tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post2875311823417486707..comments2024-02-28T05:25:12.859-05:00Comments on English, Jack: Idioms: Where's the cutoff?Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02870575277556244419noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-70518228019320397672007-11-15T14:49:00.000-05:002007-11-15T14:49:00.000-05:00Oh dear...Oh dear...Farawayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18398906248989001269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-91896583004037549422007-11-15T11:40:00.000-05:002007-11-15T11:40:00.000-05:00I'm not aware of any source that gives reliable fr...I'm not aware of any source that gives reliable frequency numbers. What I can tell you is that there are basically no idioms that are worth teaching.Bretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02870575277556244419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-1176972545797973812007-11-13T01:22:00.000-05:002007-11-13T01:22:00.000-05:00At last!Greetings from Moscow!I stumbled upon your...At last!<BR/>Greetings from Moscow!<BR/>I stumbled upon your blog by googling'idiom frequency', a puzzle<BR/>I'd like to solve both as a teacher and learner of English. Is there a reliable source which presents idioms according to their order of frequency? How well, in fact, has this aspect of their usage been explored so far?<BR/>If I have to teach idioms (which,not being a native speaker, I don't tend to use much myself), I'd like to teach 'first things first', as our 'english learning time' is clearly limited.<BR/>Thank you in advance and<BR/>best of luck with your life and teaching,<BR/>ElenaFarawayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18398906248989001269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-66547020761318066482007-07-17T16:49:00.000-05:002007-07-17T16:49:00.000-05:00I agree. The only time I teach idioms is when they...I agree. The only time I teach idioms is when they come up. In my case the idioms usually are discovered by the students themselves, especially in project work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-79334759757615655862007-07-16T18:34:00.000-05:002007-07-16T18:34:00.000-05:00It seems there's an issue of making the class more...It seems there's an issue of making the class more interesting. Idioms add an extra aspect that's a bit more fun than rote vocabulary and grammar.<BR/><BR/>That said, though, I imagine that you could cut down the idioms quite a bit and still handle things. The only thing I would think would be to only cover specific idioms when they come up in discussions or class texts -- which is infrequent.GAChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11756535843412579846noreply@blogger.com