There are two variants of a single activity that can be taken up in a class: First, students can be asked to interpret a passage full of idioms. Second, they can be given a list of idioms and told to use them in a paragraph of their own.
Let’s construct a small paragraph using some common idioms of colors (the idiomatic expression is italicized and the meaning is mentioned in the bracket following the expression):
When I learned that even in this global meltdown his accounts are in the black (not showing financial losses), and he is in the pink (in good health), I was green with envy (very jealous). It made me wonder why I was in the red (in debt). I raked my gray matter (intelligence, brain). The answer lay in the fact that last month out of the blue (all of a sudden, seemingly from nowhere), two of my installment cheeks were cleared in the same month. The matter got worse when I received a pink slip (termination notice). My car seems like a white elephant (unnecessary burden, useless object) to me. I don’t know how to white wash the matter (cover up) in front of my wife. These installments are going to give me a lot of gray hair (stress). My father already calls me the black sheep ( a person who is a disgrace) in the family.
Idioms using body parts, Idioms about money, Idioms using water, Idioms using names of animals, and Idioms regarding food are some suggested headings. Inputs have been taken from www.myuniversalfacts.com.
Learning is fun and colorful!!
