Figurative language is full of imagery and therefore appeals to the imagination of the reader. It is very useful when trying to engage and persuade the reader of an opinion or argument. Explicitly instruct your students to look beyond the explicit and literal meaning of the figurative language to what imagery or emotion the statement is intending to evoke. Simile Saying that one object/idea is like another. Similes contain the words like or as or than. E.g., Driving dangerously is like playing Russian Roulette with your life. He was as tall as the Empire State Building. Metaphor Saying that one object/idea possesses the qualities of another. E.g., The sea was a washing machine, churning with rage. My life is a blank journal just waiting to be filled. Hyperbole Exaggerating a statement to emphasise a point. E.g., I have told you to tidy your room millions of times. She was so hungry that she could eat an elephant. Personification Giving non-human entities (animals, objects, concepts etc.) human qualities. E.g., The ever-encroaching waves are hissing bad fortune at the foreshore development. My unfinished homework glared up at me from my desk. Alliteration Repeating the same letter or sound to start two or more words in a group. E.g., The feisty, ferocious feline leapt out from behind the curtain. Slowly, I crept out from my hiding place, horribly humiliated. This teaching guide is continued on the next page...
...This teaching guide is continued from the previous page. Onomatopoeia Using a word or words which sound like the thing or sound they are describing. E.g., The gravel crunched underneath my heavy footsteps. Above us the fireworks fizzled and popped, lighting up the sky. Idiom An expression specific to a particular language, especially one having a meaning other than its literal one. E.g., It s raining cats and dogs. Painting the town red.
For the Teachers Please note: any activity that is not completed during class time may be set for homework or undertaken at a later date. Crazy Comparisons, Noisy Words and Fantastic Phrases Activity Description: This activity presents students with various questions about figurative language, with a particular focus on similes, onomatopoeia and hyperbole. In the first activity, Crazy Comparisons, students are required to complete a list of sentences with similes based on pictures provided. They must then complete a word search and reveal a secret sentence. The second worksheet, Noisy Words, asks students to identify onomatopoeic words in various sentences, construct sentences using onomatopoeic words, and select the correct onomatopoeic word to fit various images. Finally, Fantastic Phrases, requires students to identify hyperbole in various sentences and explain the reasoning behind their decision. They then have to complete each of the hyperboles provided by filling in the blanks with an appropriate word from the word bank, and use their answers to solve a riddle. Purpose of Activity: To develop and enhance students understanding of figurative language, particularly in regards to similes, onomatopoeia and hyperbole. KLAs: English CCEs: Recognising letters, words and other symbols (α1) Recalling/ remembering (α3) Interpreting the meaning of words or other symbols (α4) Interpreting the meaning of pictures/ illustrations (α5) Searching and locating items/ information (α52) Structuring/ organising extended written text (β21) Generalising from information (β38) Justifying (θ48) Using correct spelling, punctuation, grammar (π9) Using vocabulary appropriate to a context (π10) Suggested Time Allocation: This lesson is designed to take approximately one hour to complete 20 minutes per activity. This Item Description is continued on the next page...
For the Teachers - continued This Item Description is continued from the previous page. Crazy Comparisons, Noisy Words and Fantastic Phrases Teaching Notes: In order to complete the activities, students must already possess some understanding of figurative language. Most, but not all of the information that they need is provided for them, as this lesson is for Years 4-5 and thus assumes that they already have some knowledge of literary techniques from their previous studies. Students may need to be reminded of some of the basics if necessary, a short refresher lesson could be conducted before completing this activity. After completing each worksheet, mark the answers together as a class. Encourage students to read out the response that they have written and ask them to justify their answers. Allow other students to provide constructive criticism. Follow Up/ Class Discussion Questions: Encourage students to search through the stories and poems that you have in your classroom for evidence of figurative language. Specifically, ask them to locate examples of similes, onomatopoeia and hyperbole, as these were the focus of the activity.
Q1. A simile is a type of figurative language device when a comparison is made between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile always uses a comparative word such as like or as. We read and say similes everyday, even though we may not realise it! Each of the sentence starters below matches with a picture. On the lines provided, complete these sentences with a simile based on the image that you believe appropriately describes the subject. The first one has been done for you. The boy ran The girl swam His eyes were Her temper was The water was The child is The soap was The soldier was as fast as a cheetah.! Hint: Remember that there are two simile sentence patterns subject + verb + like + noun (e.g. the boy acts like a fool) and subject + verb + as + adjective + as + noun (e.g. he is as tall as a giant).
