Author: Hafsah Temi Aminu, Mary Oluyemisi AINA (Nigeria) | Published on 1 September 2022
Prompts
Teacher: Listen to the following sentences. Say which ones are colourful and which ones are plain:
| A | B | |
| 1 | Mr Ojo eats like an elephant. | Mr Ojo eats a lot. |
| 2 | My friend is as brave as a lion. | My friend is brave. |
| 3 | His son is the star of the family. | His son is bright. |
Introduction:
A simile is used to compare two things using ‘as’+ ‘as’ or ‘like’. (Simile is related to the word ‘similar’.)
Stage 1
Use pictures/videos of snow and a white set of teeth. Have pairs of other items that have at least one thing in common. Ensure that one of the items is a natural one, e.g snow, leaf, hyena, charcoal, rake, etc.
Present the pairs of pictures to learners. Encourage them to look closely to identify what each pair has in common.
Stage 2
Write ‘as’ + adjective + ‘as’ and ‘like’ on the board. Explain to learners that these two words can be used to compare two items.
Stage 3
Ask learners to make some sentences from the pictures/videos using two similar objects from the pictures.
Examples:
Milk teeth are as white as snow.
The board is as black as charcoal.
The baby is as beautiful as a rainbow.
She sings like a bird.
He is strong like a hyena.
She is swift just like a cat.
Stage 4: Check understanding.
Ask learners to think of one natural thing (e.g. animal, colour, mountain, river) that can be compared with another (natural or man-made thing).
Present a table with two rows A and B. Ask learners to match the words in A with the words in B.
| A | B |
| red lips | giraffe |
| sky | sea |
| vast land | watermelon |
| long neck | blue shirt |
Stage 5
Ask learners to write sentences using the words they have matched from the table.