively The author launched a series of interviews

– formal and informal discussions with teachers teaching at Nguyen Xuan On High School and carried out two questionnaire surveys with 12th-form students of three classes at Nguyen Xuan On High School, Nghe An All the interviews were recorded and implemented The survey questionnaire was designed in the form of multiple choices and open questions

During data collection in the field, I followed quantitative and qualitative methods

of interviews and questionnaires Rossman & Rallis (2003) believe that essentially qualitative research is interactive; thus, this entails that the researcher should be directly involved in participants’ activities in the field (p35) This allowed the researcher to get information about the difficulties which students have when learning Idioms as well as how students improved their learning Idioms very clearly Furthermore, in order to get involved in the participants’ activities I initiated informal discussions and dialogues in interviews about using suggested ways of learning Idioms Through it, I could explore the suggestions of students for using ways recommended to improve the students’ learning Idioms effectively At the end

of data collection, I did a survey with 135 12th graders by using questionnaires After seven months of teaching and learning, the questionnaires would help to gather information from a large number of students about the effectiveness of using some suggested techniques of learning Idioms in the class to improve students’ exercise skills Furthermore, the results of tests in the pretest and posttest would illustrate the practicality of the study

Length of each interview

No of interviews Total

Appendix 3 and Appendix 4

4.2 Questionnaires

The questionnaire covered the whole range of questions related to the difficulties of students’ learning idioms and suggested ways to master idioms more easily and effectively The questionnaires for students included 8 questions The questionnaires were designed with a clear goal and purpose Wordings were clearly requesting students to circle the suitable answers For more details, the questionnaires can be

found in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2

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Posttest is the test given to all students participating in the research to measure their improvement when doing idiom exercises after applying a number of suggested techniques to learning idioms

5 Data analysis

All the research data were carefully recorded, summarized, and analyzed Three research instruments used were interviews (qualitative) and questionnaires (quantitative) All instruments namely interviews and questionnaires details were available in English The two research instruments were used in order to get a full awareness of the difficulties of students’ learning Idioms and the effectiveness of applying some techniques in teaching and learning Idioms

To record the data qualitatively as mentioned, anecdotal records were used which were factual descriptions of the meaningful incidents and events The descriptions were recorded and written on anecdotal records To record the data of the questionnaires, after the survey was finished, all the data was collected, analyzed, and classified to synthesize in the table statistics The results were shown in the charts

Chapter 3: Fingdings and Discussion

1 Findings

1.1 Before carrying out the study

1.1.1 From the student’s questionnaires survey

The findings of the survey with questionnaires are shown clearly in the links below They are also carefully demonstrated as followed:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1NIeO5xW2ku7MJkDmTKfXXVsUdy02m3N6D4T ka3JvYno/edit#responses

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iU2A3wevPDTTaWwHC6XO5Cbz0ZnsdMvoev6 Bkfksa_0/edit#responses

Chart 1: Participants’ sex

Before carrying out the study, I made a survey with questionnaires about the participants’ sex Among 135 participants taking part in answering the

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questionnaires, there were 131 people who wanted to show their sex Besides, 4 students did not give the answer to that question

Chart 2: Participants ‘seniority of teaching profession

Regarding the number of years of studying English by students: the majority of students have studied for 5-10 years (52,7%), over 10 years (41,2%), and less than

5 years (6,1%) We realized that most of the students in the survey had a higher

number of years of studying English

With the question “2.When do you start to know about idioms?”, students have different answers to this question illustrated in Appendix 5 The results show that

the number of years of learning English does not correspond to the number of years

of knowing idioms When students are exposed to English for a long time, they begin

to know idioms

Chart 3: Participants ‘frequency of coming across idioms

In terms of students coming across English Idioms, usually accounting for 26%, sometimes the largest number is 52,7%, rarely 26%, and never accounting for 0% The results show that students have a sense of self-study, looking for answers, whereas some students are still lazy

Chart 4: Participants ‘difficulty in learning idioms

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As we can see, most students have difficulty in learning English idioms, YES accounting for 74,6%, NO accounting for 6,2% and MAYBE accounting for 19,2% This means that learning English Idioms is really difficult for them to understand clearly, and easily