Q1 Q2. The word search below contains the names of all of the animals and objects from the pictures in Question One. Find all of these, then use the leftover letters (from left to right, top row to bottom row) in the spaces below to reveal a secret sentence. List your words here: C S K I M I L N V H F I S H O E O S E C T I A R L E E E L T U S C E F U T L E A A N D H E A A N N P S O F F H U O C E A N N!! Hint: words may be written forwards, downwards or diagonal. Note that the word eel is written forwards.
A simile is a type of figurative language device when a comparison is made between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile always uses a comparative word such as like or as. We read and say similes everyday, even though we may not realise it! Q1 The boy ran The girl swam His eyes were Her temper was The water was The child is Each of the sentence starters below matches with a picture. On the lines provided, complete these sentences with a simile based on the image that you believe appropriately describes the subject. The first one has been done for you The soap was The soldier was as fast as a cheetah. like a fish. as blue as the ocean. as fiery as a volcano. as cold as ice. as playful as a kitten. slippery like an eel. as brave as a lion.! Hint: Remember that there are two simile sentence patterns subject + verb + like + noun (e.g. the boy acts like a fool) and subject + verb + as + adjective + as + noun (e.g. he is as tall as a giant).
Q2. The word search below contains the names of all of the animals and objects from the pictures in Question One. Find all of these, then use the leftover letters (from left to right, top row to bottom row) in the spaces below to reveal a secret sentence. List your words here: Cheetah Fish Kitten Ice Eel Volcano Lion Ocean C S K I M I L N V H F I S H O E O S E C T I A R L E E E L T U S C E F U T L E A A N D H E A A N N P S O F F H U O C E A N N!! Hint: words may be written forwards, downwards or diagonal. Note that the word eel is written forwards. S I M I L E S A R E U S E F U L A N D H E A P S O F F U N!!
Crazy Comparisons Question One: In this question, students were provided with a list of sentence starters, each of which matched one of the pictures provided. Students had to complete these sentences with a simile based on the picture that they believed most appropriately described the subject. In the example provided, the sentence starter was The boy ran and the matching image was the cheetah, as the sentence became The boy ran as fast as a cheetah. Student responses may vary, as they may have matched the pictures in different ways. This is fine, as long as appropriate comparisons were made. A model response is provided below. Model responses: The boy ran as fast as a cheetah. The girl swam like a fish. His eyes were as blue as the ocean. Her temper was as fiery as a volcano. The water was as cold as ice. The child is as playful as a kitten. The soap was slippery like an eel. The soldier was as brave as a lion. Question Two: This question required students to find all of the names of the animals and objects from the pictures in Question One in a word search. After they had done this, they then had to use the leftover letters (from left to right, top row to bottom row) in the spaces provided to reveal a secret sentence. Based on the pictures, the words students needed to find were: Model responses: Cheetah Fish Kitten Ice Eel Volcano Lion Ocean One these had been located in the word search (forwards, downwards or diagonal) the leftover letters should have spelled out similes are useful and heaps of fun!!. The correctly completed word search has been provided on the following page. This answer guide is continued on the next page...
...This answer guide is continued from the previous page. C S K I M I L N V H F I S H O E O S E C T I A R L E E E L T U S C E F U T L E A A N D H E A A N N P S O F F H U O C E A N N!!
Crash! Boom! Bang! These words are all examples of onomatopoeia a figurative device where a word imitates the sound it is describing. Roar, for instance, is an onomatopoeic word, as it literally describes the sound of a lion. Q1 The door of the old house creaked as it swung in the wind. As he approached the table, the waiter slipped and dropped his dishes with a loud clatter. Georgia had a hard time hearing her teacher over her grumbling stomach. The lion s mighty roar made the zebra on the Savannah bray in terror. The car zoomed past the finish line and screeched to a halt. I love meditating in the forest the soft gurgle of the stream and the warble of birds in the trees is very relaxing. Q2 Read through the following sentences and circle the onomatopoeic word in each. Note that some sentences contain more than one! The word cloud below contains many examples of onomatopoeic words. Using these words, write short passages that describe the scenarios below. Each passage must contain at least four onomatopoeic words. At the beach Splash Crash Clatter Snap Sizzle Hum Squeal Giggle Plop Roar Tick Rumble Whoosh Clatter This exercise is continued on the next page...
!...This exercise is continued from the previous page. Playing sports In the kitchen Q3 Write an appropriate onomatopoeic word next to each of the images below.
