How To Learn and Use 10 English Idioms

hey I like running and I’m pretty fast

but there was one race I ran in that

didn’t turn out the way I thought it was

going to I’ll tell you more about it at

the end our teacher Tiffany let’s jump

right in

[Music]

alright first things first I need you to

hit the subscribe button right now

that’s right hit the subscribe button

right now I’ll wait

good job okay so today’s lesson we are

going to learn ten English body idioms

now you may be asking teacher why are

they called body idioms well you know me

I love teaching you English using

methods and formulas that are easy for

you to remember so every idiom we’re

going to learn today

each of them is connected to a body part

so you will be able to remember them

very easily moving forward alright so

here we go our first idiom is this one

right here face the music one more time

for pronunciations sake look at my mouth

face the music very good last time

face the music excellent job now this

idiom is very simple but it means to be

confronted with the unpleasant

consequences of one’s actions or to

accept responsibility for something you

have done now I have a really quick

example for you you see today I actually

was at church and I was spending time

with some young people and there was a

little boy who was kind of acting up he

wasn’t listening to the adults he didn’t

listen to our instructions so I had to

speak to him and I said hey I need you

to listen to us because we’re trying to

go through the program now the little

boy realized if he didn’t listen to us

he would get in trouble later with his

father so he decided

to listen again the little boy didn’t

want to have to face the music so he

decided to listen again facing the music

just refers to taking responsibility and

facing the consequences of your actions

okay so let’s look at some example

sentences here we go first we have this

one right here

Michael broke a vase and had to face the

music when his father got home again you

can tell his father it’s not gonna be

happy when he gets home

right okay got something in my eye there

we go all right number two here we go

after failing a history exam Samantha

had to go home and face the music that

means her parents were not gonna be

happy right and finally here we go the

students all had to go to the

principal’s office and face the music

so you’re understanding that this idiom

is actually related to someone having to

deal with the consequences consequences

that aren’t pleasant because of an

action right so again we say face the

music what’s the body part face and now

you can remember it alright number two

is have egg on your face

what have egg on your face don’t worry I

promise I’m gonna explain it to you okay

so have egg on your face this literally

means to look foolish or to be

embarrassed so think about it if someone

just suddenly puts egg on your face

would you be happy or would you feel a

little bit uncomfortable and probably

foolish and embarrassed well that’s what

this idiom means now let me show you

some example sentences that will help

you learn when to actually use this

properly okay so first we have this one

right here the policeman had egg on his

face because he arrested an innocent guy

well the policeman was very

kriste okay alright number two here we

go

the second example sentence I was

completely wrong and now I have egg on

my face

oops I made a mistake I’m sorry I have

egg on my face okay all right and number

three here we go if the computer issues

continue the manager will have egg on

his face alright idiom number three

written all over your face again written

all over your face now the expression on

someone’s face is showing their true

feelings so for example what is my

facial expression telling you ooh maybe

teacher Tiffany’s not happy right now or

what about this one you can tell that

I’m feeling happy it’s written all over

my face so again this is a very useful

idiom but very easy to understand okay

so again going back to my screen again

it means that it is clear what a person

is thinking or feeling so here’s our

first example sentence I know she’s

guilty it’s written all over her face

alright next I know my son stole the

money the guilt was written all over his

face and finally she could tell that he

was upset it was written all over his

face so think about a time when parents

they hear that their child didn’t do

well in school and the teacher has to

call them and say ah little Johnny or

little Sally oh they really weren’t good

in school today the parents is okay okay

when Johnny or Sally gets home I’m going

to talk to them and hang up the phone

and then the door opens and it’s Johnny

it’s written all over their face they

are upset and they are not pleased with

Johnny okay

so in English we say written all over

your face okay all right moving on -

idiot number four lose face

what do you mean lose face are we losing

our face like Oh No where’d my face go

no we’re not saying that actually this

one literally means to suffer a loss of

respect or to be humiliated it’s very

similar to being embarrassed but it has

a lot to do with respect okay so let’s

look at the three example sentences for

this idiom here we go

the first one is samantha is more afraid

of losing face than losing money

basically samantha doesn’t care about

losing money she just wants to keep her

self-respect she doesn’t want to be

humiliated she doesn’t want to be

embarrassed she doesn’t want to lose

face okay all right next we have this

one right here mark lost face when his

assistant was promoted and became his

boss so think about that situation in

the beginning mark had an assistant who

was under him then suddenly Mark’s

assistant went above him now he has to

respect the person who used to be his