With the question “5 What difficulties do you have in using Idioms? ”, students

showed different answers to this kind of question The reasons that students have difficulties in learning English Idioms are also listed in the questionnaire illustrated

in Appendix 6, therefore we know that each person has their own difficulties when

they learn English Idioms

Chart 5: Participants ‘difficulty in using idioms

In addition, the data sheets also show that students frequently using idioms are only 35,4%, infrequently accounting for a large number of 64,6% This result shows that students sometimes use idioms in English for communication or other purposes

Chart 6: The importance of idioms

When being asked about the importance of idioms, students said yes account for 93.2%, and no are 7.7% These numbers show that the majority of students are aware of the importance of using idioms

When we asked students the question “8.What are the ways you use to learn

English Idioms?, there were only more than half of the participants (72) answering

this one They also showed various ways (shown clearly in Appendix 7) to learn

them It seems that the rest of the students had no answer to the question because they did not know the effective ways to learn English Idioms

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In general, learning English Idioms is rather a challenging problem among students although they find them quite important They hope to find ways, methods, or techniques to learn English Idioms more effectively so that they feel interested in mastering them

1.1.2 From the teachers’ interviews

I interviewed 8 English teachers in my school with some questions and their answers would be shown as followed:

When questioned about the number of years they have been teaching, 75% (6/8) of the participants had high seniority with more than 20 teaching years 12,5% (1/8) of teachers have been teaching English for 9 years and 12,5% (1/8) of teachers have been working as a teacher for 3 years

With the question “What do you think about teaching English idioms in your

classes?”, it was not surprising that all the interviewers shared the same answer

They found teaching English Idioms in their classes rather challenging and difficult One said that it was not necessary to teach idioms because idioms were related to the culture in which native people seemed to be surer than people learning foreign languages

As can be seen from the interviews, each teacher had different ways to teach idioms

to students in their lessons Some said that they sometimes translated English idioms into Vietnamese for students to understand and use them easily Others used the context to teach idioms Some of the teachers had no ideas because they thought that teaching idioms was really boring and students seemed indifferent to them That was why teachers realized the ways they had been using to teach English idioms in their classes ineffectively It is high time that some new methods were needed to teach English idioms to students in general and 12th graders in particular Further information was shown via the link

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yRmlThqN1SvQdjFVr69phcpmKEZjSugh

?usp=share_link

1.1.3 From the pretest’s result

Table 3: Result of the pretest

Number of students 135 Average Marks 4.75 Lowest Marks 3 Highest Marks 7

17

From the given tests (Appendix 8) to all students, it was clearly shown that the result

of learning idioms of the students was rather low They seemed to have difficulty in doing these kinds of idiom questions Most of them gave their answers without thinking because of their lack of the right methods

1.2 After the study

1.2.1 From the students’ questionnaires

The findings of this survey are shown in this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18QAwC72u14dvThA6bL1JEcKb_-EQ30RByVIkV1B0hr4/edit#responses

Chart 7: Participants’ feeling when learning idioms

From the chart, we were rather surprised that most students (81.1%) found learning English Idioms really INTERESTING It is opposite to the BEFORE THE STUDY that they were not keen on getting to know them Only 13,6% did not like learning English Idioms because they were BORING There were 5,3% of students who had

no idea when being this kind of question

Chart 9: Participants’ feelings about learning idioms after applying suggested techniques

The data shows that after students had been taught to use those suggested techniques

to learn English Idioms, they had no difficulties learning them accounting for 45,8

18

% Happily, 37,4% of students found English Idioms quite easy Only 16,8% of participants thought English Idioms was difficult

Chart 8: The effectiveness of suggested techniques for learning idioms

When asked about the effectiveness of the suggested techniques for learning English idioms, 80.5 % of students said “YES”, 13.5% answered “MAYBE”, and only 6%

of students answered “NO” This means that these suggested techniques had a positive effect on students’ learning of English idioms Hopefully, teachers will frequently apply them in their teaching

With the question “4 What do you think about using those suggested techniques to learn

English Idioms in the future?” , 111/135 students answered this one and highly appreciated these techniques which made their English Idioms exercises easier and

more effective (shown in Appendix 9)

