One of the skills I teach in my listening class at the low beginner level is how to recognize and interpret idioms. It is also a good opportunity to review clarification questions which the students learned at the beginning of the course. For example: “I’ve got a lot on my plate!” – “What exactly do you mean?”
It is always helpful to introduce idioms related to a topic – for example, “food” idioms. I particularly like to use two YouTube videos made by “English Anyone” where “food” idioms are defined and illustrated with pictures and examples.
- I show one the two videos at the end of the class (it contains 8 of them).
- The next 8 idioms are homework.
- During the next class I show the list of all 16 definitions on the screen.
- Students review the idioms in pairs reading the definitions to each other, saying the idioms and sentences with them.
