Are your advanced learners reading authentic Latin this year? Whether you're teaching Caesar, Cicero or Virgil, use some of these strategies to map out your unit. What do you focus on? Consider taking small passages and making that the...

What do figures of speech have to do with financial literacy? Take an interdisciplinary look at The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money to find out. Young analysts read about the cubs' spendthrift ways and how Mama and Papa Bear...

Students create pieces of writing about a creature they have created. They examine the parts of speech and how they are used in their writing to see how they can write more specifically.

In order to read and respond to Toni Morrison's A Mercy in this figurative-language lesson, students discuss the differences between a literal and a figurative interpretation of a text.  They explore figures of speech using a...

Have you ever watched a political speech and felt your heart beat a little faster, and your opinion either solidify or begin to slightly change? Rhetorical devices can be a strong tool in an effective and powerful speech. A short lesson...

Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and...

Discover alliteration found in picture books by Pamela Duncan Edwards. Then, dive into a read aloud of Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak. This practice sets the stage for budding poets to create their own acrostic poem,...

Invite your class to investigate racism and civil rights by analyzing the great Dr. Martin Luther King's speech. Your learners will read the words from the "I Have a Dream" speech and analyze the political and racial overtones. They will...

Students know the meaning of a given list of figures of speech and stylistic devices. They identify examples of these terms in the music and songs with which they are familiar. They examine how to apply the knowledge of these terms to...

Examine three speeches while teaching Aristotle's appeals. Over the course of three days, class members fill out a graphic organizer about ethos, pathos, and logos, complete an anticipatory guide, read speeches by Martin Luther King Jr.,...

Choose your words carefully. Scholars begin by reading a line of Atticus's closing speech in To Kill A Mockingbird. Readers work independently on their note catchers, then complete a Think-Pair-Share activity with partners. They finish...

Students practice using prepositions by writing on the tracing of a human.  In this parts of speech instructional activity, students create a giant poster using the tracing of a classmate's body and fill in the outline using...

Say precisely what you mean. Scholars analyze the importance of Washington's precise language in paragraphs eight and nine of the "Atlanta Compromise" speech. They interpret his figurative language and add it to their Idea Tracking...

Oh, no! Everyone is getting sick! Young French speakers use French expressions regarding physical health, some of which are idioms. With the use of health expressions provided in the lesson plan, pairs work together to write stories that...

Class members may "think themselves accurs'd" when they first hear of an assignment that asks them to create a motivational speech. After studying the Saint Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V; however, they will count...

Animals oftentimes elicit various characteristics which make them symbolic or representative of human feeling, action, or emotion. The class creates horse characters out of clay to show character action and symbolism. This is a great...

Spice up your writing! Your amateur writers will benefit from concentrating on understanding and improving verb use in writing. An introductory activity addresses weak verbs. A second exercise helps them see the importance of strong...

What is the "Faurisson Affair”? What is “Holocaust Revisionism”? What does freedom of speech entail? Do revisionists have a right to voice their ideas? Such questions are at the heart of a richly detailed, thought provoking lesson...

Why is it important to use precise language? Participants explore this question in the fourth activity in a series of 15 on effective instruction. Perfect for all content areas, the activity promotes appropriate language choice through...

Students translate and define idioms between English and Spanish.  In this ageless idioms lesson, students discuss elements of expression and how a language's vernacular does not always make sense.  Students illustrate a...

Sixth graders research railroad idioms.  For this idiom lesson, 6th graders read through a glossary of different railroad idioms and their meanings. They illustrate a chosen idiom.

Students explore the use of common idioms and deduce the correct meanings of idioms.

In this idioms worksheet, students choose the answer that is closest in meaning according to the preceding conversation. All of the sentences include different idioms and slang.

Young scholars research why people wear hats, caps or bonnets. They investigate various occupations, world costumes, sports, or idioms around hats. Students become more aware of cultures different from their own within this lesson.