Crash! Boom! Bang! These words are all examples of onomatopoeia a figurative device where a word imitates the sound it is describing. Roar, for instance, is an onomatopoeic word, as it literally describes the sound of a lion. Q1 The door of the old house creaked as it swung in the wind. As he approached the table, the waiter slipped and dropped his dishes with a loud clatter. Georgia had a hard time hearing her teacher over her grumbling stomach. The lion s mighty roar made the zebra on the Savannah bray in terror. The car zoomed past the finish line and screeched to a halt. I love meditating in the forest the soft gurgle of the stream and the warble of birds in the trees is very relaxing. Q2 Read through the following sentences and circle the onomatopoeic word in each. Note that some sentences contain more than one! The word cloud below contains many examples of onomatopoeic words. Using these words, write short passages that describe the scenarios below. Each passage must contain at least four onomatopoeic words. At the beach Splash Crash Clatter Snap Sizzle Hum Squeal Giggle Plop Roar Tick Rumble Whoosh Clatter It was a sunny, warm weekend, and the beach was packed with people. Children squealed as they ran over the hot sand and splashed into the water. The waves crashed against the shore as parents opened up picnic baskets, with the cutlery they had brought clattering in its containers. This exercise is continued on the next page...
!...This exercise is continued from the previous page. Playing sports Thunder rumbled overhead as the hockey player came in for the final shot. Would he make it? Taking aim, he swung back his stick and snap! He had hit the puck so hard that his hockey stick had broken! The crowd roared as the puck whooshed through the air and into the goal, scoring victory for the team. In the kitchen The chef was cooking in the restaurant kitchen. As he worked, the room filled with the noises of vegetables sizzling in the frypan, the hum of the oven, and the clatter of dishes. The clock on the wall ticked loudly, reminding him that he only had five minutes until the dish was due to be served. Q3 Write an appropriate onomatopoeic word next to each of the images below Boom! Ding dong Buzz Snap!
Noisy Words Question One: In this question, students were required to read through the provided sentences and circle the onomatopoeic word in each. They were informed that an onomatopoeic word is one that imitates the sound it is describing, such as roar, which literally describes the sound a lion makes. Some sentences contained more than one onomatopoeic word. Correct responses: The door of the old house creaked as it swung in the wind. As he approached the table, the waiter slipped and dropped his dishes with a loud clatter. Georgia had a hard time hearing her teacher over her grumbling stomach. The lion s mighty roar made the zebra on the Savannah bray in terror. The car zoomed past the finish line and screeched to a halt. I love meditating in the forest the soft gurgle of the stream and the warble of birds in the trees is very relaxing. Question Two: This question provided students with a word cloud containing many examples of onomatopoeic words. Using these words, they were asked to write short passages to describe the scenarios listed. They were informed that each passage must contain at least four onomatopoeic words. Model responses are provided below, with the onomatopoeic words underlined. Model Reponses: At the beach It was a sunny, warm weekend, and the beach was packed with people. Children squealed as they ran over the hot sand and splashed into the water. The waves crashed against the shore as parents opened up picnic baskets, with the cutlery they had brought clattering in its containers. Playing sports Thunder rumbled overhead as the hockey player came in for the final shot. Would he make it? Taking aim, he swung back his stick and snap! He had hit the puck so hard that his hockey stick had broken! The crowd roared as the puck whooshed through the air and into the goal, scoring victory for the team. This answer guide is continued on the next page...
...This answer guide is continued from the previous page. In the kitchen The chef was cooking in the restaurant kitchen. As he worked, the room filled with the noises of vegetables sizzling in the frypan, the hum of the oven, and the clatter of dishes. The clock on the wall ticked loudly, reminding him that he only had five minutes until the dish was due to be served. Question Three: In this question, students were required to write an appropriate onomatopoeic word next to each of the images provided. The correct responses are shown below. Correct responses: Boom! Buzz Ding dong Snap!
The teacher gave me a ton of homework today! This sentence is an example of hyperbole an exaggerated statement that is not meant to be taken literally. The homework does not actually weigh a ton, as that would be impossible it is simply implying that there was a lot of homework. Q1 Identify whether or not each of the following sentences contains an example of hyperbole, and explain the reasoning behind your decision. Harold was very hungry at lunch, so he ate a large sandwich. My school backpack is so loaded down with books, it is as heavy as an elephant! When the little boy grazed his knee, he cried so much that his eyes went red and puffy. I have a million tasks that I need to complete by the end of the day. The uncomfortable shoes that I wore dancing on Friday night nearly killed me!
