Strive toward your goals! Four-character idiom ideas that resonate with elementary school students

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.

“I want to express my goals with a four-character idiom!” Many elementary school students and educators probably feel the same way.

Four-character idioms are full of wonderful words that can motivate us in all kinds of situations—studies, daily life, club activities, and more.

In this article, we’ll introduce four-character idioms that are perfect for setting goals, along with clear explanations of their meanings.

Please use this as a reference to help children encounter empowering words that inspire them to strive toward their dreams and goals!

Work hard toward your goals! Ideas for four-character idioms that resonate with elementary school students (1–10)

majestic and dignified5

Ifu Dodo (Pomp and Circumstance) refers to a very dignified, imposing appearance.

Imagine a small child standing before everyone, facing straight ahead with their back straight.

Ifu Dodo is basically a compliment, so if someone says, “You were ifu dodo,” they’re telling you, “You looked really cool!” That feels great, doesn’t it? When we’re anxious or scared, we tend to hunch our backs and look down, but that’s exactly when we should stand with a majestic, confident bearing—so our spirit doesn’t lose.

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complete combustion5

We call giving your all until the very end “kanzen-nenshō” (complete combustion).

You use it when you’ve put every bit of your strength into something.

For example, after sprinting at full speed in a sports day relay and crossing the finish line, you might say, “I completely burned out.” It can also be used after you’ve enjoyed something to the fullest.

Have you ever experienced complete combustion? In everyday life, it may be rare to get that engrossed or desperate, but I hope you try experiencing complete combustion at least once, as a way to understand your own limits.

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Different bodies, one mind5

It means a deep relationship where, though your bodies are separate, your hearts are as one.

In other words, you care for each other and are very close.

When you’re aiming for a goal, there are times you can’t keep going alone.

But if you have close friends whose hearts are in tune with yours, you might be able to encourage each other and persevere.

A relationship where you can regard each other as precious is truly irreplaceable.

If you have friends with whom you can say you share itai-dōshin—different bodies, one heart—please cherish them.

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Work hard toward your goals! Four-character idiom ideas that resonate with elementary school students (11–20)

strenuous effort; hard-fought struggle5

It’s a four-character idiom that expresses fighting with every ounce of strength and mustering the courage to face difficulties.

“Rikisen” conveys the state of battling with full force, while “funtō” conveys the act of rousing one’s spirit to confront challenges.

By combining these two stances of confrontation, the expression emphasizes a sense of power.

Another key point is that it contains two characters related to combat, clearly conveying the fact of standing up to a challenge.

Depending on how you pair it with your goal, you can strongly convey your own mindset.

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with all one’s might4

This is a four-character idiom you often hear in various contexts, expressing an attitude of tackling things with full effort.

Its origin is said to be “issho-kenmei,” which described the stance of medieval samurai; from the idea of defending a single place with all one’s might, the meaning evolved into “isshō-kenmei,” devoting one’s whole life.

The key to this word is the passion of being willing to stake one’s very life; if you show that you understand and use it with that meaning, you can demonstrate your determination as well.

It’s a phrase that reminds us that what matters first is to engage so earnestly that you can truly say you’re giving it your all.

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The benevolent person has no enemies.4

This is a four-character idiom meaning that a person endowed with virtue has no enemies.

It teaches that by loving others and treating them with compassion, one earns genuine trust from everyone, leaving no one to oppose them.

The phrase originates from the words of Mencius, a thinker active during China’s Warring States period, and is said to appear in the chapter “Liang Hui Wang I” of the Mencius.

Although it expresses the stance a king should take toward his people, it also prompts us to reflect on how we treat others and to reconsider the way we interact with people going forward.

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Say what you mean, do what you say.4

It’s a phrase often used to boost motivation by declaring your goals, with the idea that you absolutely follow through on what you say you’ll do.

It’s a playful twist on the original expression “fugen jikkō” (silent execution), which means to act without saying anything, and it is said to have become widely known through Hiromitsu Ochiai’s use of it.

It conveys the importance of putting goals into words and how doing so solidifies your resolve to push forward.

By clearly expressing your goals in words, you may also start to see the path for how to move ahead.

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