Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Enigma]

I've got a high level adult class and last night while teaching them some idioms they asked me if I could teach them some casual expressions. They're interested in learning some slang as well as regular expressions that aren't usually found in textbooks. They'd like to learn some things that they can use with friends or that they might hear on TV or in movies.
For example, we were talking about animal idioms so I taught them, "I don't give a rat's ass."
I'm going to take a look on Google and some of the EFL websites, but before I do, do any of you know of some good worksheets or websites for this?

Thanks

[edwardcatflap]

My advice is don't do it. Foreigners just sound silly when they come out with slang expressions and they go out of fashion so quickly anyway. Also most of your adults are presumably learning English for academic or business related reasons and any slang they learn will be useless for this. If it's business related, a lot of the time they will be speaking to other non native speakers of English and slang will be lost on them. In general I'd say it was a waste of time. I watched that scene out of Good morning Vietnam the other day when Robin Williams does this and cringed. The sad thing is most people watching that movie probably think he was a great teacher.

[OculisOrbis]

Most of the essential, timeless expressions are covered here. Just show them this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TH_dKfBI40&feature=player_embedded#!

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

I completely disagree. I think idioms are great for improving comprehension, fluency...and they're just fun and interesting! I'm sure you can find lists of idioms online. Other things you might want to focus on: internet slang (lol, brb, wtf, etc.), cuss words (and their levels of offensiveness), business jargon (think outside of the box, dress to impress, etc.), childish words (kitty cat, potty, blankie, etc.), insults, compliments, common metaphors

There's an excellent book called Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff, along with many others by him. It focuses on how we conceptualize things:
-Time is a commodity that can be bought, wasted, used, saved.
-Happiness/health/progress are up, sadness/sickness/failure are down

etc. It's fascinating, and many of the common metaphors in western culture don't exist in Korean culture (I'm thinking specifically of the time one). So it might be worth looking into that and doing a few lessons on that as well.

Hope I've helped!

[jvalmer]

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

I agree- it's only for high level students, and they should be encouraged NOT to use the words because it's difficult for them to understand the intricacies and they're likely to either offend someone they don't want to offend or look stupid when they use the words in the wrong context. But I think it is something worth teaching so that they can understand it when an English speaker uses it (hello, Hollywood movies!)

[edwardcatflap]

[Easter Clark]

There is a big difference between idioms (common, everyday colloquialisms that people of all social status use) and slang (a kind of secret language used within a small community of usually young people).

This site has a good list of common idioms:

http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idiom-categories/alphabetical-list.htm

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

Business jargon is definitely corny, but believe me, people use it today. You think the corporate world has moved beyond "think outside the box" and "teamwork"? Trust me...they haven't

Anyway, like I said, it's not so much that SLLs should USE these things - just that they should understand them.

[djsmnc]

[edwardcatflap]

True, the other guy was boring but Williams comes in and makes fun of a perfectly good phrase that would be understood anywhere in the English speaking world. He then substitutes it for New York Street slang for the sake of getting a few cheap laughs and exploiting his position of authority to have culturally insensitive relations with one of his students. A fine role model for the TEFL profession!

[Troglodyte]

Here's foreigner who seems to have mastered slang expressions quite well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-6ugLM3ARw

[djsmnc]

[brickabrack]

Teach them what you know. If you grew up and lived in the SE part of the U.S. (Miami et al) would you teach them slang from Essex or Sydney? Dallas, Memphis? You wouldn't know how to explain something if there were questions about meanings of a certain something had you no experience or didn't use the 'speak' yourself.

I also don't think you should put fuel into the hands of unwitting folks who could get into trouble with their comments or didn't fully understand what they were saying. Does that make sense?