I HAVE been teaching English for the past 26 years. Teaching the language can be challenging at times, especially when we have students who are not motivated and weak.

I try my best to make my teaching fun and interesting. When writing essays, students need to use idioms and other expressions. My students find it difficult to remember them, so I came up with this poem.

I hope it will be as useful to other teachers as it has been for me.

Idioms For Everyone

Tis’ the world we live in today

Where ignorance is bliss, tis’ folly to be wise.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today, although

tomorrow is another day, and at times

tomorrow never comes.

Although love is blind,

it still makes the world go around.

If you take the law into your own hands,

it is definitely the law of the jungle.

It’s better to bang your head against the wall,

than to put it in the lion’s mouth.

The early bird catches the worm,

is easier said than done.

Although every dog has its day,

let sleeping dogs lie.

Talk of the devil and he will appear,

give the devil his due, and

he might disappear.

A fair-weather friend, is not,

a friend in need is a friend indeed,

although the best of friends must part.

As blood is thicker than water, you

cannot get blood from a stone.

You cannot have it both ways,

neither a borrower nor a lender be.

There’s none so blind as those who will not see

and if the blind lead the blind

both shall fall into the ditch.

However, in the country of the blind,

the one-eyed man is the king.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat,

cos, when the cat is away, the mice too will play.

Cheats never prosper,

cos it takes a thief to catch a thief.

Just as it takes two to make a bargain,

it takes two to make a quarrel.

Although two of a trade never agree,

the unexpected always happens.

Slow and steady wins the race,

but time and tide waits for no man.

Distance might make the heart grow fonder,

but out of sight out of mind.

Tis’ idioms for everyone

to ponder, to reflect,

Eventhough with the benefit of hindsight,

history still repeats itself. – Panjaratnam Tanimalai

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