Analogies

Monica Hoogstad, UK

Monica is a freelance Business English and Legal English teacher, with eighteen years experience in ELT. She is particularly keen on coaching Advanced Learners. Her current interests are NLP and Multiple Intelligences, the cognitive function of metaphor, and teaching while having fun (and the other way around). E-mail: monicahoogstad@yahoo.co.uk

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Introduction
Background
Activities
Answers
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Except for being a vegetarian, embedding in his works hidden messages to bewilder future generations, being part of a mysterious conspiracy theory that occupied the major part of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter sermon last year, and putting the Brown clan in the multi-millionaires' club, Leonardo da Vinci is also known as an artist and a scientist. As far as I'm concerned, the only code to crack here is how Da Vinci managed to intertwine his artistic genius with his scientific talents, and give the world superb paintings and sculptures, as well as outstanding engineering inventions. According to humanistic psychology, brilliant scientists think like artists, because an affinity to the arts enables them to see patterns. Meaning emerges from context and connectedness, and the learning process thrives on the innate skill to perceive underlying sequences and relationships even between apparently unconnected items. The ability to synthesise information facilitates the combination of the jigsaw pieces and the re-creation of the whole. Mainstream, foursquare, analytical thinking relies on logic and builds up on familiar patterns. Maverick, lateral, playful thinking relies on its associative function, which triggers new ideas to fill old patterns. Groundbreaking ideas connect like pieces of a puzzle, forming the scaffolding for a wider view of the whole.

Background

One of the techniques commonly used as an ideas generator is brainstorming, which is defined as a free association of different thoughts to form new ideas. But what usually happens is that the same group of people get together and keep coming up with the same old chestnut over and over again. Effective brainstorming needs to break this vicious circle and that is made possible by a series of creative thinking tools, providing fresh stimuli and introducing a completely new approach. One distinct group of tools are analogies - allegories, comparisons, similes, parables and metaphors. They help us unearth images whose existence we had always taken for granted, thus paving the road that leads to new concepts and solutions. Wedding sounds, pictures, fragrances, tastes and feelings to words translates into positive tension and excitement surrounding the discovery of new truths. The appeal to the senses unleashes newly-gained powers, giving rise to images that not only enrich the language, but also put reality in an entirely new perspective. The capacity to analogise opens the door to creative thinking, as it builds a bridge between the two hemispheres, symbolically carrying knowledge from the right to the left brain.

As a Business English teacher conducting in-company training programmes, I couldn't help noticing that my students' goals go beyond a nicely polished business jargon or a few tips on e-mail writing and presenting. What they desperately need is a revolutionary thinking approach they can apply in the workplace to solve problems, to come up with innovative strategies, to carry out projects, to build healthy, trusting relationships with their clients. The following activities aim to built up a new thinking tenet, relying on an unorthodox and apparently illogical method, that attempts to cause a shift in their mindset and prepare them for a change in perceptions and concepts. Developing lateral thinking skills is bound to grant them access to a myriad of new possibilities and to unlock their creative potential. Crack that code and you'll be following in Da Vinci's footsteps!

The purpose of Activities 1 and 2 is to familiarise students with the analogising technique. Activity 3 is based on the pattern employed in similarity/difference jokes, such as:

Q: What is the similarity between a dog and an engineer?
A: Both have intelligent eyes, but can't talk.

Q: What is the difference between men and government bonds?
A: Bonds mature.

Apart from the 'ha-ha effect', these one-liners can also produce the 'aha effect', by juxtaposing unrelated concepts and finding unexpected connections between them. Ask your students to think what analogies they can make for their ideas. Request them to find similarity or difference patterns between their ideas and cooking a meal, building a house, gardening, brewing beer, fighting illiteracy, running for president, etc. Invite them to extrapolate and decide how these can help them understand and use their ideas better. Linking unusual ideas is at the heart of creative thinking. Gutenberg, originally a goldsmith, combined the wine press and the coin punch to create movable type printing. How will you inspire your students to be creators and innovators?