1.2.2 From the teachers’ interviews

After sharing these techniques of teaching idioms with my colleagues, I recognized that there had been big changes in their teaching Therefore, I interviewed 8 teachers again and the interview result has been shown as followed:

Most of my colleagues felt no longer bored or tedious with teaching Idioms Instead, they felt a little funny and interested in teaching English Idioms in their lessons Their students especially the 12th graders could do idioms exercises confidently with more correct answers due to the help of suggested techniques It means that those recommended techniques are really effective and useful It was said that these methods should be popularized by both other teachers and students in order to make use of them For further information would be presented via the link enclosed:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rjBCgnTAlOYs10EAIpDEDprMTLCFftVQ/view

?usp=share_link

1.2.3 From the post-test result

Tablet 4: Result of the posttest

Number of students 135 Average Marks 8,25 Lowest Marks 6.5 Highest Marks 10

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The improvement of students in studying idioms in optional lessons was revealed through the given tests (appendix 10) that I applied After seven months of teaching, students in the experimental group seemed to get a greater improvement which was shown in the table below It means that most students have known more about how

to do idiom questions due to the help of suggested techniques

2 Discussion

According to the statistics, we definitely find out some reasons for difficulties in learning English idioms But in general, there are 2 main reasons, including:

Difficulties 1: Usually understand idioms’ meaning literally

Most of the students have faced this problem

Solution 1: Increasing the transparency of an idiom

The transparency of an idiom refers to the relationship between the literal and

figurative meanings of that idiom An idiom is highly transparent when the literal meaning of the phrase is closely related to the meaning of the idiom

E.g: - Idioms have high transparency:

Literal meaning Figurative meaning

1 judge a book by its cover judging others by their appearance

2 go by the book to follow the directions exactly

3 Sand feels rough Sand is solid water (metaphor)

4 The flower smells sweet The flower has the sweetest-smelling

petals in the world (hyperbole)

5 Grasshoppers make a high-pitched

noise

Grasshoppers are fiddlers who play their legs (personification)

In contrast, the idiom “kick the bucket” has low transparency:

Keep someone at arm’s length To keep someone psychologically or

socially distant Turn the other cheek To stay calm

To have someone dead to rights To catch someone in the act,

unquestionably guilty Keep your shirt on Remain calm

Idioms with high transparency are usually easier to understand and remember than idioms with low transparency

Technique 1: Using pictures to learn idioms (pictorial elucidation)

Using pictures to learn idioms (pictorial elucidation) is a method in which learners

look at pictures, visualize them in their heads, or draw situations mentioned in the idiom and associate that situation with the meaning of the idiom Research by Nippold & Duthie (2003) has shown that there is a relationship between the detail

Example 1: Idiom “put your foot in your mouth” means to say something you

shouldn't say

For example, imagine the situation: a person accidentally tells another person a best friend's secret and is so embarrassed about it that he puts his foot in his mouth to stop himself from saying it

Example 2: Idiom “burn one’s bridges” means only actions that make a relationship

impossible to return to the beginning

For example, imagine the situation: two people are at either end of the bridge, separated by a river in the middle, and one of them is so angry that they burn the bridge and make it impossible for her to see the other

When using this method, learners should visualize the situation as detailed and personally as possible, as this can help to remember it longer It is important when using this method that learners highlight the connection between the situation in the literal sense of the idiom and the figurative meaning of the idiom

Technique 2: Learning about the origin of idioms

With some idioms, learning about their origins (etymological elaboration) can help make the connection between the literal and figurative meanings of idioms clearer and, in turn, improve their transparency Not all idioms have a clear origin story, but with idioms with interesting origins, learners can take advantage of this property to

clarify their meaning and remember them longer

Example 1:

Idiom “bite the bullet”

Origin: In the days when anesthesia was not common, patients were often given a

bullet to bite during surgery to relieve pain because the bullet was hard enough to not be punctured but also flexible enough to not hurt the tooth

Meaning: gritted teeth and endured

Example 2:

Idiom “can’t hold a candle to”

Origin: In the 1600s, unskilled novices were often only allowed to hold candles to

light their teachers as they worked

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Meaning: just comparing that one person is so far behind another that it is not

worthy to hold a candle for them

Solution 2: Learning methods to increase familiarity of idioms

Research shows that the meaning of familiar idioms is often grasped faster and more

accurately than less common idioms

Example:

