Word
consciousness
Benchmarks
- ability to interpret literal and figurative meanings of idioms
- ability to research origins of idioms
Grade
level
- Kindergarten and above
Grouping
- whole class
- small group or pairs
Materials
- small plastic toy horses
- drawing paper
- crayons or markers
- dictionaries
Animal
idioms
An idiom is a phrase or expression in which the entire
meaning is different from the usual meanings of the individual words within it.
Idioms are fun to work with because they are part of everyday vocabulary.
Students enjoy working with figurative meanings, as well as imagining possible
literal meanings for the expressions. They also enjoy finding out about the
origins of idiomatic expressions, some of which are very old. Introducing
idioms by topic can make them easier for students to remember. This sample
lesson model focuses on introducing idioms that make use of animals or animal
comparisons.
Explanation
Tell students that an idiom is an expression that cannot be
fully understood by the meanings of the individual words that are contained
within it. The meaning of the whole idiom has little, often nothing, to do with
the meanings of the words taken one by one. Point out to students that idioms
are often used in writing or speech to make expression more colorful and that
some of the most colorful English idioms make use of animals or animal
comparisons. Explain that many idioms have interesting origins that may not
make literal sense to us today, but made perfectly good sense during the times
in which they were coined.
Tell students that the expression "to hold your
horses" is an idiom. Demonstrate its literal meaning by holding a bunch of
small plastic toy horses in your hand. Tell students that when someone tells
you "to hold your horses" it would be silly to think that they wanted
you to hold a bunch of horses in your hand. The whole expression "to hold
your horses" actually means "to slow down, wait a minute, or be more
patient." For example, if you were impatiently waiting for your sister to
get off the phone, your sister might say to you, "Hold your horses. I'll
be off the phone in a minute!"
Tell students that "to be raining cats and dogs"
is another idiom. Ask students whether, if someone said it's "raining cats
and dogs," they would expect to look up and see animals falling from the
sky. Then explain to them that "raining cats and dogs" is used to
describe when it's raining really heavily or really hard. Ask volunteers to
describe a time they remember when it was "raining cats and dogs."
Ask students to draw pictures of the literal meaning of
either "to hold your horses" or "to be raining cats and
dogs." Then have them take turns showing their illustration and using the
idiom correctly in a context sentence.
Collaborative
practice
Tell students that they are going to work together in groups
to make a drawing of an animal idiom's literal meaning and then act out its
real, or figurative, meaning. They will see if the drawings and skits they make
provide enough information for their classmates to figure out what the idiom
really means. To begin, select a group of three students to demonstrate the
activity. Tell this group that their idiom is "to let the cat out of the
bag" and that this idiom means "to give away a secret."
Divide the group tasks as follows: One student will draw the
idiom the way it would look if it meant literally what it said: by drawing a
sketch of a cat leaping out of a paper bag. This student labels the drawing
with the idiom, "to let the cat out of the bag." The other two
students develop a brief skit about the figurative meaning of the idiom:
"to give away a secret." For example, they could develop a simple
scene where someone finds out about a surprise birthday party, because a
brother or sister gives it away beforehand. The last line could be: "You
let the cat out of the bag."
When the group is finished, have them show the idiom's
literal meaning in the drawing, and then act out its figurative meaning in the
skit. Have the group challenge their classmates to guess the idiom's
figurative, or intended, meaning and then correctly use the idiom in a
sentence: Nancy let the cat out of the bag when she told Nick about the
surprise birthday party. When the whole class has understood how this activity
works, assign a different animal idiom, with its figurative meaning, to other
groups of students. Each group then works out its plan for making the drawing
and acting out the skit. Have the groups take turns demonstrating their idioms
to the class, so the class can guess the idiom's figurative meaning and use it
in a sentence.
Animal
idioms
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English-language
learner: Learning about idioms can be
particularly helpful for ELLs because the gap between the literal meaning of
individual words and the intended meaning of the expression often causes
trouble in translation.
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