How Idioms Can Trip You Up When Learning ESL

Every language has its share of idioms or special dialects that can challenge you when first learning but ESL students can really get confused if they travel extensively throughout the United States and Canada because different areas have their own special way of talking that is different from the rest of the country! So what can you do about it?

Like everything else there is plenty of information on the internet about just this sort of thing. And, in fact you can even find translations of idioms from English to say Chinese or Punjabi so that you can know exactly what is meant. It’s actually funny when you think about things that we say every day that if you translate it literally into another language it would be a totally different topic many times….for instance if you say one of the following, your ESL student might have difficulty understanding the meaning:

Put it on the back burner – this might be said often in business but the reality is there is no stove in sight so it makes no sense. It means to do something later.

I’ve got to fly! This person has no intention of flying, they just mean that they must go, because they are in a hurry.

As you can see, some of these phrases that we use every day would really confuse an ESL student because most of the time, the words have little connection to what is really meant by the comment. It is therefore important for ESL students to ensure that they get some additional schooling in these idiomatic words or phrases that might trip them up and cause embarrassment unnecessarily.

Introduce these common idioms to your students.

We suggest that you cut and separate the idiom and the meaning. Give the idioms to one half of the class and the meanings and examples to the others. Have the first group circulate among the group with the meanings to find the meaning for their idiom. When they think they have finished have each pair report to the class. There’ll be a lot of laughter and funny mistakes. You can find many more idioms on the Internet.

Idiom: loosen up

Meaning: to become more relaxed.

Example: The students couldn’t loosen up during the exam.

Idiom: be behind the times

Meaning: to be old fashioned and not know much about modern life.

Example:  I’ve never heard of those music groups. I guess I’m a bit behind the times.

Idiom: live with (something)

Meaning: to put up with something or to endure something

Example: I can’t live with that, please change it.

Idiom: on the fast track

Meaning: doing something sooner or more quickly than usual

Example: Let’s put this project on the fast track.

Idiom: devil of a job

Meaning: a very difficult task

Example: It was a devil of a job to finish that project on time.

Idiom: the nitty-gritty

Meaning: the most important part of something

Example: We were successful when we got down to the nitty-gritty.

Idiom: make an appointment

Meaning: to decide on a time to meet someone

Example: She made an appointment for 10:00 o’clock in the morning.

Idiom: blood, sweat and tears

Meaning: a lot of effort and suffering

Example: It took a lot of blood sweat and tears to finish the job.

See Also:

ESL Curriculum

Interactive Listening Programs and Your Accent