Idiom “no pain no gain” is often used in communication with the figurative meaning

that nothing can be achieved easily Therefore, when encountering this phrase, the meaning of the idiom can be approached more easily and quickly than its literal meaning

In contrast, the idiom "when pigs fly" is less commonly used in everyday

communication Therefore, when encountering this phrase, listeners will often analyze the literal meaning ("when pigs also fly") before understanding the meaning

of the idiom which is to indicate something that never happens

Thus, when learners are familiar with the meaning of an idiom, they can remember the idiom more easily and effectively

Technique: Translating English idioms into Vietnamese idioms

With idioms that have similar meanings to Vietnamese idioms, learners can translate these idioms into Vietnamese to create a more familiar feeling with a new idiom Many studies show that idioms that can be translated into similar idioms in the learners' native language can be understood more easily and quickly (Irujo 1986a; Deignan et al., 1997) Therefore, for some idioms, translating idioms into Vietnamese is the most effective learning method

Some idioms that can apply this method are:

+ Like father like son: a man or boy behaves like his father

Meaning: A son's thoughts are heavily influenced by his father's

Vietnamese idioms: Cha nào con nấy

+ Stab someone in the back: Stab in the back

Meaning: Betrayed by someone you trust

Vietnamese: Đâm sau lưng ngưới khác

+ Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth

Meaning: Only people born into a family with conditions

Vietnamese idioms: Sinh ra đã ngậm thìa vàng

+ Find a needle in a haystack: Find a needle in a haystack

Meaning: Only hard searching, little hope of finding

22

Vietnamese idiom: Tìm kim đáy bể

When using this method, learners need to pay special attention that only Vietnamese should be used in the first stage to familiarize and recall the meaning of idioms without relying on Vietnamese idioms to understand idioms in the first stage after This is to prevent learners from mistranslating Vietnamese idioms into English, for example, translating the idiom "with a golden spoon" into the incorrect idiom "born with a golden spoon" instead of "silver spoon"

Difficulties 2: Being less exposed to idioms in academic English

Solution: Applying context to learning idioms

Idioms occurring in a particular context are often more easily and accurately understood than idioms occurring individually (Liontas, 2002)

Example: idiom chew the fat

When learners are exposed to the idiom "chew the fat" without context, they often

guess that the meaning of the idiom is related to dieting or losing weight (Skoufaki, 2005)

When learners are exposed to this idiom with the same context in the sentence:

"Every time they met, they would chew the fat for hours on end, sipping beer and smoking their cigars", they will be able to guess the meaning of this idiom correctly higher than that, that is, hanging out and chatting (Cieslicka, 2015)

Thus, in order to learn idioms most effectively and accurately, learners should not only memorize the meaning of each individual idiom, but should also learn the context in which the idiom is used

Technique 1: Making sentences, dialogues or stories with idioms

Making sentences using idioms is one technique to make the most of context when learning idioms Krbi's (2011) research demonstrates that idiom learners are ineffective for the context of idiom usage because they fail to employ context or stick to the lesson's example sentences without adding any new sentences to broaden the idiom's application context Successful idiom learners, on the other hand, not only learn idioms according to the context provided in the lesson but also build more sentences with idioms in different ways, different contexts, based on hypothetical or personal situations They are able to recall the meaning of the idiom three months after first exposure and learning This enables students to truly engage with and comprehend the meaning of idioms Thus, when exposed to a new idiom, learners should put 3 to 4 sentences with that idiom in many different contexts to maximize their ability to memorize and understand the idiom When making sentences, learners should put a variety of sentences with content as impressive and clear as possible At the same time, learners need to pay attention to grammar to make correct sentences

Example: Idiom “a piece of cake”

- Meaning: expressing the very easy nature of a thing

Technique 2: Watching English movies, videos, and clips

One of the difficulties of learning idioms is that learners have limited exposure to idioms when learning academic English Therefore, watching English movies is an effective way for learners to expose idioms in the most natural way in everyday contexts Moreover, situations in movies can help learners remember these idioms longer

To apply this method, learners should choose to watch TV shows like Friends, How

I met your mother, Big Bang Theory because characters in TV shows like this communicate in a real-life style and use idioms naturally If possible, learners should also record the idiom and the context in which it occurs for further review

Example: Idiom “call it a day”

- Meaning: decide to stop what you're doing

- Context in the movie: How I met your mother season 1 episode 4, Ted Mosby calls his lover to send a farewell message as follows: “Natalie! Hey, Happy Birthday! Listen you're awesome You really are awesome I'm just like super busy right now, so maybe we should just call it a day But you're awesome.”

