Have them work in teams to find examples of several types of figurative language, cite them, and explain their meanings. Go for a nature walk with your students, and have them describe what they feel, see, hear, smell, or touch using figurative language. Ask students to write a brief paragraph describing their favorite place. When students are finished, they read the paragraphs to their classmates.
Classmates try to guess the place being described. With younger children, assemble a grab bag of interesting items. They may be colorful, tactile, or otherwise unique. Have groups of students draw an item from the bag, then work together to describe it using figurative language. There are so many ways you can engage students using task cards! Not a member? No worries… subscribe here and the password will be emailed to you! If you know you want to grab the bundle of task cards or the full year of figurative language bell ringers , find more information here.
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Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. The Benefits of Teaching Figurative Language When we think about teaching reading and writing to children, we might first consider phonics, parts of speech, spelling, and grammar. What is figurative language? Understanding figurative language increases reading comprehension Similarly, understanding figurative language enhances reading comprehension.
As a bonus, understanding figurative language makes reading more fun, too! Figurative language makes communication poetic and beautiful Figurative language makes communication and language beautiful, colorful, and vivid. Abstract ideas and concepts become more clear with figurative language Figurative language also makes ideas and concepts easier to visualize.
Creativity in the writing increases Mastering figurative language helps children become better writers. English becomes more accessible for second language learners For second language learners, understanding and recognizing figurative language is essential to achieving fluency.
How to Teach Figurative Language There are many ways to teach figurative language to students. If you want to really engage students in your figurative language lessons, ideas include: Analyze figurative language in music Gather a few popular and appropriate songs that include figurative language. You can do a similar activity with clips from movies or TV shows.
Complete a scavenger hunt Provide students with a collection of storybooks, magazines, poems, etc. From the parlor looking inward to the hall, when the winter sun is nearly over, the blue hall paper turns the ceiling white to blue. As if a sea had passed on through these walls. Notice the imagery of white turning to blue and then the analogy of the sea. Beside the hut, rabbit skins hung drying. Standing, he was a blackjack oak, yet kneeling and frozen he was tall still. A beard is not literally a forest, but it becomes a forest in this passage.
Two disparate entities — lips and a pitchfork handle — are likened to each other in a simile. The hermit is not literally a blackjack oak, yet the passage metaphorically continues to place him in the context of nonhuman nature. The figurative language is compelling itself, but it also serves a function, says Dickinson. He is not separate from nature; he is nature. For Rosalind Palermo Stevenson, author of several works of fiction, figurative language is important not only in description but also in developing thematic ideas.
This is the case in her recently published novel, The Absent , set in the second half of the 19th century. Note this passage from the point of view of her narrator:. There was a wolf with us on the floor…Sprawled on its side like a dog sleeping, but it was a wolf that had been skinned and stuffed.
I began petting it in the dream, though Lucie Beale refused to pet it, and as I was petting it,. The visual experience of this passage is important to Stevenson, but also what the imagery suggests. Sometimes one word can take on several meanings. I thought the sound of the word was a good, abrupt reminder that even if Lizzie may be seeing a spirit, she is still rooted in a physical environment.
Yet he admits that a given character may seem to call for a bit of figurative language. It was difficult enough on a Sunday morning. By Sunday evening, the words he hoped to use felt as heavy as the air in the church, burdened with the scent of floor wax and old hymnals. Some days he thought about his future with sadness and uncertainty. Other days, like a middle-aged pitcher sent to the showers, he felt the sweet anticipation of release.
Where figurative language comes from Where do those good metaphors, similes, those clever analogies come from? Or do you just reason it out? Do you do a little planning here and there?
Task: Give students a list of comparative adjectives. Challenge students to compose hyperbole based on each of these adjectives. We have a complete guide to hyperbole in literature which can be found here. Definition: An idiom is a figurative use of language that cannot be understood from a literal understanding of the words alone.
Idioms are a part of the language and each language develops its own unique idioms over time. Idioms are similar to other figures of speech except that while most other figures of speech can be the original conceptions of the writer, idioms are already in existence within the language. Task: You can help students bridge the gap between their understanding of figures of speech and idioms through this activity. Provide students with a list of idioms on various themes.
Discuss these and ensure they have a sense of their meaning. Challenge the students to compose their own figures of speech on each of these themes using the sample idiom as a starting point. Definition: A metaphor makes a comparison between two unrelated things by stating one thing is the other thing. This is usually done by highlighting or suggesting a shared quality or characteristic between the two distinct elements.
Task: Metaphors are commonly used in speech, poetry, plays, songs, and stories. To give your students practice identifying metaphors in a range of contexts, organize them into groups and provide them with a range of the types of reading materials listed above. Have students read and listen to these materials and identify examples of metaphor in each, compiling a list as they go. Definition: Oxymorons combine two opposing elements into a single phrase or sentence.
They can be used to create a range of effects, comedic, dramatic, or thought-provoking. Organise the students into groups and challenge them to come up with as many other common examples as they can. As an extension exercise, ask the students to compose some original oxymorons too. Definition: Personification is a special type of metaphor where human actions or feelings are ascribed to a non-human thing.
This figurative use of language is most commonly associated with poetry and literary fiction, but we can often find it in our daily speech too. Task: Organize the students into pairs. Instruct Partner 1 to compile a list of 10 nouns, these can be inanimate objects such as a pencil , a chair etc or natural phenomenon such as moon , stars , sun etc. Have Partner 2 compile a list of 10 verbs associated with the actions of human beings, for example laugh , tell , sing etc. When both partners have completed their lists they can use their nouns and verbs to write their own personification sentences.
Similes make a comparison by suggesting a similarity between two things, rather than making a comparison by stating that one thing is something else — such as we find with metaphors. Task: Begin this activity by asking students to compile a list of say 10 nouns and 10 adjectives. Challenge the students to form original similes utilising the nouns and the adjectives on their list to set up a simile comparison. For example, if they choose the noun cat and the adjective smart they must generate the final element to complete their simile, for example, The cat is as smart as a computer.
They should do this until they have completed a simile for all items on their lists. Encourage them to strike a balance between the similes that use like to make the comparison and those that use as.
Definition: This figure of speech most often occurs when a part of a thing is used to represent the whole of a thing. However, it can also occur when the whole of a thing is used to stand for a part of a thing.
The first type is called microcosm and the second, macrocosm. This trope is better conveyed through illustration than explanation. Example: All hands on deck! Task: Organize students into groups and give out copies of old newspapers. Challenge the students to spot examples of synecdoche in the various articles and then highlight them.
They may wish to use two separate colors for identifying the two different types mentioned above. Schemes are a figurative use of language that deviates from the usual mechanics of a sentence. This may be in terms of syntax, sound, or word order.
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