assistant so he feels like he’s lost

some respect he lost face okay all right

and our final example sentence is she

refused to admit she made a mistake

because she didn’t want to lose face all

right okay moving on to number five

idiom number five let one’s hair down

again let one’s hair down now I want you

to think about this what do you think

this means

let one’s hair down think about you have

your hair up maybe in a in a ponytail or

it’s upper like my hair is up in a style

with twists a lot of you actually ask

about my hair so maybe one day I’ll tell

you more about my hair but you have it

up this one says

let it down what does that mean okay now

I’m gonna tell you I want to save you

guessed correctly now this just means to

relax and enjoy oneself or to allow

yourself to behave much more freely than

usual and to enjoy it so basically to

just hey chill out relax everything’s

good

don’t worry about things we say let

one’s hair down okay so here’s some

examples and it says first after a long

day at work the office workers decided

to let their hair down now this is

something that I can use I can use this

expression even though I don’t

physically take my hair out every day I

work very hard every day for you because

I love being your English teacher but at

the end of the day at the end of my work

day I just kind of relax and let my hair

down and enjoy my peaceful time okay all

right here we go next

Mandy spent the weekend letting her hair

down by watching three movies again she

wanted to relax and enjoy her free time

so she said ooh oh I like that movie let

me watch that movie and just relax she

wanted to let her hair down okay all

right and finally our last example

sentence the party gives you a chance to

let your hair down at the end of the

week okay great job now moving on to

idiom number six go over your head go

over your head now is this a physical

motion like something actually happening

no this actually refers to I’ll show you

my screen to go to a more powerful or

important person to get what you want or

to take an issue to someone who has more

authority now tell you a quick story

about this so I have two nieces and the

youngest is about three years old right

now

and sometimes she’ll ask someone to give

her some juice so actually during the

Thanksgiving holiday this is a real

story so she came to me and my sister

her mother and said can I have some

juice please my sister said no you can’t

have any juice she thought about it and

then she walked away about ten minutes

later she came back with the coupler and

said mommy how did you get that juice

and she said I went to pop pop now pop

pop is my father and my sister’s father

of course which is her grandad so she

saw in her mind mommy said no I’m gonna

go to my granddad now in her mind she

thought she was going over my sister’s

head she thought she was going to

someone with more authority now of

course my sister had more authority but

in her little mind my niece’s mind she

said hey mommy said no but pop pop or

grandad is gonna say yes so my niece

went over my sisters head that makes it

okay now let’s see some more examples

and it says here we go I was furious

that he went over my head and complained

to my manager next I don’t want to go

over her head but if she won’t listen to

me I have no choice and finally he had

to go over his head to get the approval

he needed all right moving on to number

7 head start all right an early start

that results in an advantage or an

initial advantage in a competitive

situation okay so I want you to think

about this right now I’m teaching you

English right and you’re learning very

well you’re learning you’re

understanding but my first language is

English so if we go to an interview and

they want an English speaker you can say

hey she has an advantage because she’s a

native English speaker you can say I had

a head start because I already learned

English from a child right when I was a

child okay so let’s see some examples

and it says here we go alright first a

good

education gives your child a head start

in life next I want to leave at dawn

to get a head start over the competition

and finally the inheritance money gave

him a head start in life

alright let’s move on to number eight

number eight is in over one’s head again

in over one’s head now I really want you

to pay attention to this one because

this is extremely useful being in over

one’s head this can happen in so many

different situations okay so this means

more than one can handle or a person has

more difficulties or problems than they

can manage alright so think about it

right now you are learning English and

sometimes you even message me or send me

a message via email or other other ways

and you say teacher it’s hard to learn

English while working or raising a

family you feel like you’re in over your

head you feel like it’s more than you

can handle now as your teacher I know

you can do it and that’s why I want to

give you these tips to help you but

again this is a great idiom for you to

use when you’re speaking about your

English journey or other work you have

to do okay so here are some example

sentences number one Shawn tried to pay

his gambling debts but he was in over

his head again that means Shawn didn’t

have the money to actually pay all of

his debts okay next we have this one

right here the boy tried to get out of

the game but he was already in over his

head and finally everyone could tell

that the man was in over his head

meaning that everybody could easily see

weight this guy he can’t handle

everything he needs to stop so in

English we say in over one’s head you

got it good job all right now let’s move

on to idiom number nine lose your head

again lose

your head now wait a minute

does that mean I can’t find my head like

where did it go