By viewing the idiom "call it a day" in this context, learners can understand more about the meaning of the idiom in a more holistic way, and the range of contexts suitable for using this idiom

Idiom has a semantic barrier, as it is difficult for learners to guess the meaning of an idiom based solely on the phrase’s literal meaning For example, the literal meaning

of “break a leg” is to break a leg, but the meaning of this idiom is to wish good luck This can lead many learners to use rote memorization to remember the meaning of idioms, but can quickly forget them afterward

Most learners approach English in a highly academic environment, while idiom is usually only used in everyday, informal situations Because they are not often exposed, learners need to spend a lot of time and effort getting used to idioms' meaning and context

Technique 3: Using some online games to learn idioms

Apple of the eye, the cherry on the cake, and actions speak louder than words, are

some ways humans express themselves But what if some other species were to listen to us? Would they get what we are trying to say? Of course not!! Idioms contain metaphorical data and interesting analogies which are a reflection of the metalinguistic skills possessed by humans Hearing a person talk in metaphors is fun

to some and stupid to others Nonetheless, a universal opinion of using idioms in conversations is that a person is a good conversationalist or high on verbal intelligence And great communication can leave a lasting impression Hence, it’s

24

important to start at the right age So, while many couldn’t learn idioms properly during school, there are several online games that give a helping hand to learners of all ages

Amp up language skills with online idiom games

Idioms can make a conversation great and it’s very important for an individual to have a basic understanding of them Hence, through the below-mentioned idiom games, one can easily practice and enrich their understanding of idioms via some links:

do not discriminate among their players So, make sure to give them a try!

3 Further examples of applications’ recommended methods in learning idioms

- Techniques: Using pictures to learn idioms (pictorial elucidation)

Procedures:

Step 1: The teacher provides a picture whose content is related to the idiom

Step 2: The teacher asks students to look at the picture carefully and imagine the situation related to the idiom illustrated in the picture

Step 3: The teacher can make some questions that motivate students’ imagination Step 4: Students imagine the situation related to the idiom hidden in the picture Step 5: The teacher gives students feedback and explanation

Step 6 The teacher asks students to make sentences with the learned idiom

Example 1:

25

Teacher’s activities Students’ activities

- The teacher asks students to look at

the picture and describe it in detail

based on these suggested questions

Suggestive questions:

+ What can you see in the picture?

+ Is man’s action right or wrong?

+ May he do something badly?

- Teacher encourages students to

imagine these situations which may

happen

- Teacher motivates students guess the

idiom hidden in the picture

- Teacher gives the feedback and

explanation:

+ Idiom: “Put your foot in your

mouth” is correct

+ Meaning: to say or do something

that you should not have, esp

something

that embarrasses someone else

+ Example:

* I really put my foot in my mouth –

I asked her if Jane was her mother, but

she said Jane is her sister

- Students look at the picture and listen

to the teacher’s question carefully

- Students describe the picture by answering teacher’s suggestive questions:

+ a man and he is putting his one shoe

in his mouth + wrong action + he may do something wrongly or badly

- Students try to imagine all situations

illustrated by the picture:

- Students try to guess the idiom: +“put your shoes in your mouth” + “put your foot in your mouth”

- Students listen to the teacher and take

notes

Example 2:

26

Teacher’s activities Students’ activities

- The teacher asks students to look at the

picture and describe it in detail based on

these suggested questions

Suggestive questions:

+ What can you see in the picture?

+ How are two girls feeling in the

+ Is the relationship bewteen two girls in

the picture good or bad?

