8.

1 Going around in circles

Aim
Pre-activity (5 minutes)
To play a card game making metaphors
• Write heart, go, and storm on the board. Give students, in pairs,
two minutes to think of as many idioms as they can with these
and idioms
words (e.g., heart: a heart of gold, lose heart, take heart; go: go
Language around in circles, go over well, go to pieces; storm: take something
by storm, weather the storm).
Metaphors and idioms
• Have a class feedback session.
Skills
Speaking Procedure (25 minutes)
Lesson link
• Explain that students are going to play a card game making
metaphors and idioms.
Use after Unit 8, SB p. 70 Divide students into groups of three and give each group a set
•
Materials of cards, placed face down in a pile.
One copy of the worksheet cut up per • Ask students each to take six cards but not to show them to
group of three students anyone else in their group. Students leave the remaining cards in
a pile on the table.
• Students take turns playing. If they have two cards that make a
metaphor or an idiom, they can lay the cards face up on the table
in front of them. For each card they lay down, they must pick
up another from the pile. If they can’t make any metaphors or
idioms, they pick up one card from the pile. Go around checking
and helping as necessary.
• In the following rounds, students lay down any new metaphors
and idioms they can make.
• The game continues until all the cards have been used. The
student who made the most metaphors and idioms is the winner.

extension (10 minutes)

• Ask students, in pairs, to write five fill-in-the-blank sentences
with some of the idioms and metaphors in the worksheet, e.g.,
After a day on the mountain, Max was exhausted. Once he was in
his sleeping bag, he was (out like a light). Go around
helping as necessary.
• Ask pairs to exchange their sentences with another pair to
complete.

46 Unit 8.1 . Going around in circles Teacher’s notes

 American Headway 5 Resource Book

take break
heart heart
something to someone’s
✂

wrap someone
point the finger finger
around your

at the end of
out like a light light
the tunnel

someone’s
spark a bright spark
interest

calm take the

storm storm
before the city by

of all my
to put down roots root(s)
problems

around in out the

go go
circles window

a crossroads
reach out of reach
in life

© Oxford University Press    Photocopiable  Unit 8.1  .  Going around in circles 47