Like many ELA teachers, I like to use music as an inroad for teaching figures of speech. It’s not only accessible for struggling readers, but also delightful for me because I get to watch a room of too-cool-for-school teens rock out to my tunes.
For today’s post, I’d like to share my favorite lesson plan for introducing and reviewing figurative language with teens. It’s just the right balance of rigor and fun so that you can be sure your students are working their brains while they jam out.
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Materials Needed:
- Figurative Language in Music Handout
- Markers/colored pencils
- Figurative Language in Music Playlist
After having students take notes on figurative language, I distribute a lyric sheet and instruct students to create a key for color-coding hyperbole, metaphor, simile, personification, onomatopoeia, and imagery.
Figurative Language Key:
I tell students to follow along with the text as we listen to identify figures of speech. (However, it is not unusual that some of them will also sing along or dance in their seats.) The following are the excerpts I use from five songs, along with the color-coding and annotations that explain how the songs use figurative language.
“Killing Me Softly With His Song” by The Fugees
I like to start with this one because most students haven’t heard it, and they are shocked at how much they like it, especially after the drum kicks in. (I recently watched a student add this song to her Spotify playlist as we were listening to it.)
Text-Dependent Question: What does the speaker mean when she says that the singer is “Killing me softly with his song?”
“Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer
Sixpence None The Richer was all the rage when I was young, so I’d probably share it with my students even if we weren’t studying figurative language. However, it’s also perfect for this exercise because it’s basically all imagery.
Text-Dependent Question: How does the song’s use of imagery and personification contribute to the mood (atmosphere) it creates?
“Bull in a China Shop” by BNL
“Bull in a China Shop” is a song of metaphors that even has the word “metaphor” in it. How can you beat that?!
Text-Dependent Question: How do the metaphors in “Bull in a China Shop” contribute to the characterization of the speaker?
“Stitches” by Shawn Mendes
After I’m done touring the 90s with the previous songs, I move to the next century via a little Shawn Mendes. The adolescent penchant for hyperbole shines through brightly in “Stitches.”
Text-Dependent Question: How does the song use hyperbole to convey the speaker’s pain?
“Firework” by Katy Perry
I know I’m not the first—and I won’t be the last—to use “Firework” to identify similes and metaphors. I love it, though, because it’s a rockin’ anthem replete with figurative language.
Text-Dependent Question: How does the song’s use of simile attempt to inspire the listener?
After students color-code and annotate the songs, I have them select two of the songs and answer the text-dependent questions in PEEL paragraphs. In this way, they can practice not only identifying and analyzing figurative language in music, but also writing strong paragraphs that include text evidence.
As an extension activity, I have students select 8-12 lines of a song of their choosing and annotate it for figurative language. Then they write a paragraph to explain how that paragraph uses figurative language to support its main idea.
Want to try this in your classroom? Get the Figurative Language in Music Bundle at Teachers Pay Teachers.