Today’s post is about food idioms. It focuses on materials you can use in the classroom for some of the common food idioms that we use in the United States. It is structured to be used in combination with the food idioms post on the English Language blog (http://eslblogs.waketech.edu/esl-english/)which has information and practice for students! Use them together and save lesson planning time! Scroll to the bottom of the page to find quizzes.
Lesson Plans
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/lessons/learning-idioms-in-esl/ This lesson plan is not specific to just food idioms, but you can follow it and use the idioms of your choice.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/dailylp/dailylp/dailylp064.shtml
Video #1
Butter someone up – be extra nice to get someone to do something
Take it with a (pinch) of sale – be careful, don’t believe everything you are hearing
A piece of cake – easy
Go pear shaped — get fat
Not my cup of tea – something you don’t like
Video #2
Take the cake – be #1
A bag egg – be a bad person
A big cheese – a leader or important person
Bread and butter – basic necessities
Cool as a cucumber – to be calm and relaxed
Cup of tea – enjoy it, like something
A hard nut to crack – to be difficult to understand or figure out
Out to lunch – be crazy or mad
Apple of my eye – someone you like very much
Couch potato – lazy person
A piece of cake – easy
Spill the beans – reveal a secret
Take something with a grain of salt – believe only part of something
Have a bun in the oven – to be pregnant
To butter someone up – be extra nice to someone for personal benefit
One smart cookie – very intelligent
List of even more idioms in chart form: https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/idioms-food.htm
Quiz about food idioms: https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/idioms-food-quiz.htm
Practice using idioms: http://a4esl.org/q/h/id-lb-food.html Students read the sentence and select the correct word/idiom from the drop down box.