Warm-up
In this lesson, your tutor will help you go over this topic: 10 common idioms. First, go over the following vocabulary and expressions with your tutor. Read the word/expression and definition out loud, and your tutor will go over anything you do not understand. Practice creating a sentence or two to make sure you know how to use the word/expression properly.
Vocabulary/ Expressions
| a piece of cake | something is very easy to complete The Science test was a piece of cake. |
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| costs an arm and a leg | something is very expensive Buying a Porsche costs an arm and a leg. |
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| break a leg | good luck Break a leg at your job interview today. |
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| it’s raining cats and dogs | it’s raining a lot; very heavily Wow! It’s raining cats and dogs now. |
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| hit the nail on the head | doing or saying something that is 100% correct You hit the nail on the head when you said designer clothes are expensive. |
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| when pigs fly | something that will never happen He will get married when pigs fly. |
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| you can’t judge a book by its cover | you can’t know what someone or something is like by only looking at the person’s or thing’s appearance
The book doesn’t look interesting, but you can’t judge a book by its cover. |
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| bite off more than you can chew | to try to do something that is too difficult for you She may bite off more than she can chew by taking 5 classes this semester. |
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| scratch someone’s back | used to tell someone that if they help you, you will help them If you scratch my back today, I will help you in the future. |
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| hit the books | to study I have a Math test tomorrow so I need to hit the books now. |
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Conversation
Use the following questions as a guideline to form an interesting conversation with your tutor. Feel free to diverge from these suggestions if anything interesting comes up.
- Are idioms used in your language? If so, can you give me an example of one?
- Why is it important to learn idioms?
- Do you know other English idioms? If so, tell me them.
- Why are idioms difficult to learn?
- Do you “see red” when learning idioms?
- Do you like to learn idioms? Why or why not?
- Do you think some English learners can learn idioms easier than other learners? Why or why not?
- Why do you think idioms are used in movies and TV programs?
- Do you practice learning idioms? Why or why not?
- Pick 3 of the idioms in this lesson and use them in a sentence.
Wrap-up
Go over any new expressions or vocabulary that you learned today.