- Teacher encourages students to imagine

these situations which may happen

- Teacher motivates students guess the

idiom hidden in the picture

- Teacher gives the feedback and

explanation:

+ Idiom: “burn one’s brigde” is correct

+ Meaning: If you are in a situation and

you burn your boats/bridges,

you destroy all possible ways of going

back to that situation

+ Example:

* "Don't burn your bridges I'm sure

something will come up and everything

will be all right"

+ Another idiom having the same

meaning as “burn one’s brigde” is “burn

one’s boat”

-Students look at the picture and listen

to the teacher’s question carefully

- Students describe the picture by answering teacher’s suggestive questions:

+Two girls and the brigde is burning +Two girls are in bad mood

The girl in the red is really sad, disappointed and the girl in the white

is sad too, + The girl in the red was looking toward the one in the white disappointedly Maybe, the girl in the white was so angry that she burnt the bridge which symbolizes the

connection between two girls

+ The relationship between the two girls is bad and can’t go back to the beginning

- Students try to guess the idiom:

+“burn the brigde”

+ “burn my friend’s brigde”

+ “burnone’s brigde”

- Students listen to the teacher and take

notes

27

Example 3:

Teacher’s activities Students’ activities

- The teacher asks students to look at the picture

and describe it in detail based on these suggestive

questions

Suggestive questions:

+ What can you see in the picture?

+ What is the boy doing?

+ How does he feel? Is he happy or sad?

+ How does an iceberg relate to human’s

relationship?

- Teacher encourages students to imagine these

situations which may happen

- Teacher motivates students guess the idiom

hidden in the picture

- Teacher gives the feedback and explanation:

+ Idiom: “ break the ice” is correct

+ Meaning: to make people who have

not met before feel more relaxed with each other:

+ Example:

* Someone suggested that

we play a party game to break the ice

* “That joke really broke the ice at the

conference; we all relaxed afterward.”

- Students look at the picture

and listen to the teacher’s questions carefully

- Students describe the picture

by answering teacher’s suggestive questions:

+ a boy and a hammer and an iceberg

+ The boy is using the hammer to break the iceberg into small pieces

- He feels happy because he is smiling

- The iceberg represents the unfriendliness, the coldness among people

- Students try to imagine all

situations illustrated by the picture:

“situation: at the party/

meeting… -all people meet each other for the first time- don’t feel relaxed and

comfortable- do something to break the coldness among people…”

- Students try to guess the idiom:

+“break the ice”

+ “break an iceberg”

- Students listen to the teacher

and take notes

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- Techniques: Learning about the origin of idioms ( etymological elaboration ) Procedures:

Step 1: The teacher provides a picture relating to the hidden idiom

Step 2: The teacher asks students to look at the picture and answer his/her

question

Step 3: The teacher provides the origin of the idiom hidden in the picture

Step 4: The teacher asks students to guess the meaning of the idiom

Step 5 The teacher asks students to make sentences or short conversations with the learned idiom

Example 01:

Teacher’s activities Students’s activities

-Teacher provides some pictures:

- Teacher aks students a question: “What is it?” and asks

them to answer the question

- Teacher provides the origin of the idiom which is illustrated

by the pictures:

Origin: Before the invention of gas-powered lamps (or later,

electricity), candles or oil lamps were used to illuminate the

darkness Poet Francis Quarles refers to “mid-night oil” in

Emblem II of his 1635 book

Emblemes:

“We spend our mid-day sweat, our mid-night oil,

We tire the night in thought; the day in toil.”

College students today might “burn the midnight oil” while

“pulling an all-nighter.” Although oil lamps were superseded

by kerosene lamps in the 19th century, and then by electricity

in the 20th, the expression remains in use, but may be well on

its way to obsolescence

- Teacher asks students to guess the idiom and its meaning

Idiom: Burning the Midnight Oil

Meaning: To work late into the light

- Teacher gives the feedback

- Teacher asks students to make sentences or short

conversation having the learned idiom

- Students look at

the picture and answer teacher’s question:

- It is an oil lamp or

a candle

- Students listen to teacher carefully

-Students try to guess the idiom and

its meaning

- Students make funny conversation with learned idiom

A What did you do last night?

