Presentation

Hello. We are students of the University of Seville.
Each week, we will publish articles in this blog about English idioms.

The main aim of our blog is to enrich your English through various ways.
Here is our presentation:

- Jolien Ameeuw, student from Belgium

I´m a student of the University of Ghent, Belgium, where I study Applied Linguistics, Spanish and English. I have been studying quite a few languages, but English has always been one of my favorite ones. That is because it is a popular and important language, but most of all it is an interesting and rich language. Through this blog I want to share my love for the English language with you. 

- Mario Ilicic, student from Croatia.

Doing an Erasmus student exchange was one of the goals I wanted to achieve when I started attending the courses of English language and literature and Pedagogy at the University of Osijek, Croatia. I was always interested in the richness of languages so it is no wonder that I chose to go to Erasmus, which provides me with the opportunity to learn a new language. I chose to go to Spain because I have never been here, until now of course, and because I wanted to learn a bit of Spanish, travel, and experience new things in my life, and visit Barcelona of course :D. In addition, I opted for writing this blog about idioms, because, having almost half a million words, English language never ceases to amaze me. Even after studying it for more than 15 years I stumble upon new words, phrases and idioms every day. That encourages me to explore it every day. By posting on this blog, I will try to cover the most common English idioms and phrases for you to read and enrich your knowledge of English language.

- Brahim Ghoul, student from France

I am from Lille, a northern French city between Brussels, London, and Paris. Before coming to Seville to learn the Spanish language, I was studying business in English and Spanish for two years. I've been studying English for years and I'm still surprised about the richness of this language. You can't know all the idioms by heart but you can train your ears and eyes to learn as many idiomatic words and expressions as you can. So, that is why idioms are an excellent way of improving your English and this is why I think it is a good subject to develop. 

- Lucia Parra, student from Spain

Since I was young, I have always loved the cultures of the world, so I started studying languages to became involved with them. I have traveled to some English-speaking countries, and I will visit French-speaking and German-speaking to improve my knowledge of the language. But before, I have started English Philology. The course of New Technologies have inspired us to create this Blog with the theme we wanted (in this case, idioms!)
And I hope you like the blog as much as me :D

- Ana Ponferrada, student from Spain
To be continued...

Quiz

Dear learners,

Since now is the end of the semester, it would be appropriate to start studying, so here is an exercise
to revise your knowledge and possibly learn something new.

http://a4esl.org/q/h/9801/lk-idiomsp.html

Good luck!

A dictionary of idioms

The idiom dictionary is compiled from the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms and the Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. The Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms explains over 7,000 idioms current in British, American and Australian English, helping learners to understand them and use them with confidence. 

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms, based on the 200 million words of American English text in the Cambridge International Corpus, unlocks the meaning of more than 5,000 idiomatic phrases used in contemporary American English. Full-sentence examples show how idioms are really used.

So here you have the link: Idioms, the free dictionary
We hope this dictionary could help you to learn new idioms!

Eye on idioms.

American idioms and slang are a huge part of American culture. While formal writing or speech does not include as many idioms or slang words, even there these words and phrases can creep in and confuse meaning for those not familiar with them.

Here, there is a link that would be interesting to you to learn some idioms and understand their metaphorical meanings.

ReadWrite Think: Eye on Idioms!

Idioms in a video

Hello dear learners of English language,

Reading about all the idioms and trying to remember them can be a tiring and long process, so for today, we have prepared something different. It is a video of idioms used on daily basis in English
speaking countries.
It is a fun and interesting way to learn idioms, since the combination of a video and a story will help
you remember the idioms easily.

Enjoy!

Have fun with idioms

If you are a language learner, you either have to be with it or you aren't going to win it, in today's English speaking world! Teaching idioms is fun! Knowing how to use idioms add flair to your conversations, to entertain to your audience. In this video idioms lesson, Manoj from SinglishtoEnglish.com is going to give you a quick overview about idioms and meanings with some examples thrown in.

Read the great description that Manoj makes of idioms! (here you have the outline):

The word 'idiom' is of Greek origin and means 'one of a kind'. It cannot be taken literally and usually means something quite different. If you call someone a "dark horse" it does not mean the person is a dark coloured horse. It means this person is likely to surprise us by rising above expectations. Or to use another idiom, there is 'more to him than meets the eye'! Idioms often don't seem to have any connection to what is being put into words. For those who are learning to speak and write the English language, understanding and using idioms can be difficult. More so, as English speakers often mistakenly assume their listeners know idioms and use them in their conversations. 

Why would you use idioms?
When we try to explain something difficult, idioms help us emphasize our feelings or explain situations better - than using plain words. You could say you are 'climbing up the wall' trying to work with idioms! 

Where do idioms come from?
Idioms often come from language peculiar to a particular trade, profession or even sports. A 'dark horse' is one of the racing idioms, to mean a horse that wins a race unexpectedly. How about using another idiom in racing: winning 'against all odds'. The meaning of against all odds is to make something happen, despite the chances of it happening being low. 

Will you know it if you hear it?
You will - when someone uses strange sounding phrases or words to explain something. An idiom does not make literal sense. You could say it sounds, 'All Greek to me', meaning that you don't understand it at all.

When do you use idioms?
Only when you are sure of their meanings and can comfortably use them in your speech to 'drive home' certain points, to emphasize what you are saying. Be careful though, as some idioms may seem to mean the same thing but actually have different meanings. 'Climbing up the wall' and 'drive someone up the wall' sound similar but don't actually mean the same thing. 'Climbing up the wall' is used to describe feeling extremely frustrated. When you 'drive someone up the wall' it means annoying the person. 

Is it a good thing to learn idioms?Yes, it is good thing to learn idioms even though it is not 'easy as pie' (very easy) but, once you know them they can be the icing on the cake when making a speech or writing an essay.

What is the best way to learn idioms?
Read, watch and listen! Reading English books, watching English programmes and listening to English speakers is the 'answer to your idiomatic prayers'! Being exposed to the English language in all its forms will help understand idioms better. Just as Rome was not built in a day, it will take time and an abiding interest to learn idioms. 

Idioms exercise

Hello everyone.

Here is another exercise in which your can revise your knowledge of some of the exercises that we posted so far

Good luck!

http://uk3.hotpotatoes.net/ex/130923/FNNWZGIU.php

JCross!

Here you have an HotPotatoes exercise with some idioms that we shared with you in our blog, improve your knowledge!
http://uk3.hotpotatoes.net/ex/130829/NEFKKHMS.php

Is Anyone Hungry?

Holidays are closely coming to an end, and unfortunately the delicious food that we prepared for the holidays is probably also running out of stock. But let us take this opportunity to teach you some food idioms and enrich your English language knowledge. Bon Apetit!

1. Too many cooks spoil the broth

Having too many people working on the same thing may actually be bad

2. Spoon-feed someone

To spoon-feed someone means to help someone in ways that are more than what is needed. Spoon-feeding someone is helping a person way too much.

3. To put all one’s eggs in one basket

To place all of one’s resources like money in one place or in one kind of investment. This idiom can also mean to risk one’s resources by putting them all together.

4. Have One's Finger in Too Many Pies

It means to be involved in too many things that you cannot do any of them well

5. Rub salt into (someone's) wound

To try to make someone's misfortune even worse

6. Bite off more than one can chew

To try to eat or do more than you can manage

7. Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth

To be born in a wealthy family

Test yourself.

Hello everybody! I have prepared a quiz here. Let's see if your English idiom skills are good or not.