It's A Breeze: 42 Lively English Lessons on American Idioms (American Expressions Book 1)

The English language is filled with complex rules and phrases, many of which may be confusing to second-language speakers. Toni Aberson's lessons on English idioms attempts to create an interactive environment for adult ESL students.

The title of this book is slightly misleading. It's a Breeze: 42 Lively English Lessons on American Idioms sounds like it would have trivia on the origins of American idioms. Instead, it takes basic information about American idioms (such as “it's a breeze”) and breaks down each individual part until the alternative meaning is lost, defeating the purpose of using idioms. I expected information more as in the origins of idioms, but, to my disappointment, I ended up reading dictionary definitions for each word in the phrase instead of explanations of why we use these phrases.

Aberson's lessons begin with common phrases, including idioms about food (“she's a peach”), animals (“fish out of water”), and even inanimate objects (“a walk in the park”). Aberson is careful to explain every word used in each phrase, but most times the definitions go on for too long. Even though it may help second-language speakers to know what each word means, it reads too much like a dictionary to be effective. For example, Aberson takes the phrase “fish out of water” and explains that it means “out of place,” but the end review includes fill-in-the-blank sentences using vocabulary words; even though there are discussion questions about proper usage, it seems like Aberson is more interested in teaching word meanings instead of understanding the meaning of specific phrases.

I understand that Aberson has a background in adult education, but some of the techniques come across as too simplistic or outdated. Rather than giving the readers (or users) the tools to increase their knowledge, Aberson does the job for them. I, too, work in education and work with many second-language speakers, some of which are just learning the English language, but I understand that being a non-native speaker does not necessarily diminish comprehension skills.

This book would be better if it used idioms from other languages as a way to connect with the audience. Instead of focusing only on the English language, second-language learners may better learn if they can connect the idioms to phrases in their own languages; this inclusion would also teach English educators something more about other languages, thus making it easier to engage in student learning.

I rate this book 2 out of 5 stars. There are too many punctuation and formatting errors to count, which contribute to this low score. These errors include excessive spaces between words and punctuation as well as phrases that are underlined or in a bold font without explanation.

Overall, I would not recommend this book as a whole to any readers but educators may find the conversation starters useful. The exercises at the end of each section have potential, but they do not reflect the use of idioms at all and merely function as vocabulary reviews. Instead of being a book intended to improve one's understanding of English idioms, it is more like a vocabulary book with conversation starters for second-language speakers.