29

B I burnt the Midnight oil reading philosophy books

A Is it the reason you were late for school this

Teacher’s activities Students’s activities

-Teacher provides some pictures:

- Teacher aks student a question: “What is it?” and

asks them to answer the question

- Teacher provides the origin of the idiom which is

illustrated by the pictures:

Origin: Glass artist Ginny Ruffner was in serious car

accident in 1991 She awoke after weeks in a coma,

but was partially paralyzed and suffered significant

memory loss—including about her own identity She

recalled, “I was terrified My mind was like a big

empty house that you knew you used to live in." In

order to stimulate her memory, friends—fellow

studio glass artists—sent Ruffner a bouquet of “eye

candy”—blown glass orbs of brilliant color and

pattern, individually crafted by her friends and loved

ones This eye candy surely would have stimulated

Ruffner’s spirit as well as her memory

Idiom: Eye candy

Meaning: Superficially attractive

- Teacher gives the feedback

- Teacher asks students to make sentences or short

conversation having the learned idiom

- Students look at the

picture and answer teacher’s question:

+ It’s a candy

- Students listen to teacher carefully

-Students try to guess the

idiom and its meaning

- Students make sentences with the learned idiom + A lot of the material on

their website is just eye

candy

- A fashionable portrait painter in his day, he is now regarded as a minor

purveyor of eye candy

- Thousands of commuters

traveling daily on the freeways on the east side of downtown Dallas have

some new eye candy

containing the hidden idiom

Step 4: Teacher asks students to guess the meaning of the idiom

Step 5 Teacher asks students to make sentenceswith the learned idiom

Example 01:

Teacher’s activities Students ‘Activities

- Teacher prepares these flashcards for teaching the

idioms

- Teacher gives the front side of the flash card containing

a picture, the origin and some examples of the idiom

which he/she intends to introduce:

The Front of the Flashcard:

Burn one’s bridges

Origin: In Ancient Rome warfare, when enemies

crossed the river to invade a new land, the defenders

destroy the bridge to stop to enemies from treating

Example: * She burned her bridges when she broke

up with me over text and changed her number

* Joseph burned his bridges when he

verbally attacked Gordon Ramsay in season 6 of

Hell’s Kitchen

- Teacher asks students to look at it and answer his/her

questions:

+ What is picture about?

+ Do you know the story related to the picture?

- Teacher tells the story of the origin of the idiom hidden

in the picture

- Teacher asks students to guess the idiom

- Students listen to the

teacher’s instruction:

- Students look at the picture and answer teacher’s question: It is about the bridge being

burnt

- Students listen to the teacher’s story and guess the idiom hidden

in the story

“burn the bridge”

“burning bridge”

31

- Teacher gives some examples of the given idiom in the

card

The Backside of the Flashcard:

Meaning: Burn one’s bridges

- To do something which makes it impossible to return to

an earlier state

Application:

She burned the bridges when she insulted me in front of

everyone last week

……… …

……….…

……….……

……….……

- Teacher asks students to give the meaning of the idioms

- Teacher overturns the backside of the Flashcard and tells

students the meaning of the idiom

- Teacher asks students to apply the learned idiom by

making some sentences

- Students make sentences of given idioms

- Student take notes

Example 2:

‘Activities

- Teacher prepares these flashcards for teaching the idioms

- Teacher gives the front side of the flash card containing a

picture, the origin and some examples of the idiom which

he/she intends to introduce:

The Front of the Flashcard:

Handle with Kid Gloves

Origin: A young goat is called a kid In early 19thcentury,

gloves made from the soft hide of a young goat or lamb

were called kid gloves

question: It is

about a kid

32

- Teacher asks students to look at it and answer his/her

questions:

+ What is picture about?

+ Do you know the story related to the picture?

- Teacher tells the story of the origin of the idiom hidden in

the picture

- Teacher encourages students to guess the idioms until it is

right

- Teacher gives some examples of the given idiom in the card

The Backside of the Flashcard:

Meaning: Handle with the kid gloves

- To treat someone or something very gently

Application:

• He is upset, so handle him with kid glove

• Someone gets angry easily You have to be careful, handle

them with kid gloves

……… …

……….…

……….……

……….……

- Teacher asks students to give the meaning of the idioms

- Teacher overturns the backside of the Flashcard and tells

students the meaning of the idiom

- Teacher asks students to apply the learned idiom by making

some sentences

wearing loves He feels happy

- Students listen

to the teacher’s story and guess the idiom hidden

- Student take notes

- Technique: Applying context to learning idioms

Procedures:

