Metaphor activity

Metaphor actvity

This is a picture of a famous museum in New York City. It is called the Guggenheim Museum of Art. Every time I look at this picture, I think of a giant wedding cake. The circles that surround the structure give me the vision of sweet layers of vanilla cake. The cars in front of the building are tasty chocolate figures ready to be eaten, and the tree branches add a taste of mint.

I do this activity with my advanced ESL students. First, I ask them to read the poem silently. Next, we read it together. Once we have become familiar with the reading, we identify the metaphors. Then, I ask them to close their eyes, and I read the poem to them. Finally, I ask them to activate their senses as I finish reading the poem.

For assesment you can cut out different magazine pictures and bring them to class. Have the students write their own poems based on the images they choose using as a sample the above reading. Once they have written their poems, they can read it to the class.

What do you think about this activity? Would you add anything to it?