Today we had the start of a MOOC for teaching idioms in a business class. The class didn't work because of technological issues, but it reminded me of this e-mail I received ages ago. So I looked it up and I found it!
I believe in the power of humor in a class, and I think that this is pretty funny. In fact I made a quick worksheet to use with my University students in a business English class in the hopes that they will crack a smile too. Though the class is teaching business English they are required to take the TOEFL to pass the course.
The
intent is to get them to tell me a word's definition and then read the
text. Hopefully they'll see that in the TOEFL they can't just guess what
a word means without reading the text.
The worksheet is pretty basic but can be downloaded for free at Teachers Pay Teachers.
because it really does use lots of idioms e.g. carry a tune in a bucket, drown my sorrows, left feet, etc. It is country (which I find tends to be a bit slower and easier to understand than other music genres). I know some people avoid country music because of the "twang" factor, but this one became pretty popular on the Bilboard charts, so it appealed to people other than country fans (like me).
