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TEACHING LETTER WRITING AMONG STUDENTS USING IDIOMS AND
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Kholkhojaeva Shohsanam Nazirkhoja qizi Uzbekistan State World Languages University
Abstract: The English language has thousands of idioms. Idioms are expressions in which the meaning of the whole expression has a different meaning from the meanings of the individual words. If you want to understand a language, you have to know what the idioms in that language mean. You have to figure out its "hidden" meaning, not the literal meaning. Many idioms are similar to expressions in other languages and can be easy for a learner to understand. Other idioms come from older phrases which have changed over time. "To hold one&s horses" means to stop and wait patiently for someone or something. It comes from a rime when people rode horses and would have to hold their horses while waiting for someone or something.
The initial activity asks students to keep a diary using idioms learned during class that week from both idiom text book sources and supplemental material. Students underline or highlight the idioms to reinforce them and make the teacher&s grading easier. Diaries also allow students to personalize the idioms and place them in a familiar context.1 Maria, a Mexican Student, wrote about eating out while Gabriella, a Brazilian, wrote about her day off.
From Maria&s diary: " We went at the seafood buffet at the Rio and we Pigged out, I can&t believe how much food we ate but everything was delicious and to satisfy our sweet tooth I ate an apple pie which was to die for! And he had a banana split that made my mouth water. The dinner was on him..."
From Gabriella&s diary: " ... It took us more than two hours to get home because he had a blowout on the highway. He fixed it and when we almost get home we were in a broadside. An old lady was to blame for it. The cops came and made a report. I was sick and tired and I was thinking that I wished be worked instead this kinds of days off. As you can see, wasn&t a very good day, in my next day off I&ll go to the boonies in this way I&ll be safe and sound."
The diaries are not shared with anyone other than the teacher so that students can gain confidence in their writing and use of colloquial language.
Expanding the Audience with Letters
Using the same strategy as with the diary, students direct correspondence to someone else in the form of a letter. They can choose to write lo friends, family or
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classmates. If students write to classmates, the teacher can set up an in-class postal network in which the receiver is either known or unknown to the writer. Claudia, a Cuban student, chose to write to a friend rather than a classmate.
Claudia&s letter to a friend: " Hey friend! What&s up with you? I am here in Las Vegas having a blast! This city is pretty cool! You know, the attraction of casinos makes me stay up till all hours of the night and sleep in every weekend. Even during the week I usually go out to dinner and take in a movie. I met a nice guy in church. His name is Mark and he is to die for! I don&t know him very good yet, but I&m just giving it a shot. I heard about your brother&s accident, that&s nuts, isn&t it? But, take it easy! Everything will be all right. I miss you."
While class time does not always allow the letter receivers to respond, the awareness that a classmate or friend will read the letter encourages students to write authentically.2
Adding Voice with Movie Reviews
To combine speech and text, the students next prepare movie reviews of their choice of films, either current or classic, American or foreign, on television or in a theatre. Because reviews are less familiar than diaries or letters, more extensive preparation is needed. We analyze reviews of current movies that students may have seen, looking for use of idioms as well as format. We often watch a short film and write a review as a class to model the basic concepts of film criticism. The students present their reviews to the class as if they were film critics such as Ebert and Roper, and like such film critics, their performances are videotaped—for their own viewing and self-critique, not for the public. Mandana, an Indonesian student, chose to review a movie current at the time of the class!
Mandana&s review of Wag the Dog: "A friend of mine hooked me up with a ticket to the movie Wag the Dog. It was a blockbuster and sold out. The movie is about how easy the government makes everything up. The subject of the movie is very interesting and the acting is awesome and they didn&t blow their lines. A lot of people thought the movie would be a bomb, but I give this movie two thumbs up. I really enjoyed this movie."
Students are usually enthusiastic about this assignment because it allows them to share movies from their culture and discuss the latest events in the lives of their favorite stars.
Interacting through Dialogues
Writing dialogues is particularly flexible and engaging as it involves pair or trio work and can be adapted for any group of idioms. To begin the assignment, the students imagine characters with a problem in a particular setting. After writing a dialogue for the imagined situation, they rehearse the scene for presentation and then
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bring in props and costumes, if necessary, for their performance in front of the class.3 However, two Japanese students, Tomo and Makiko, didn&t need any props or costumes for their between-class dialogue.
