How many English expressions can you think of that include the word heart? Follow your heart, have a heart of gold, learn something by heart… There are probably more than you might expect! With so many expressions built around this one little word, September 29th – World Heart Day seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore some of them in the classroom.
I first got into this topic when I started looking for an interesting way to use World Heart Day in an English lesson. I didn’t want to go down the usual route of talking about heart health, so I started thinking about how often we actually use the word heart in English. A quick google search led me to discover just how many idioms and expressions with heart there are. I came across Kenneth Beare’s article Heart Idioms and Expression on ThoughtCo, which brought together a whole collection of these expressions and gave me the idea for this lesson.
So, if you’re looking for a communicative B1 World Heart Day lesson that combines vocabulary, reading, and speaking, look no further. Scroll to the end of the post to download the worksheet, teacher’s notes and presentation.
Warmer: How Do You Feel?
I didn’t want to start the lesson by telling students that we were going to talk about heart idioms. Instead, I wanted them to arrive at the topic themselves, and also lead them towards the reading about someone’s feelings. Students are presented with five everyday situations and discuss whether they have experienced anything similar. They describe how they would feel emotionally and what might happen physically. Perhaps their hands would shake, their heart would beat faster, they would sweat, or they might feel dizzy.
- You are about to give an important presentation in front of a large group of people.
- You suddenly see someone you really like walking towards you.
- You are waiting for the results of an important exam or interview.
- You hear a strange noise behind you while walking home alone at night.
- You receive some unexpected but fantastic news.
I like this kind of warmer because it gives students a reason to use the language they already know while creating a natural bridge towards the lesson topic. By the end of the activity, heart becomes a very likely word for students to come up with themselves.
Guess the Idiom: What Do the Pictures Mean?
Once heart has been introduced, students move on to five illustrated idioms. Working in pairs, they look at the pictures and try to work out which expressions they represent. Have a look and check if you are able to guess the idioms yourself!😉
This stage doesn’t give students the definitions straight away. They have to look at the images, make guesses and discuss what they think each expression could mean. It also gives them a chance to notice how literal and figurative meanings can be very different. Additionally, I think that it can make them more creative and lead to some funny moments in the classroom.
Reading for Gist: The Day Everything Changed
After predicting the idioms, students read a short story called The Day Everything Changed. This ChatGPT created story follows someone who has always wanted to become a teacher but ends up working in an office. When her manager asks her whether she is happy in her job, she finally starts thinking seriously about what she really wants. She talks to her best friend, makes a difficult decision and eventually gets accepted onto a teaching course.
The story includes all nine target expressions in context, including have one’s heart set on, have a heart-to-heart talk, get at the heart of the matter, follow your heart, have a heart of gold, pour your heart out, from the bottom of my heart, learn something by heart and have a change of heart. Students first use the story to check their picture predictions and then move on to reading for detail.
Reading for Detail: What Really Happened?
Students read the story again and answer eight comprehension questions in complete sentences. The questions focus on the character’s job, her conversation with her manager, her plans for the future and the decision she eventually makes. This gives students a reason to go back to the text and find specific information rather than simply scanning it for the bold expressions. I wanted the story to have enough detail to support the vocabulary work later on, so the idioms aren’t just isolated examples.
Vocabulary Focus: Heart Idioms
Now that students have encountered the expressions several times, they look back at the story and match the nine idioms to their definitions. The definitions are taken from Kenneth Beare’s Heart Idioms and Expression article on ThoughtCo. Students use both the story and their understanding from the previous activities to work out the meanings.
Controlled Practice: Complete the Idioms
After working out the meanings, students practise using the expressions themselves. They are given pairs of sentences. The first sentence describes a situation, while the second uses a heart idiom with the key expression removed. Students need to use the context to decide which idiom fits. This gives them a little more support before they have to produce the expressions independently. It also gives students practice with changing the grammar of the idioms where necessary, for example: Emma is a very kind and trustworthy person. = Emma has __________________. (answer: a heart of gold).
Personalisation: Finish the Thought
The final part of the lesson moves away from the story and towards the students themselves. Students complete sentence starters such as:
- I usually follow my heart when…
- I have my heart set on…
- Someone I know who has a heart of gold is…
- I recently had a change of heart about…
There aren’t any single correct answers here. The aim is to get students thinking about situations from their own lives where these expressions could genuinely be used. Students then work in pairs and read their completed sentences to each other. The important part is that they explain their ideas, rather than simply reading the sentence and moving on. This turns the final activity into a genuine conversation rather than another vocabulary exercise. The lesson finishes with students using the new expressions to talk about things that are actually meaningful to them.
I wanted this lesson to be more than a collection of heart idioms. The expressions are introduced gradually, first through students’ own physical and emotional reactions, then through pictures, context and a story before students finally use them to talk about themselves. The result is a B1 World Heart Day lesson combining vocabulary, reading, pair work and communicative speaking, with plenty of opportunities for students to notice and reuse the target language. And hopefully, by the end of the lesson, they will have a few new expressions they know by heart.
Which heart idiom do you use most often?
