SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ

TRƯỜNG THPT THẠCH THÀNH 3

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

TÊN ĐỀ TÀI
SOME METHODS TO HELP GRADE 12A4 STUDENTS AT
THACH THANH III HIGH SCHOOL LEARN ENGLISH
IDIOMS WELL

Người thực hiện: Đỗ Thị Thu Nga
Chức vụ: Giáo viên
Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Thạch Thành 3
SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Tiếng Anh

THANH HOÁ NĂM 2019
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CONTENTS
page
I. REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE RESEARCH.......................................2
II. AIMS OF THE RESEARCH.........................................................................2
III. SCOPE, OBJECT AND RESEARCHING METHOD..............................2
IV. CONTENT:....................................................................................................2
1. Some methods for teaching idioms effectively........................................2
2. Practice activities and test........................................................................6
3.Some useful tips:.......................................................................................14
V. RESULT AFTER APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING........15
VI. CONCLUSION...........................................................................................16

II. AIMS OF THE RESEARCH
- To help students learn and use English idioms correctly .
III. SCOPE, OBJECT AND RESEARCHING METHOD
- Scope : Researching in the process of teaching English at Thach Thanh 3
High school.
- Object: This subject is concerned with ways of practice activities in the
class.
- Researching method: Reading reference books , discussing with other
teachers of english, applying in teaching, observing and drawing out experiences
and searching on the Internet.
IV. CONTENT:
1. Some methods for teaching idioms effectively
a.Teaching idioms in contexts
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The role of context is central in language learning. It’s common that my students
don’t really understand the various meanings of new words in different contexts.
That’s why they don’t know how to apply the words they have learned
practically in various contexts. It’s fundamental for teachers to provide a rich
context for students’ language learning and practice. “For instance, linguistic
contextual information enhances adolescents’ interpretation of idioms (Nippold
& Martin, 1989). The contextual cues surrounding a particular word can help
readers get that’s meaning. In contrast, context-reduced language will be hard
for readers to tolerate (Brown, 2001)”[1]. Consequently, it’s more effective for
students to learn language in meaningful contexts than learn isolated words
through memorization and drilling.
I am sure that my students can understand the idiom below by guessing through
the context :
Linda: I’m sure your parents were worried when you were sick and when you

because lively pictures and images are entertaining, which helps them remember
longer and more clearly. It is efficient to provide interesting pictures to foster
and reinforce vocabulary development. As a result, pictures or visuals must be
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stimulating, interesting and motivating to students’ comprehension and retention
of idioms.
For example:

c. Teaching idioms with theme
We can include idioms in your normal lessons by introducing them
thematically. This is another good method to teach students idioms with desire
effect. When idioms are related to a topic, students will remember them easily
and will be familiar with the vocabulary they are using. When talking about
pets, for instance, you can introduce idioms such as “work like a dog” and
“dog tired” which are related to the topic and will give students something to
discuss. What makes idioms so interesting is that they are a unique
combination of words that have completely different meanings from the
individual words themselves.
For example: to express happiness, students often use normal words such as:
happy, glad, delighted… and it’s boring. It’s necessary to highlight and get more
fluency by using these suggested idioms:
1. Get a kick out of something = Enjoy doing smt every much
E.g: I get a kick out of podcasts
2 . Over the moon – to be extremely pleased or happy
E.g: I was over the moon when I passed my speaking test.
E.g: I have been over the moon ever since i got engaged
3. Like a dog with two tails
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aloud, they can write their own dialogue containing idioms when they are asked
to do. Moreover, the dialogues the students write function as basic
communication at all levels (Scott & Ytreberg, 2000). Nunan (2003) stressed
that role-plays are also excellent activities for learners’ speaking in the relatively
safe environment of the classroom before they must do so in a real environment
[2]. Therefore, dialogues offer students opportunities to act out and practice oral
skill before encountering the real world.
Dialogues and role-play are useful written and oral activities, so I assigned my
students in pairs to write one dialogue by using the English idioms introduced in
class and then act out the dialogue out in the following class. Dialogue writing
could motivate students to write without burden because of pair collaboration
and role-play activity could help them remember the dialogue they wrote
through repetitive practices. It was easier and more fun for them to remember
English idioms because they shared and enjoyed learning English idioms with
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friends. Thus, dialogue writing and role-play are useful and interesting activities
for students’ meaningful and efficient drills.
For example: Teacher asks students to work in pairs to write dialogues, each of
which contains one of 4 idioms they have learnt: long time no see, How long is
a piece of string?, to cut a long story short, a bunch of people
Here are some suggestions:
1. Binh: Hi Jill! I haven’t seen you for ages.
Jill: Yeah, long time no see! [I haven’t see you for a long time]
2. Nam: Hey, what happened to your plan to go on holiday with Hai?
Hoa: Oh, it’s a long story. I’ll tell you next time I see you. [It’s all complicated
and difficult to tell]
3. Bao: How long do we normally have to wait till they give us an answer?
Manh: (laughing) How long is a piece of string? It could be three days or three

_______________________________________

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4. feel blue

sentence:
_______________________________________
meaning:
_______________________________________

5. all ears
sentence:
_______________________________________
meaning:
_______________________________________

