body vocabulary/ idioms
Student A
Choose a line below. Mime the meanings of the individual words and/ or idiomatic meaning of the words together until your partner guesses the idiom. If they can’t guess, mime in different ways, then show the options on your worksheet. Then take turns doing the same.
- A shoulder to cry on (= Someone you can talk to your problems about)
- Put my foot in it (= Say something insensitive or talk about a topic that I should have avoided)
- Get it off my chest (= Feel relieved because I talked about something that was difficult)
- Up to my eyes in… (= So much work etc. that I almost can’t cope, like I am nearly drowning)
- Have my finger in a lot of pies (= Be involved in many different things, e.g. many projects)
- Thick skinned (= Insensitive to criticism)
- Like water off a duck’s back (= Criticism etc having no effect on me)
- I can’t (quite) put my finger on it (= I can’t define exactly what is wrong)
- Have time on my hands (= I have plenty of or too much free time)
- Play it by ear (= Decide what to do when I see what the situation is, like playing a piano without sheet music)
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Student B
Choose a line below. Mime the meanings of the individual words and/ or idiomatic meaning of the words together until your partner guesses the idiom. If they can’t guess, mime in different ways, then show the options on your worksheet. Then take turns doing the same.
- Look down your nose at someone/ something (= Feel superior to someone or something/ Feel snobbish about something)
- Give someone a big hand (= Applaud someone/ Clap for someone)
- Keep an eye on (= Watch carefully to make sure that nothing goes wrong)
- See eye to eye (= Have the same opinion or understand each other well)
- Pulling your leg (= Telling you something untrue as a joke)
- Stretch your legs (= Go for a walk)
- Hold your tongue (= Not say something, even though you want to)
- Put your foot down (= Insist, or use your authority to decide something)
- Keep you on your toes (= Make sure you are alert and can’t get too relaxed)
- A gut feeling (= An instinctive feeling, not based on logic)
- Caught red handed (= Found in the act of doing something wrong or illegal, with very clear evidence)
When your teacher stops you, look at both worksheets and ask about any which you are not sure about, working together to mime the idiomatic meaning each time. Then test each other on the idioms by:
- reading out one with the body part missing
- reading out a body part and helping your partner make related idioms
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