The Idiom Advantage: Fluency in Speaking and Listening [Paperback]

Dana Watkins (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201825279 | ISBN-13: 978-0201825275 | Publication Date: April 1995

Increase your students' fluency of English through mastery of common American idioms. The Idiom Advantage: Fluency in Speaking and Listening, by Dana Watkins, offers a wide variety of interactive activities that provide students with opportunities to hear, read, and produce idioms in interesting and engaging ways. *Idioms are contextualized in narratives, interviews, news reports, radio programs, and conversations for both reading and listening. *Controlled listening and writing activities help students understand meaning and structure. *Authentic magazine and newspaper advertisements present the idioms in clever and memorable ways to broaden students' understanding. *Students practice using idioms in role play, debate, oral presentation, group discussion, and writing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 241 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley Publishing Company (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201825279
• ISBN-13: 978-0201825275
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This reaches right into daily life--it's a great teacher., January 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Idiom Advantage: Fluency in Speaking and Listening (Paperback)

I have lived in many Latin American countries, and now can speak Spanish on a level that I can reasonably be understood and understand. But I am still trying to learn the Spanish idioms that each country has----and I have wondered, after reading Ms. Watkins' book---why someone has not written a similar book for those with Spanish as their second language. Her book is so to the core of American culture, that it makes it so much easier for someone learning English to pick up phrases, sayings, different meanings to words that couldn't be translated literally, and thus land on their feet running without having people listen to stilted, foreign-like phrases. This book should be used in every Institute or class that teaches English as a second language. I have taught elementary and junior high classes, and if I were to go back to teaching, and could teach English as a second language, this would be one of the first books I would use.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great idioms for intermediate to advanced students, January 28, 2004

By 

Natalia (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Idiom Advantage: Fluency in Speaking and Listening (Paperback)

I have been both teaching and studying English and have seen many books on idioms over the years. The most striking difference of this book is that it presents idioms in a very interesting context (fun talks, real ads, etc.). I also liked the choice of idioms, I feel this book would be appropriate for advanced students as well as for intermediate students.
The book has all the scripts and answers at the end so it can be well used for self-study.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning American idioms has never been this fun., January 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Idiom Advantage: Fluency in Speaking and Listening (Paperback)

Ms. Watkins' combination of engaging activities and intriguing visuals makes this text a real treat to use in the classroom. Students are too busy having fun to realize that they're learning idioms along the way.

What I especially like is the way The Idiom Advantage uses clever print advertisments to help expand the students' understanding of the idioms. The ads even provide a platform to discuss some broader, cultural issues which can be especially important for ESL students.

This is definitely one of the best idioms texts I've seen.