idiom of the week

When teaching new English idioms to my Deaf students (who use American Sign
Language) I have used a piece of laminated paper as our "Idiom of the Week"
board. On Monday, I will have a new idiom written (i.e.: Eat your heart out).
I ask my students to predict what it might mean. On the board there is also a
cartoon-style drawing (by me...definitely not highly artistic) which illustrates
the LITERAL meaning of the idiom (...a stick-figure person eating a heart).
I don't "tell" my students what the idiom means, but rather contrive some way to
slip it into conversation. I continue to do this a couple of more times until
students are ready to discuss the context(s) and make better predictions about the
actual idiomatic meaning. Throughout the week I reinforce (how you reinforce will
depend on the age of your students) students' usage of the idiom both in conversation
and in print.
Johnett Scogin