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2.2 idioms crossword puzzle

1
2

3
4

The US team did not win the World Cup, but they gave it their best _____.
You think Al should tell his boss that she’s wrong? Easier said than
_____!
4. The English teacher gave her students a useful ____ of thumb. She told
them not to repeat the same adjectives too many times in one essay.
6. You have an exam tomorrow morning? You’d better start hitting the ____!
7. Todd doesn’t like reading. It’s like ____ teeth to get him to read anything.
11. Julie was very upset when her landlord increased her rent by 25 percent.
Now she doesn’t know how she’ll make ends ____.
14. Eva loves to travel. She’s traveled all ____ the world.
15. Stop jumping up and down on the bed! If it breaks, it’ll be no laughing
________.
16. I wanted to buy The New York Times this morning, but by the time I got to
the store, they had already ____ out.
Down:
1. On a hot day like today, an iced tea is just what the ______ ordered!
2. We’ve only got two hours to finish this project. Let’s roll up our _____
and start working.
3. Pfi zer really wanted to Tanya to accept their job offer, so they agreed to
sweeten the ____.
5. If you studied your idioms, this crossword puzzle should be a ____ of cake.
8. Ted___ around the bush before telling his parents that he failed his test.
9. Mmmm, this chocolate cake is out of this _____!
10. Joe wants to join the army, but he hasn’t yet broken the ____ to his mom.
11. Oh, you’re fi nally home. That’s a load off my ____!
12. Frank, our best salesman, hasn’t made a sale all week. I’m afraid he’s lost
his _____!
13. Mark drove a hard ____ and got two T-shirts for the price of one.
17. Vivian is a night _____. She never goes to sleep before midnight.



E

E
B

O

O

K

O

A

S

P

U

L

N

E

P
L


N

U

R

L

S

D

C

G

D

B
M

C

A

A

T


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problem. I was so angry with him. My own brother – can you believe it?
Believe me, running a family business 3) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!
Anyway, the morning after uyou left, I was reading the paper when an
advert for a week in a country cottage 4) caught my eye. It sounded 5) right
up our street, so I mentioned it to Lionel and, after a lot of persuading, he
finally agreed that we both needed to 6) take things easy for a bit.
We’ve been here for five days now and I feel so much better. It’s right 7)
off the beaten track, so Lionel and I have had enough peace and quiet to
talk about the company’s problems and come up with some solutions. I’ll tell
you one thing – Terry is going to 8) come down to earth with a bump when
we get back!
Explaination:
1) down in the dumps: …………………………………………..
2) keeping us in the dark:………………………………………..
3) not be all it’s cracked up to be!:………………………………
4) caught my eye:…………………………………………………
5) right up our street:…………………………………………….
6) take things easy:……………………………………………….
7) off the beaten track:…………………………………………..
8) come down to earth with a bump:…………………………….
2.3.2.Match the items with the idioms
For example: Match the items with the idioms from Ex1 above
a. to relax
f. within one’s range of interests/
b. to keep sb unware of sth
knowledge
c. to be not as good as people say

home if it hadn’t been for Suzie dragging him home for dinner.
a. Bobby was just about to stop playing ball.
b. Bobby didn’t even want to play ball to begin with.
c. Bobby prefers nature to athletics.
d. Bobby would have continued playing ball for a long time.
3. Mr. Johnson was very particular about the arrangement of his
classroom, so the thing he hated most was when his students
caused a ruckus with their wild horseplay.
a. Mr. Johnson hated when his students pretended to be
animals.
b. Mr. Johnson hated when his students played sports.
c. Mr. Johnson hated when his students wrestled around with
each other.
d. Mr. Johnson hated when his students made animal noises.
4. Eric wanted to fix his cousin’s computer, but he was already
having problems setting up his Aunt’s Wi-Fi network and he
didn’t want to open a whole new can of worms.
a. Eric was sick of spending his time helping his family.
b. Eric wanted to go fishing instead of working on computers.
c. Eric was having difficulties untangling the computer wires.
d. Eric was not ready to begin working on a complicated new
problem.
5. Even though Candace already had a new job, she submitted
her two week notice and conducted herself in a professional
way at her old job because she didn’t want to burn bridges.
a. Candace didn’t want to ruin her positive relationship with her
old employer.
b. Candace wasn’t ready to start her new job.
c. Candace was really going to miss her old job.
d. Candace was waiting until her last day to rub it in everyone’s

likely to continue for a long time.
3C- It is referred to as such in areas where activities might upset the
environment
4D- to open a whole new can of worms is to begin working on a complicated
problem.
5A- to burn bridges is to ruin a relationship
6. B- a drop of a hat means that something is likely to occur very quickly
7D- “keeping a stiff upper lip” means that a person does not cry despite facing
emotional turmoil
8C- “knock someone socks off” is to impress them greatly with your efforts.
2.4 Questions and Answers
1. What's the meaning of, "We're in hot water"?
A. We're in trouble
B. We're in the sauna
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C. The water is too hot
D. The temperature is rising
2. What's the meaning of, "She gave him a dirty look"?
A. She feared him
B. She envied him
C. She looked at him angrily
D. She desired him
3. What's the meaning of, "It's in the bag"?
A. We got your back
B. We got it
C. It's actually in the bag
D. It will surely happen
4. What's the meaning of, "He gave me a leg up"?