Body idioms

As a result of a complicated history, English has the most extensive vocabulary in the world. There are a myriad of different idioms and phrasal verbs which ESL students need to learn by heart. 

If this task is not approached skilfully,  the words can be a real pain in the neck!

How can you deal with that? Rote memorization rarely works, so we have to come up with some creative ideas to make this process more enjoyable for our students. All we have to do is to engage their brains in a meaningful practice that would help them to remember the material better and for a longer time. 

Here’s an example of how to create a meaningful personalized glossary of body-related idioms:

IDIOM	PICTURE/CARTOON	EXPLANATION & EXAMPLES
To be all ears		To listen to somebody carefully
To be all fingers and thumbs		Mieć dwie lewe ręce Can you thread this needle for me? I’m all thumbs today. When I get nervous I’m all fingers and thumbs.
To be all skin and bones		To be very thin e.g. I am no longer all skin and bones.
To bite one’s tongue		Ugryźć się w język I bit my tongue when she asked me about my sister’s boyfriend.
To give someone a piece of one’s mind		To speak angrily to someone because they have done something wrong e.g. My mother gave my sister a piece of her mind when she got home late.
To make one’s blood boil		It makes my blood boil to see people acting against themselves!

What do you think about it? 

Funny pictures or cartoons, found online or drawn by the students themselves, can enhance their memory. Similar effect might be achieved if the students provide their own examples of sentences with the use of assigned words. In fact, any activities which allow to process new information in a non-standard way (the funnier the better) help us to retain it for a longer time.

Here are activities you might like to use with your ESL students:

I.                    Complete the sentences with the idioms from the picture.

1. Just thinking about my new date makes me feel ______________.
2. She’s always annoying. A real ________________!
3. If you could do the cooking, it would be a great _________________.
4. Maths is my _____________. I’m not good at it.
5. I have ________ that this is a perfect match for our team.
6. These two are _____________. They are always together.
7. She took some extra classes to have a __________ in her career.
8. I’m sure hungry. This meal is a ___________________!
9. I know that the first days at school are difficult. Don’t worry you will _________ at school soon.
10. I cannot do anything about this situation. My ____________________.

KEY: 1. weak at the knees; 2. pain in the neck; 3. weight off my shoulders; 4. Achilles heel; 5. gut feeling; 6. joined at the hip; 7. head start; 8. sight for sore eyes; 9. find your feet; 10. hands are tied.

II.                  Match phrasal verbs with the pictures, then write your own sentences with these phrasal verbs.

To get over something

To come/go down with something

To put on an amount of something