Activities

Activity 1

Some idioms are based on analogies, such as proud as a peacock or blind as a bat. Try to recreate the idioms below by matching the two columns.

There is some space provided for your own similes. Feel free to create new ones. Don't imitate, innovate!

Activity 2

To get used to the process of analogising, fill in the blanks with words from the box to complete the comparisons. Keep a good monolingual dictionary at the ready. Again, there is some space provided for you to try your hand at creating your very own comparisons. Give a good harrowing to your brain, and remove the clods and weeds of conventionality. Go on, try something new today!

.................is to notes as book is to words.
Car is to factory as.................is to bakery.
Orange is to carrot as.............is to tomato.
Maple is to tree as...................is to flower.
Honey is to hydromel as apple is to...........
Hammer is to strike as...............is to lash.
Polite is to rude as..................is to balmy.
Fish is to water as horse is to...................
Try is to endeavour as announce is to........
There is to their as knight is to..................
Summit is to up as...................is to down.
Scales are to..................as fur is to rabbit.
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................

Activity 3

This activity takes the analogising technique further. A simple comparison is not sufficient any longer. At this stage, the students' capacity to fantasise and to combine sounds, images, smells, tastes and tactile stimuli is required. You'll need a CD with some chill-out tunes or baroque music or anything you consider appropriate to trigger relaxation and daydreaming. The object of the game for the students is to discover hitherto hidden connections between different ideas and concepts, and to generate new and innovative solutions.

Example: Advertising is like cooking a meal.
Pleasant food aromas, like freshly-baked bread or freshly-ground coffee or chocolate, are likely to induce mouth-watering reactions. Can we attach a smell or other distinctive feeling to our product to anticipate the forthcoming excitement?
Instruct your students as follows:
Visualise an excursion into a location that has nothing to do with your line of business. Close your eyes, listen to the music, and picture a trip through a real or imaginary place, e.g., Amazonian forest, USS Ship Enterprise, Einstein's brain, the world of Van Gogh's paintings or Bach's fugues, Jules Verne's submarine taking you to the deepest part of the ocean, etc.
Write down analogies, relationships and thoughts between what you saw and your line of business. Focus on how you've experienced the imaginary journey through all your senses.
Look for ways to use these relationship and thoughts. Look for ways to piggyback on ideas and ways to combine ideas.
The following starters might help you make out-of-the-box analogies, but you're always welcome to come up with your own statements:

Managing a company is like / is the opposite of...
Delivering high quality is like / is the opposite of...
Being an HR Manager is like / is the opposite of...
Manufacturing a product is like / is the opposite of...
Packaging a product is like / is the opposite of...
Keeping a sharp eye on finances is like / is the opposite of...
Marketing a product is like / is the opposite of...

Answers

Activity 1
1.c, 2.b, 3.a, 4.c, 5.f, 6.g, 7.e, 8.d, 9.h , 10.i, 11.j

Activity 2
1. music, 2. loaf, 3. red, 4. hydrangea, 5. cider, 6. whip, 7. parky, 8. pasture, 9. intimate, 10. knight, 11. abyss, 12. fish

Conclusion

Analogies have a powerful impact on people's ability to control the agenda, as they tend to redirect a person's thinking once they are raised. Encourage your students to insert vivid, memorable metaphors and analogies in their advertising, speeches, meetings, presentations or negotiations. By developing their lateral thinking capabilities through analogising, you actually teach your students how to market their ideas, products and services in a fresh way, which will surprise, attract, seduce and convince their customers.

References

Brainstorming, creative and lateral thinking through analogies at www.brainstorming.co.uk

Cullins, J., 2002, Attract More Buyers to Your Product: Use Metaphors, www.articlehub.com/authors/Judy-Cullins.html

Ferguson, M., 1987, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in Our Time, New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc.

Von Oech, R., Creative Whack Pack. 64 creativity strategies to provoke and inspire your thinking, Stam

Please check the English for Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.