Food related idioms in teaching english vocabulary

ETYMOLOGY STORY

A fun thing to do- even for native English speakers-is to explore the origins(etymology) of an idiom.Hearing stories of how an expression came about is often fascinating. You are welcome to do that with your class.Alternately,students can come up with stories on their own.

Give each student(or a pair of students) their own idiom,both the phrasing and the definition.Ask the students to consider the phrase literally, then imagine the results, emotions, or other implications that might arise from that literal situationThe idiom
(as it is used now) should come from applying one of those implications in a different (non- literal)context.
Whatever ideas the students develop should now be expanded into a short story.Have them write down a fictional circumstance in which the literal expression was applied.The story then continues on to a new context that somehow reminds the characters of the earlier circumstance.Then one of the characters would thereafter be used in similar situations, no matter the context.
It is up to you how silly you allow the stories to get.Once everyone is finished,have them read their stories to the rest of the class.At the end,test their knowledge(and
remind them of the stories,if they need help).
To sum up, it is vital for EFL(English foreign language)learners to learn English idioms in order to master English,it is also important for EFL teachers to design various activities for students to use with English idioms and subsequently acquire them efficiently.Moreover,students learn better when they are provided with collaborative activities because they can interact with peers and share fun in learning.Finally,when teachers integrate listening,speaking,reading and writing activities together in teaching English idioms in four skills.Thus,it is effective to teach EFL learners English idiom when they are provided with various activities to practice and utilize English idioms in different contexts.

REFERENCES


[1] Asl.F.M.(2013).The impact of context on learning idioms in EFL classes
TESOL Journal,37(1)15
[2] Beth Nicholas(2014).How food idioms enhance language and understanding Language and writing Journal.48

[3]Cooper,T.C.(1999).Processing of idioms by L2 learners of English.TESOL Quarterly,33(1),233-262

[4]Irujo.S.(1986)A piece of cake:/Learning and Teaching idioms,ELT journal 40(3),287-326

[5]Kate Woodford(2019)Pieces of cake and sour grapes:food idioms.Language learning journal,45

[6]Makkai,A.(1972),Idiom structure in English.The Hague,Netherlands:Mouton journal,78

Http://a4es/.org/q/h/id-lb-food.html.

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idioms.Retrieved:18/10/2008.