Every language has idioms — sayings whose words don't add up to their meaning. Your home
language is a gift. Sit with a family member and bring one of your family's sayings to class.
Prints to one page on US Letter.
👋 Welcome, families!
Thank you for sharing your language with us. In class we are learning
idioms — colorful sayings like "it's a piece of cake" (meaning it's easy).
Every language has them, and your family's sayings are just as rich. Helping your child
with this page teaches an important idea: the home language is an asset, not something to
leave at the door.
Spanish¡Bienvenidas familias!
VietnameseChào mừng các gia đình!
Arabicأهلاً بكم أيها الأهالي!
Hindiपरिवारों का स्वागत है!
Urduخاندانوں کو خوش آمدید!
Chinese欢迎各位家长！
✍️ Our family idiom — fill this in together
Write in your home language and in
English. Any language is welcome — you can even draw the picture the words make.
You may write it in your own alphabet.
Translate each word — even if it sounds funny in English.
Same picture Different picture No English match yet
💬 Sentence frames to talk it through
In my language we say , which literally means
, but it really means .
My family uses this saying when .
The picture in my language is ; the English picture is
.
An English idiom that is close is — it is the
(same / different) picture.
I learned this saying from , who says it when
.
A new English idiom I learned this week is , and it means
.
📌 A note to teachers — sharing out
Invite volunteers to read their completed frames aloud, then chart the class idioms under
same picture vs. different picture. Compare images across languages — that
cross-linguistic contrast is the metalinguistic teaching point. Honor every language equally;
there is no "right" home language. Post the collected idioms on a wall, add them to the class
card deck, or record short family read-alouds. Aligns with the Texas ELPS (idiomatic expressions)
and WIDA figurative-language expectations.