Q2 Complete each of the hyperboles on the left by filling in the blanks with an appropriate word from the word bank. Then, use the order of the letters next to the words to complete the riddle in Question Three. Q3 1. Jane said that she will be back in just a. 2. My maths teacher is the smartest woman in the! 3. I am to see the new sci-fi movie. 4. My friend can run as fast as. 5. My computer is as old as the. 6. I waited in the cafeteria line. 7. I worked my fingers to the! Using the answers from Question Two, solve the following riddle Word bank world (O) dying (T) bone (!) dinosaurs (E) second (F) forever (P) lightning (S) You will notice that beside each word in the word bank is a letter. When you put a word in a sentence, this letter matches with the sentence number. Above each sentence number in the spaces below, write the letter that corresponds to it based on your Question Two answers. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they? 1 2 2 3 4 3 5 6 4 7
The teacher gave me a ton of homework today! This sentence is an example of hyperbole an exaggerated statement that is not meant to be taken literally. The homework does not actually weigh a ton, as that would be impossible it is simply implying that there was a lot of homework. Q1 Identify whether or not each of the following sentences contains an example of hyperbole, and explain the reasoning behind your decision. Harold was very hungry at lunch, so he ate a large sandwich. No, this sentence does not contain hyperbole, as nothing has been exaggerated Harold s sandwich probably was large. My school backpack is so loaded down with books, it is as heavy as an elephant! Yes, this sentence does contain hyperbole, as the weight of the backpack has been exaggerated it cannot literally be as heavy as an elephant. When the little boy grazed his knee, he cried so much that his eyes went red and puffy. No, this sentence des not contain hyperbole, as nothing has been exaggerated his eyes probably did go red and puffy when he cried. I have a million tasks that I need to complete by the end of the day. Yes, this sentence does contain hyperbole, as the number of tasks has been exaggerated though possible, it is highly improbable that there were a million. The uncomfortable shoes that I wore dancing on Friday night nearly killed me! Yes, this sentence does contain hyperbole, as it is an exaggeration that the shoes were killing the person - it is just implying that they were extremely uncomfortable.
Q2 Complete each of the hyperboles on the left by filling in the blanks with an appropriate word from the word bank. Then, use the order of the letters next to the words to complete the riddle in Question Three. 1. Jane said that she will be back in just a second. 2. My maths teacher is the smartest woman in the world! 3. I am dying to see the new sci-fi movie. 4. My friend can run as fast as lightning. 5. My computer is as old as the dinosaurs. 6. I waited forever in the cafeteria line. 7. I worked my fingers to the bone! Q3 Using the answers from Question Two, solve the following riddle. You will notice that beside each word in the word bank is a letter. When you put a word in a sentence, this letter matches with the sentence number. Above each sentence number in the spaces below, write the letter that corresponds to it based on your Question Two answers. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they? F O O T S T E P S! 1 2 2 3 4 3 5 6 4 7 Word bank world (O) dying (T) bone (!) dinosaurs (E) second (F) forever (P) lightning (S)
Fantastic Phrases Question One: In this question, students were introduced to the figurative language technique of hyperbole an exaggerated statement that is not meant to be taken literally. They were required to identify whether or not each of the provided sentences contained an example of hyperbole, and explain the reasoning behind their decision. Model responses have been provided below. Model responses: Harold was very hungry at lunch, so he ate a large sandwich. No, this sentence does not contain hyperbole, as nothing has been exaggerated Harold s sandwich probably was large. My school backpack is so loaded down with books, it is as heavy as an elephant! Yes, this sentence does contain hyperbole, as the weight of the backpack has been exaggerated it cannot literally be as heavy as an elephant. When the little boy grazed his knee, he cried so much his eyes went red and puffy. No, this sentence des not contain hyperbole, as nothing has been exaggerated his eyes probably did go red and puffy when he cried. I have a million tasks I need to complete by the end of the day. Yes, this sentence does contain hyperbole, as the number of tasks has been exaggerated though possible, it is highly improbable that there were a million. The uncomfortable shoes I wore dancing on Friday night nearly killed me! Yes, this sentence does contain hyperbole, as it is an exaggeration that the shoes were killing the person - it is just implying that they were extremely uncomfortable. Question Two: This question asked students to complete each of the hyperboles provided by filling in the blanks with an appropriate word from the word bank. To do this, they should have used both their understanding of hyperbole and correct sentence structure, as many of the sentences simply didn t make sense when incorrect words were inserted. The correct competed sentences can be seen below, with the added word underlined. Correct responses: Jane said that she will be back in just a second. My maths teacher is the smartest woman in the world! I am dying to see the new sci-fi movie. This answer guide is continued on the next page...
...This answer guide is continued from the previous page. My friend can run as fast as lightning. My computer is as old as the dinosaurs. I waited forever in the cafeteria line. I worked my fingers to the bone! Question Three: In this question, students were required to use the answers from Question Two to solve a riddle. The riddle asked: The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they? Students were provided with the following instructions to do so. You will notice that beside each word in the word bank is a letter. When you put a word in a sentence, this letter now matches with the sentence number. Above each sentence number in the spaces below, write the letter that corresponds to it, based on your Question Two answers. If students had correctly answered Question Two and followed the instructions accurately, they would have generated the following answer: F O O T S T E P S! 1 2 2 3 4 3 5 6 4 7