Creative Ways With Common Similes in English
Natasha Jovanovich, Serbia
Natasha Jovanovich ( Nataša Jovanović) has had a substantial 15 year - long experience in ELT, her ESOL experience being teaching advanced levels of proficiency , CAMBRIDGE ESOL exams, IELTS, TOEFL and ESP English. She has also run seminars with British Council Serbia and Montenegro, American Corners in Serbia and participated in ELT international conferences. Her translation of the book on gender issue by dr Helen Fisher, an American author and research professor at Rutgers University, USA was published in 2005.
E-mail: natasa-jovanovic@sbb.rs, natashabbc@gmail.com
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Background
As….. as comparisons
The activity was conducted in els language school, Belgrade, Serbia. The students who created the similes attended Cambridge PET & FCE exam preparation courses. Their names are: Ana Radojkovic, Mina Tomasevic, Tijana Petrovic, Marija Radojkovic, Elena Krsteski, Bojana Ridjicki, Marija Calasan, Tijana Sarcevic, Daniela Anastasov
Procedure
Pre-teach the class a number of ’as ............as’ similes commonly used in English such as ’ as proud as a peacock’ or ’ as good as gold’. Following this, suggest a few adjectives, and ask them to invent their own comparisons. Share the handouts with their ideas around the classroom and discuss them with students. See the box for further conventional similes and suggested adjectives for coming up with new creative ones. Encourage students to feel free and come up with humorous similes as well.
Acknowledgement : The idea for the activity is taken and adapted from Five minute activities by Penny Ur & Andrew Wright , Cambridge University Press
Conventional similes
As proud as a peacock
As good as gold
As warm as toast
As white as snow
As quick as lightning
As mad a hatter
As sweet as honey
As cold as ice
As drunk as a lord
As light as feather
As heavy as lead |
Creative similes
A list of creative similes my students have come up with mostly translated from Serbian, our mother tongue into English is as follows. Some may come across as rather unintelligible to international students due to intercultural differences. Hopefully the rendition will be at least hilariously funny.
EXAMPLES
As beautiful as angel
As good as bread
As mad as electricity
As ecstatic as a young monkey
As goggle-eyed as an owl
As lucky/leisurely as a kidney in the tallow
As quick as a rabbit
As gracious as a gazelle
As fast as a cheetah
As slow as a hungry year
as boring as a pest
as old as as a stale bread/cheese
as handsome as Apollo the God
as ugly as a thief
as evil as a devil
as drunk as the Earth
as poor as the church mouse
as black as the night
as proud as a Montenegrin
as deaf as a cannon
as stupid as a policeman
as boring as a diarrhea
as sweet as diabetes
as stupid as the night
as meek as a lamb
as funny as a cinema.
as beautiful as an icon.
as black as coal
as full as a ship
as cold as a rock
as heavy as a word
as strong as love
as red as blood
as soundless as silence
as fast as a plane
as quick as a rabbit
as smart as Maya the bee
as white as a snowman
as loyal as a dog
as stupid as a turkey
As funny as a circus
As good as bread
As famous as Madonna
As rich as Bill Gates
As limpid as tears |
REFERENCES
Penny Ur & Andrew Wright ,(1992) ‘Five minute activities’ A Resource Book Of Short Activities For Teachers, Cambridge University Press
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
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