Sometimes teaching figurative language can be too much like losing the humor behind a good joke through over explaining. When a teacher explains too much, the magic can be lost. On the other hand, when students understand the tools that turn words into art, the literary world takes on a new and fantastic dimension.
To help language arts and English students to remember literary vocabulary, have a Figurative Language Theatre day. The following lesson plans and activities will help students to remember and use various figures of speech.
Activities:
Simile and Metaphor:
This is a great activity for kinesthetic learners who learn best when they are moving.
- Place students into writing groups for the purpose of constructing a brief skit with the title Simile and Metaphor Go to the ___________________.
- Tell students that the first character, Simile, can only talk in similes (comparisons between two unlike things using “like” or “as”) and Metaphor can only talk in metaphors (direct comparisons between two unlike things).
- At the end of class have the student pairs perform their skits while the other students try to guess what their characters are describing.
Onomatopoeia:
Onomatopoeia is a rather complicated term for a sound word that nearly any toddler can master (What does the dog say? “Woof! Woof”), so how do you get students to remember the meaning and, worse yet, the spelling of a word with eight vowels?
Ask any advertising executive. Sometimes an obnoxious or silly song is just the thing to get a product (or in this case a literary definition) into a consumer’s head.
- Have your students sing the Onomatopoeia Song to the tune of “Old MacDonald”: “O-n-o-m-a-t-o-p-o-e-i-a… with a ‘ruff-ruff’ here and a ‘baa baa’ there… here a ‘vroom,’ there a ‘buzz,’ everywhere a ‘splat! Splat!’ O-n-o-m-a-t-o-p-o-e-i-a!”
- For further fun with kinesthetic-tactile learning, hand out small posters that have indivicual letters from the word “onomatopoeia” on the front.
- Ask students to hold up their letter each time the class sings it.
- For fun, start out singing the song very slowly, and work up to a faster and faster pace.
Oxymoron:
This learning activity that appeals to students with a variety of learning styles.
- Place students into small groups.
- Explain to students that an oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory or opposing terms are used together (ex: “artificial intelligence” or “virtual reality”) to describe something.
- Allow students a few minutes online to find some oxymoron examples (a quick web search should render students with a multitude of websites with oxymoron lists). Visual-spatial students will especially enjoy the graphic-rich online experience.
- Ask each group to choose several of the most vivid or humorous oxymorons they can find to share with the class.As class, discuss what makes each student example an oxymoron.
- Then have students work in their groups to make up a few original oxymorons. Students should craft a definition for each oxymoron they come up with.
- Enjoy sharing with the class.
Hyperbole:
Exaggeration that makes a statement can be a lot of fun, even when the activity is teacher led.
Teach your students about hyperbole by using a Johnny Carson style monologue:
Example:
Teacher: My brother is poor.
Students: How poor was he?
Teacher: He was so poor that he went to Wendy’s and put a Frosty on layaway.
Teacher: That dog was so small.
Student: How small was he?
Teacher: He was so small that his fleas had to use dog repellent to keep him off of their backs.
Humor is a great hook for vocabulary memorization, too. Students may even enjoy sharing the humor in a classroom newspaper!
