Today’s phrase of the day is…
To bite off more than you can chew
Introduce it with some examples:
When I took on that extra part-time job I bit off more than I could chew.
The government bit off more than they could chew when they tried to completely overhaul the tax system.
Lead students to the meaning: to accept too much responsibility and fail to complete a commitment/try to do something that is too hard for you.
Put students in pairs or small groups and have them discuss these questions:
- How much do you have on your plate at the moment? Can you handle it? Or have you taken on too much work?
- How good are you at predicting how long a piece of work will take?
- When it comes to taking on new responsibilities, where is the line between being ambitious and being naïve?
- Have you ever accepted a job/project that was too difficult for you? What happened?
Here’s the Quizlet set of all the previous phrases of the day.