Step 1: Teacher provides materials (passages, speeches, dialogues, stories, movies etc) where idioms are used

Step 2: Teacher could give students some suggestive questions

Step 3: Teacher encourages students to deduce the meaning of the idioms basing

on the context of using idioms

Step 4: Teacher has students present their answer

Step 5: Teacher gives feedback and asks student to write a short stories including learned idioms

33

Teacher’s activities Students’ activities

- Teacher provides students with some examples

including some idioms:

Example 1: Sentences

When I broke up with my girlfriend, I was down in the

dumps and couldn't do anything properly

- Teacher gives some suggestive questions that help

students to read the passages carefully and recognize

the meaning of the idioms basing the context:

The context in the above sentence is “broke up with

my girlfriend” = break up with your lover

(be) down in the dumps

MEANS (context-based)

(expressing feelings of depression, disappointment)

remember the context of “break up with your lover”

to remember this idiom “down in the dumps”

Example 2: Dialogues

- Juan: Hey Sarah, you look sad What’s up?

- Sarah: Well, I didn’t play very well today during

volleyball practice and my teammates were not very

understanding They said I was clumsy and had to

focus more on the game They said a 5-year old girl

played better than me

- Juan: Oh! I’m so sorry they gave you such a hard

time

The context is Sarah failed in volleyball practice

Her friends -> not understanding

gave you such a hard time

MEANS (context-based)

(to criticize or annoy you)

Example 3: Funny stories, movies

“A woman was having dinner with an elderly friend

and the friend’s husband She noticed that her friend

- Students read some sentences including some idioms

- Students try to guess the meaning of the given idioms basing on the CONTEXT according

to the teacher’s instruction:

+ feel sad, unhappy even disappointed

+ She was not good and even clumsy + They gave her some bad words and criticized her

How do you feel

in this situation?

Do you feel happy or unhappy?

How were Sarah’s friends feeling at that time?

What did Sarah’s friends do later?

34

always called her husband pet-names like ‘Honey’,

‘Darling’, and ‘Sweetheart’

While the husband was out of the room, the woman

said, ‘It’s 70 years since you two tied the knot, but

you still call him those loving names That’s

wonderful! It must take some doing to keep romance

alive for so long.’

Her elderly friend answered: ‘The truth is that his

name slipped my mind about ten years ago.”

The context is a woman having dinner with her

friends and realizing their calling themselves by

disappear from one’s memory

Teacher asks students to give more examples about

the idioms they have learned (homework)

Ex: He suddenly realized that the speaker’s name

had slipped his mind

Teacher could give students further sources of idioms

for idiom practice:

+ Watching funny English videos or movies:

+ By pet-names

+ be forgotten and

disappeared

-Students present their answer

- Students listen to teacher ‘feedback and take notes

- Students write up their own stories including the learned idioms (homework)

What is the relationship between their friends?

What did they do to have such a relationship?

What did they do to keep their relationship?

Did they call themselves

by real names or lovely one?

How were their real names if they had not been used for long time?

35

- Technique: Learning idioms by themes or topic groups

Procedure:

Step 1: Teacher gives students sentences with idioms

Step 2: Teacher encourages students to use other learned techniques to find the meaning of the idiom in the sentence

Step 3: Teacher asks students to give other idioms having the same meaning to group them as a theme

Step 4: Teacher asks students to do more idiom exercises to remember them longer Example:

Teacher’s Activities Student’s Activities

- Teacher gives a sentence with an

idiom:

Example:

“Dad'll hit the ceiling when

he finds out I've left school.”

- Teacher asks students to guess

and give the meaning of the idiom

in the sentence by using different

techniques suggested above

- Teacher gives the feedback and

more idioms about ANGER in

handouts

-Teacher asks them to do exercises

in handouts at home and check the

answer later

-Students read the example

- Students use the techniques they learned to find the meaning of the idiom:

“Hit the ceiling means be angry”

- Students try to give more idioms sharing the same meaning:

+ Fly off the handle

+ Go off the deep end

+ Hit the roof

+ Go through the roof

+ Lose it

………

- Students listen and take note

- Students do more exercise given by the teacher

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Group 1: IDIOM ANGER