No okay so this one actually just means

to lose self-control to panic or lose

one’s composure for example I’m teaching

you right now and I’m explaining all of

these idioms to you now let’s say for

example my phone suddenly starts ringing

while I’m teaching you and I said oh my

goodness my phone what do I do I have to

teach I lost my head or I started to

panic or lose my composure now that’s

how you can use the idiom in this

situation but let’s see some other

examples in instance okay so here we go

first I was afraid so I lost my head and

started panicking

next after he ignored me I lost my head

and started yelling at him and finally

try not to lose your head when you get

stopped by a cop again that just means

remain calm don’t panic don’t lose

yourself control make sense all right

great job now let’s see idiom number 10

and eye opener okay an eye-opener now

this is a situation that proves to be

unexpectedly enlightening something that

surprises you and teaches you new facts

about life so for example I have told

you all many times that I really really

enjoyed my time in South Korea as a

missionary English teacher

now I spent almost 10 years there prior

to going to Korea I had never

experienced life in an Asian country but

my experience there all of the things

that I learned by living and actually

being around so many Korean people that

experience was an eye-opener I learned

so many things about myself and about

other people so that was an eye-opener

okay

all right now let’s see our first

examples and it’s here we go

living in another country can be a real

eye-opener that is exactly what I just

explained okay all right now our next

sentence here we go Sally said her trip

to Japan was quite an eye-opener and

finally his answer to my question was a

real eye-opener now this is an idiom

that I want you to actually start using

because it’s so useful there are so many

things that happen in your life where

you can use this idiom so many times

where something happens that surprises

you and that teaches you something new

for example this lesson can be an

eye-opener for you make sense all right

great job okay

now let’s move on right here this is

what I need you to do three things first

I need you to subscribe if you’re not

already a subscriber what are you

waiting for hit that subscribe button

number two I need you to tell a friend

if these lessons are helping you improve

your English tell a friend share the

link to this video and number three

finally I want you to like the video

this helps me to be able to help more

students and to help you even more learn

English faster using the formulas and

methods that I am teaching you okay well

I really hope you enjoyed this lesson I

hope that you are able to improve your

English quickly now I want to tell you

this really quickly you see on your

screen to speak English like a native

course I view aid in this course and

there are so many students right now

learning with me how to sound like a

native English speaker so if you enjoyed

this lesson and the idioms that you

learned I guarantee you will enjoy this

course because in the course I’d give

you a five step formula that will teach

you how to sound like a native English

speaker so click the link in the

description if you want to actually take

your English to the next level okay I

hope you enjoy this lesson and I will

talk to you next week but as always

remember

to speak English you know I didn’t

forget it’s story time okay so remember

at the beginning of the video I told you

that I’m a runner I’ve always been a

runner I was the fastest girl in my

school when I was in elementary school I

was voted most athletic when I was in

high school and in university so I’ve

always been a very athletic individual

now one day my friend and I a good

friend of mine he’s a guy and we were

hanging out we went out to eat and we

were walking back to his car and he’s

taller than me kind of up we say a husky

fellow not fat not skinny but it’s kind

of a bigger guy and he looked at me and

said TIFF I can beat you in a race now

guys I’m a humble person but when it

comes to athletics I know that I’m

pretty good so I said no you can’t now

again he and I are both adults so we

weren’t in high school weren’t in

university anymore but I still think so

he said TIFF know I can beat you in a

race and I’ll give you a head start

maybe we learned that right I said dude

come on I am gonna whip you that just

means I’m gonna beat you really badly

that’s a slang term he said okay

let’s do it now we were in the parking

lot walking toward his car so he said

okay TIFF I’m gonna give you maybe about

a three-second head start so I said you

know what I’m about to dust this dude

now dust this dude just means I’m gonna

take off and he’s gonna be in my dust

like behind me there’s gonna be dust so

he said okay

ready set go and I took off running now

again I’m very fast so I’m running as

fast as I can and all of a sudden I hear

this sound behind me and I knew he was

running behind me but it was coming

closer and closer so I I try to go in

and faster and faster and before I knew

it he had passed me and took off down

and he was way ahead of me

so far that I actually slowed down and

stopped and looked at him in amazement

now when I finally caught up to him he

looked at me and said I told you I beat

you now again we’re still very good

friends but it really caught me off

guard because I’m very fast so it taught

me this

you never judge a book by its cover

that’s another expression we use in

English it means don’t judge someone by

the way they look because he did beat me

now I’m not gonna say that he’ll beat me

again because next time I have to go

faster but it was fun we had a great

time I hope you enjoyed the story and I

will talk to you in the next video