ESL Lesson Plan

...cliche's.

There are all kinds of cliche's. There are cliche'd phrases as well as cliche's in books, music and film.

A cliche' is a term that is used so much that it becomes tiresome - to use or to hear.

A cliche' is basically used when you can't think of anything of your own to say and you repeat something you (and probably everyone around you has heard hundreds of times already. Or it could be something done hundreds of times before.

As you read, watch TV, see films or have conversations, stay tuned for the cliche's you hear or see.

Since several nations around the world have elections or other political changes coming in 2012, take a look here for some cringe-worthy commonplace comments related to victory, loss, competition and, of course, scandal - http://www.sportscliche.com/politics/index.html.

To test your ability to catch political hackneyed phrases, take this quiz of political cliche's - http://www.sportscliche.com/politics/quiz.html.

And, what would life be without the dreadfully predictable sports cliche'. You can see a collection of them here - http://www.sportscliche.com/.

And how many times have you seen a current movie and as you walk out of the theater, you think to yourself, "I've already seen that movie five times!" That's because the film makers used another film as the basis of their story line. And it is the story that makes the film. If you to see a compilation of predictable film cliche's look here - http://www.moviecliches.com/.

In the music world, there are cliches of lyrics, styles and appearance. Here's a website that warns musical artists to avoid the easy (meaning lazy) way and do the work of being original - http://www.spinner.com/2009/11/03/top-10-music-cliches/.

No matter how much you love a band, and no matter what they sound like, DO NOT compare them to The Beatles. And do not imitate a Beatles album cover.

No one likes stale food, and no one likes stale ideas. Use the new year as your excuse to truly get rid of the old and create the new.

Listen, read and speak. Make your new language your own.

My best to you as you make your way through this intriguing , constantly shifting linguistic landscape.

Morf

About the author of this entry:

Morf has a B.A.from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, USA and an MAT (Master's in Teaching English) from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA, USA). And, as much as Morf loves writing this blog, he is always open to other opportunities either blogging or teaching. You can contact him at mmorf@mail.com.