Makiko and Tomo&s dialogue.
Tomo: What do you say we grab a bite, Makiko?
Makiko: Could we do it another time? I&m not in the mood to eat right now. Tomo: What&s eating you? I never see you get bent out of shape before!
Makiko: You know what, I went to the DMV at West Flamingo today and I aced the written test! Cause I pulled an all-nighter to cram for that.. .but I flunked the driving test! Tomo: What&s up with your driving test anyway?
Makiko: Well, unfortunately my examiner was so nasty! He didn&t give me any chance to take a make-up when I ran a stop sign.
Tomo: Just one ?! How could he possibly flunk you?
Makiko: What is worse, I cut a Vicky&s class for that.
Tomo: Oh my god! She&s going to freak out if she knew it! Knowing that they will have an audience for their work often inspires students to write humorous and realistic exchanges and provides an opportunity to demonstrate authentic communication.
Selling the Public through Advertisements
Focusing on advertisements raises the students& awareness of the ubiquity of idioms in American English. First, the teacher points out the use of idiomatic language in magazine and newspaper advertisements. For instance, an advertisement for a well-known credit card company featured an Olympic high jumper and led off with the line, "You don&t have to bend over backwards to pull for the team," while an advertisement for an arthritis medication urged, "Don&t let your joints get you down." In preparation for designing their own advertisements, small student groups then examine teacher-collected magazines, looking at advertisements for idioms and trying to decipher their meanings. They share their findings with another group to broaden their awareness of idioms in advertisements. Then, individually, in pairs, or in teams, students select a service of product and create their own sales pitch, which they will later present to the class. Galina, a student from Bulgaria, sold a pizza.
Galina&s advertisement: " You are hungry? You don&t have time to cook after work? You don&t want to spend much money in a restaurant? Pick up a pizza from Italiano. We have rock bottom prices and our pizzas are to die for! Any way you want them! Small, medium or large. With meat or without meat. Did we make your mouth water? What are you waiting for? Pick up the phone and order! Our phone is: 999-9999."
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Advertisements can lead to rich discussions of pop culture, idiomatic language, and the media and how they influence each other. Writing their own advertisements also inspires students& creativity and expands their use of idiomatic language.
Taking a Trip via Travel-Brochures
Designing travel brochures is the culminating activity. With plenty of samples gathered from travel agents, hotel racks, newsstands, and tourist destinations, pairs of students analyze two or three brochures for the use of idiomatic language. For example, a brochure from Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy, California, boasts "a little environmental education thrown in for good measure," while a Disneyland brochure urges visitors to "check out all of the seasonal fun." As a class, the students make a list of all the idioms taught throughout the semester as well as of others garnered" during that time. Then, each student selects a locale for his or her own brochure. The choice can be the student&s own country, a place to visit, or a fantasy destination. After collecting pictures from magazines, the Internet, other travel brochures, and family photos, the students create text to match the pictures, using the idioms to entice travelers to their chosen destinations. Using a computerized projection of their completed brochures, students make a sales pitch to the rest of the class, followed by question-and-answer sessions. The overall activity seems to bring out the most creativity in our students, perhaps because of their fondness for travel or their desire to show off their homeland.4
These six activities, used in a single class on teaching idioms, all involve created communications that are either realistic, as in letter-writing, or that are imitative, as in movie reviews or travel brochures. As such, they force students to use idioms as part of their own oral and written expressions rather than as fill-ins for textbook exercises.
Summary to the Third Chapter
Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior. Initially, Spitzberg defined communication competence as "the ability to interact well with others". He explains, "the term &well& refers to accuracy, clarity, comprehensibility, coherence, expertise, effectiveness and appropriateness". A much more complete operationalization is provided by Friedrich when he suggests that communication competence is best understood as "a situational ability to set realistic and appropriate goals and to maximize their achievement by using knowledge of self, other, context, and communication theory to generate adaptive communication performances." Parks defines communicative competence as "the degree to which individuals perceive they have satisfied their goals in a given social situation without jeopardizing their ability or opportunity to pursue their other subjectively more
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important goals". A useful framework for understanding communication competence was designed by Spitzberg and Cupach and is known as the component model of competence because it is comprised of three specific dimensions: motivation (an individual&s approach or avoidance orientation in various social situations), knowledge (plans of action; knowledge of how to act; procedural knowledge), and skill (behaviors actually performed).
References
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