Figurative Language: Metaphor, Simile, Hyperbole, Personification
Name the device and then explain what it actually means -- labeling alone is not comprehension.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Do the labelling items and the meaning items in pairs, so the same line gets named and explained. The simile-metaphor distinction is the one students find easiest and the least useful; the meaning questions are where the work is. The clawed question — why did the writer choose that word — is the most valuable item on the board, because it moves from identifying a device to reasoning about a choice.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- HintReread the key sentence, or point back to the clue in the text or picture.Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer the literal meaning and the intended one, and ask which the speaker means.Log as cued
- ModelThink aloud: say how you worked it out, then the student says the answer and why.Log as cued
Adjust it
Read it aloud to the student and offer two choices from the start.
Ask the student to say which words gave them the clue, not just the answer.
Matching IEP goal
Given short texts or spoken prompts, Student will explain the intended meaning of figurative language in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Sixteen items that do two things: name the device — The stadium roared is personification; He runs like his shoes are on fire is a simile — and then explain the meaning, as in what is the speaker saying with My heart's a battlefield, or why did the writer choose clawed for the wind. The design is deliberate: labelling alone is not comprehension, and a student can pass a labelling test without understanding a line.
What to listen for
Watch for correct labels with wrong meanings. A student who identifies My heart's a battlefield as a metaphor and then says the speaker lives near a battlefield has the terminology and none of the comprehension, which is exactly what this board is built to expose. Notice whether the student can explain in their own words rather than restating the line.
Carrying it home
Figurative language is in every conversation. When someone says they are starving or freezing, asking what they literally mean is a two-second exchange that makes the whole category visible.
What's in this activity
- 'The stadium roared.' This is ___.
- a simile
- personification
- hyperbole
- an idiom
- 'He runs like his shoes are on fire.' This is ___.
- a metaphor
- personification
- a simile
- an idiom
- 'I've told you a million times.' This is ___.
- hyperbole
- a simile
- a metaphor
- personification
- 'Her room is a disaster zone.' This is ___.
- a simile
- a metaphor
- hyperbole
- personification
- 'My heart's a battlefield.' What is the speaker saying?
- They are in a war
- They feel torn and hurt
- They exercise a lot
- They live near a battlefield
- 'The wind clawed at the windows all night.' Why did the writer choose 'clawed'?
- To state the wind speed
- To describe the window frame
- To signal the season
- To make the wind feel like a threatening animal
- 'Time is money.' What does the speaker value?
- Clocks
- Buying watches
- Using time efficiently
- Being paid hourly
- 'The exam was a breeze' and 'the exam nearly killed me' are both ___.
- literal statements
- similes
- figurative exaggerations
- personification
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Seventh through twelfth, covering the range where figurative language is assessed.
- Do I need to sign in?
- No, all sixteen items play free.
- Why not just teach the four terms?
- Because the terms are the easy part. A student can label a simile perfectly and still not know what the comparison is saying, and it is the meaning that determines whether they understand what they read.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.