"Hit the road Jack!"

Today you'll learn some new idioms connected with travelling.

Don't miss the boat and try to remember as many as you can. Good luck and have fun!

idiom	meaning and example
backseat driver	A person who offers unsolicited or unwelcome advice. My brother is such a backseat driver. I hate traveling with him.
hit the road	To begin traveling; to leave a place; to go away. It's time for me to hit the road; it is getting late.
fifth wheel	Anything superfluous or unnecessary. I felt like a fifth wheel when they started looking at each other affectionately.
in the same boat	In the same situation; having the same problems. A: Can you lend me 100 dollars? B: Sorry, I am broke. I am in the same boat.
paddle one's own canoe	To act independently and decide your own fate; to do something by oneself. He's been left to paddle his own canoe when he started his business.

Food idioms - a piece of cake!

Idioms, idioms, idioms… Most of the time they are so weird looking and sounding that it’s almost impossible to remember what they mean. Take for instance the titular ‘a piece of cake’. I mean, really? How to combine the meaning with the form in a reasonable way? It’s challenging indeed, but you have to agree here that it sounds extremely sophisticated when an idiomatic expression is popped up every now and then in a conversation. Let’s show our students then that amusing visual aids may help a bit in memorizing idioms!

Following is the table with idiomatic expressions as well as three exercises practising their usage in context!

Sporty idioms

Hello!
Since Ania's idea of presenting idioms was a full success and all of us enjoyed it, now it's time for somebody else to continue. I hope you have fun!

If you want to know where the idioms come from look for the sport disciplines in brackets.

the ball is in your court (tennis)	You need to answer or react		-What should I do now? * I don’t know, the ball is in your court.
blow the competition away (any sport)	win easily		If you do your best, you will blow the competition away.
get a head start (horse racing)	start earlier than the others/ have advantage over somebody		If you want to avoid traffic jams, leave at 3 o’clock – you will get a head start.

Saturday - a perfect day for revision

Everybody knows that learning a language without revising is not a good idea. Since we want your students to remember what they have learned, we have prepared some extra exercises. Ask them to do the tasks without any help. If they really don't remember some words or phrases they can always check the answer in the sections given in brackets.
Have fun and remember: revision done on Saturday means a free Sunday!:)

I.   Let's start with something easy. Fill in the gaps: (taken from: "Health-vocabulary")

1. sore ...................
2. .............. dizzy
3. come ........ with a cold
4. ................. a patient (badać)
5. ................ /............ your temperature (zmierzyć)
6. be allergic............ something
7. have a ............ ankle (skręcona)
8. suffer .............. something
9. heart ................. (zawał)
10. ............ nose (katar)

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.