Animal Idioms and “as ____ as a ____” Phrases

So, I have been working with my students on idioms, because I have realized just how many I use in my everyday speech that they ask me about.  It’s a good subject to teach, because it helps with fluency and although it is definitely a more “academic” set of lessons than, say, vocabulary, the kids find them funny and so it doesn’t feel as “serious” to them as, say, a discussion of gerunds.

I chose to focus on animal-based idioms, since I work with mostly 5th and 6th graders, with some 7th or 8th graders on rare occasion.  It appeals more to their sensibilities, and since they cover animals several times in their textbooks, I know that they have a good enough vocabulary in that lesson for it to work without me having to teach the vocab that goes along with it.

 

As for the lesson itself, here’s how I do it:

• First I introduce the concept of idioms.  To make it funny, I try to come up with a sentence beforehand that I can say that is as chock-full of idioms as I can.  I explain that while to them it may sound like gibberish, to a native speaker, it is completely understandable.  I explain their importance in the language, and why they should learn some.

• I go over some animal-based idioms, such as “raining cats and dogs”, “like a bull in a china shop”, “smell a rat”, etc.  Don’t do this for too long, or you will lose their attention.  I try to do a lot of eliciting at this point, to keep their attention and to give them some agency in what they’re learning, and to show them that they know more than they think they do.

• After that, I write “As _______ as a _____.” up on the board.  I go over some common idioms that use this structure.  ”As stubborn as a mule.”, “As strong as an ox.”, “As fierce as a tiger.”, etc.  Give them enough to get the idea, but few enough that again, you don’t lose them or take away too much material from the next step.

• After giving those examples, I write a list of animals on the board.  I tell the students to think about the traits of the animals, and come up with their own idioms that use that structure.

• I give them about 10 minutes for this, and encourage them to use their dictionaries (so that there is variety).  When they are finished, I say the name of one of the animals in the list, and ask the students what they wrote down, and ask them to use it as a whole phrase.

• If there is time left over, I do the reverse, but verbally, so the students can be more relaxed than they are when I ask them to write.  I say the names of traits (fast, wise, spotted, etc) and then ask them to think of animals that could work for the first half of the idiom.

 

Below the cut are some of the idioms you might use as examples for the “as ___ as a ___” samples, as well as a list of animals that work well for the creative parts of the lesson, and some links to lists of idioms:

Lesson Planning and an Animals/Countries Lesson

So, since my schedule is on a bi-weekly rotation, except for Mondays and Fridays, I have found myself really having to keep close track of when it’s time to make a new lesson plan, and I’ve been writing in my planner which schools I have used which lessons at, so that I make sure not to repeat something. It doesn’t sound that hard, but trust me, it is. When you throw in school holidays, etc, it’s even more difficult, as I may have done the lesson with all but one school, and I won’t get back to it for another two weeks, if I miss a day at that school. So, if schools 1-6 have done lesson A and are now on lesson B, but I didn’t go to school 7 one week, for the next two weeks I will be teaching lesson B, but then for one day in the second of the two weeks, I will be teaching lesson A again. It’s really quite confusing.

Tomorrow I’m doing a lesson with my Jindo students (it may be my last with them, actually!) on animals and countries. My students can name both countries and animals until they turn blue, but if you ask them to point to said country on a map, they are totally lost. Same thing with placing animals in a given country. I did a variation on this lesson way back at the beginning of the year, and at one point one student pointed at Canada when I asked them to point to France (and I said “Well, not anymore…” to myself under my breath ), and another, when asked where kangaroos lived, pointed at Russia. So, here’s my basic lesson write-up:

Animal/Country Matching

Discuss animals with students. Use pictures.
 

Discuss some basic countries with students. Use map, preferably on the computer/tv/overhead so they can more easily see, but it’s not completely necessary.
 

Name animals and ask students to name what countries the animals are found in.
 

Name countries and ask students to name some animals that are or might be found in that country.

This lesson is easiest if the list of animals is mostly made up of distinctive animals like penguins, kangaroos, lions, giraffes, etc. Other animals like sheep, wolves, and tigers, which aren’t found everywhere but are found in a few countries, are good to have, as it allows the students to be a little more general, and causes them to think about the environments that those countries have as well, but it can also be too vague, and in my experience, the students tend to prefer questions with one right answer, rather than several.

I stole the basic idea of this lesson (animals/countries) from one of the other teachers here on the island, but have changed it a bit, since it was originally conceived for elementary students.