Idiom Drills — английские идиомы: диалоги, упражнения, тексты

For Students Of English As A Second Language. George P. Mccallum. English Department International Institute In Spain. Thomas Y. Crowell. Harper Sc Row, Publishers. New York Hagerstown San Francisco London

Preface

This series of idiom exercises is designed to help foreign students of English master 180 useful everyday idioms. It is divided into six units, with five individual lessons in each unit. At the end of each unit is a short reading, which incorporates all thirty of the idioms studied in that unit.

The idioms included in this collection were selected on the basis of frequency of usage, although this by no means indicates that these are the 180 most-used idioms in American English. A conscious effort was made, however, to employ only those expressions currently used generally throughout the United States and to exclude regional expressions and slang.

Each lesson contains six new idioms, with brief definitions and illustrations. These idioms are drilled by means of a short dialogue, substitution drills, and simple homework exercises. Most of the dialogues are written so that male and female students may take either role.

These are purposely short lessons; they are meant to be supplements, a brief rest from the regular lessons. Approximately fifteen minutes of classroom time each day should be spent in going over a new lesson. The following day, before taking up the next lesson, the instructor might spend a few minutes reviewing the previous day's homework. They are primarily oral exercises.

The lessons are not aimed at any particular level, although it is believed they will be especially useful to students at the intermediate and advanced levels.

Taking twenty minutes a day, a class should be able to complete this series of drills in a six-week intensive course. A teacher may find that with certain classes it is advisable to use these drills less frequently; the time involved with other basic materials should dictate this.

The reading at the end of each unit is designed as a homework assignment, being a review of the idioms studied in that unit. The questions at the end of each reading may be answered as written homework or can be the basis of a class discussion on the reading.

Special thanks for their helpful suggestions are due John A. Floyd, Director of the ELS Language Center, Washington, D.C., where these drills were tested over a year's time, and the following instructors: Jeanne Birnbaum, Irene Dutra, Dorothea Erenreich, William Goble, Richard Sackett, Anabelle Scoon, Ray Valdivia, John Washburn and Leonard Weiss.

G. P. M.

Содержание

Drill 1

Drill 2

Drill 3

Drill 4

Drill 5