Putting things into context will help students understand/use idioms more easily.
Idioms are not everything, often Malaysian teachers try too hard to get their students use them. Personally, I feel like we shouldn’t push them into memorising all the fancy phrases, but focus more on discussing when to use them best and how they help to beautify their writing.
FAMILY |
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| 1. Blood is thicker than water
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Family ties are always stronger than other relationships *Blood is thicker than water and he chose to forgive his brother after the fight. |
| 2. It runs in the family
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[for a characteristic] to appear in many (or all) members of a family. *Julie is tall. Her siblings are all tall. It runs in the family. |
FRIENDSHIP |
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| 1. A friend in need is a friend indeed
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A friend who helps you when you need is a true friend. *I know that a friend in need is a friend indeed. So, I always help Bryan when he is having problems. |
| 2. Birds of a feather flock together
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People who are similar often become close or friends.
*The three girls always hangout together and share similar interests. No wonder they are such good friends as birds of a feather flock together. |
| 3. You can’t judge a book by its cover
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You cannot judge something by how it looks on the outside.
*The old man looked very poor but he actually had three houses. You can’t judge a book by its cover. |
| 4. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you
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Treat other people the way that you would want them to treat you *Don’t hurt the feelings of your classmates. Always remember, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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WORK |
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| 1. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
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It is not healthy to spend all of your time working and never spend time relaxing or playing
*We should know that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. While preparing for out PT3, we should find time to relax.
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| 2. Better late than never
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It is better to do something late than to not do it at all *Although there are only three weeks left until PT3, we still need to try our best to catch up with what we do not know. It is better late than never.
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| 3. Kill two birds with one stone
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To complete two tasks/goals with one action *We will kill two birds with one stone during our trip to Kuching. We will buy some new furniture for our new home and meet up with our childhood friend Philip for a reunion dinner before we head back to Sibu.
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| 4. Two heads are better than one
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Two people working together can get better results than one person working alone. *Two heads are better than one, when they decided to team up to complete the puzzle together, they finished it within half an hour. |
Check out also: 11 idioms to describe feelings
Happy Learning, Happy Teaching
