Idioms: favouritism
Worksheet overview
This ESL worksheet is about idioms and expressions used when talking about favouritism at work. Students will learn and practise 12 expressions, and will discuss different behaviours and consequences related to favouritism.
The first 9 idioms and expressions (e.g. play favourites, curry favour with, boss’s pet, turn a blind eye, pull strings, go way back) are introduced through a few situations where favouritism was displayed. Students match the idioms to their definitions. Then, they complete 7 sentences with the correct idiom, and discuss the favouritism-related situations. Next, they are asked to complete 7 sentences with their own ideas.
The rest of the idioms (brown-nosing, double standards, get an in) are introduced through a short dialogue. First, students choose the correct idioms to complete the dialogue with idioms they’ve already seen earlier in the lesson. Students discuss a few conversation questions given.
To practise all idioms, they paraphrase 6 sentences. Finally, they look at possible measures to prevent favouritism, and discuss their own ideas.
For more speaking practice, and to review these idioms, you can use the conversation cards.
