Learning Idioms and Expressions

Learning idioms and expressions, which may comprise them means that the student should take a constructive approach especially if he wants to incorporate them in his daily speech. I suggest that the student categorize the idioms into groups where he can associate the group of words to a particular activity. If he can think of the literal and figurative sense of phrasal verbs that may be there, that would also help. The worst thing he could do would be to expect an equivalent of the idiom in his native language. Still it is quite difficult for the new speaker not to unconsciously look for some kind of equivalent.

So if the person is going to socialize, I would have him think of what ways people socialize and then try to attach that expression to the situation. Socializing could be in the form of having a house party and in fact there is an expression incorporating the word, house in hose-warming party. The complete expression is “to give a house warming party” and that would be an occasion where someone wants to celebrate the purchase of a house. He would do that by inviting people over to see it and celebrate the occasion. Visitors would most likely give gifts to the new house owner in the form of something that could go with the house, like a knick-knack or vase.

Another expression, which has nothing o do with an occasion may be to describe the behavior of somebody, like saying the person, is, “a chip off the old block”. That would mean that he is like his dad or mom. In that case it is difficult to see the connection between block and person and it is there that the teacher has to intervene and use his imagination to suggest a means of learning the new expression. I have suggested that the learner try to see the person as having a block for his head and that the chip could be seen as material derived from the parent piece much as one inherits his genes from a parent.