Once in a blue idiom

 A few years ago I met weekly with a language client who is a sourcing manager for an international steel company.  An astute student of culture and communication, he often tried out American idioms or expressions that he had remembered from studying English in school or had seen on an internet idiom list online.  We ended up putting many of those idioms in the “raining cats and dogs” category.  What is that category? It's for idioms and expressions that are rarely used and are often antiquated.

We came up with a shorthand. He would ask “raining cats and dogs?” Yep. And we’d move on.  Over the years I have asked virtually every higher level class if they had been taught “it’s raining cats and dogs” in their previous English classes, both in their country and the U.S.  I'd say at least half would say yes.  Then I’d ask them how many times they had heard a native speaker say it, and I honestly can’t remember anyone ever saying that they had, hence the “raining cats and dogs” category.  

For me it's central to a larger issue in language training: the “danger” with teaching idioms.  The big publisher books or googled lessons frequently have lists of idioms, often themed.    

If you are planning to focus on idioms in your lesson or class, what is your specific goal? There are several key language training points to consider.

Consideration #1. If your students are making errors with common sentence structures and word choice, is it a good idea to prioritize a list of idioms that they likely won’t encounter any time soon, if at all? (One caveat:  if you have a client who is practically fluent C1-C2 and is currently working in English, idioms might play a more practical role, but they need to be common idioms, not archaic ones.)

Consideration #2. If you still insist on covering them, are you planning on coming back to them multiple times to help the class or client retain that expression?  Does it have any value to them if they do retain them for a while? Are they likely to need them?  Or is it a time filler posing as language training.  

Consideration #3.  Teaching idioms extensively can actually add a layer of stress for students, because as far the student or client knows, Americans (I’m in Chicago) use these expressions frequently. As a student, wouldn’t you assume that your teacher is spending class time on important things?  I see too many lists that have idioms that we simply don’t use often, but they fit in a theme of a teacher's lesson, giving it the appearance of being well-organized.  Well, that’s nice. And wildly impractical. Keep in mind, ineffective lessons can be well-organized, too.

Consideration #4. This one might sting. Having a list of idioms and reading them and explaining them in front of a class lowers the standards for being an English language instructor.  Honestly, I could coach high school students to do that.  I would tell an outgoing, responsible 16-year-old student, “Please explain this list of idioms to this class of non-native speakers.  Make sure you talk slowly and don’t use complicated language to explain them. Give some examples also. Then hand out the matching exercise, give the students 10 minutes, then go through the answers together."

What makes that 16-year-old’s lesson different than a so-called professional teacher who does the same?  We can be --- we are -- more than that. 

Don't panic.  You are always going to encounter words, phrases, and idioms that aren’t common.  Idioms will come up naturally in daily life, and it’s great that they do. They’re a wonderful, unique part of language.  The more local, the more fun.  For class, it can be a fun end-of-the-day activity to go through a few.  Just don’t spend too much time on them.

We hit my familiar refrain: prioritize.  I highly recommend not planning a lesson around them. Class time and client time are too valuable to prioritize idioms over accuracy in everyday language.

Expose students to idioms for dessert, not the main course.  And too much dessert isn’t healthy, either.

So if we let go of the cats and dogs when it’s raining hard, what might be a more practical phrase?  Use your judgment, but I think most of us would agree “it’s pouring” is very common in the U.S.