UT ea arab ea Language OT mare le Lai e-Lay40 ET 4) One way to make your writing and speaking more interesting is to use figurative language. Learning English is like climbing a mountain. (Learning English is challenging.)Tuer Asimile is a way to describe something by comparing it to something else, using /ike or as. similar to: He swims like a fish. A simile is a way to describe something by comparing it to something else, using like or as. similar to: The bed was as soft as a cloud.Read the common similes below. Complete each simile with like or as. He’s__ busy as a bee. Islept___a log. She haseyes___a hawk. Weran____ fast as lightning. Metaphors A metaphor is another kind of figurative language that compares two things to help explain an idea. The stars were sparkling diamonds in the night sky.etl) ately Sometimes the meaning behind a metaphor can be more indirect or implied. My children have blossomed into confident and mature adults. ey elateley The angry sky stared Her sunny face lit up the down at the town. room. ied 1%Similes and Metaphors Read the sentences. Which ones are similes? Which are metaphors? My computer is a dinosaur. Her words were as sweet as honey. My best friend is like a walking dictionary. His eyes are open windows to his heart.Speaking and writing Skill: Figurative language usage CONSIDER THE IDEAS Maxine Hong Kingston, a Chinese-American writer, was born in the United States, but her parents spoke only Chinese at home. In her autobiographical novel, The Woman Warrior, she describes her discomfort speaking English after years of silence in American schoo! and narrates @ painful experience in Chinese school, Read this excerpt. Then discuss the questions with a group. When | went to kindergarten and had to speak English for the first time, | became silent. A dumbness—a shame—still cracks my voice in two, even when | want to say “hello” casually or ask an easy question in front of the check-out counter or ask directions of a bus driver. | stand frozen, or | hold up the line with the complete, grammatical sentence that comes squeaking out at impossible length. "What did you say?" says the cab driver, or "Speak up," so | have to perform again, only weaker the second time. A telephone call makes my throat bleed and takes up that day's courage Not all of the children who were silent at American school found voice at Chinese school. One new teacher said each of us had to get up and in front of the class, who was to listen. My sister and | had memorized the lesson perfectly. We said it to each other at home, ‘one chanting, one listening. The teacher called on my sister to recite first. It was the first time a teacher had called on the second-born to go first. My sister was scared. She glanced at me and looked away; | looked down at my desk. | hoped that she could do it because if she could, then | wouldn't have to. She opened her mouth, and a voice came out that wasn't a whisper, but it wasn't a proper voice either. | hoped that she would not cry, fear breaking up her voice like twigs underfoot. She sounded as if she were weeping and strangling. did not pause or stop to end the embarrassment. She kept going said the last word, and then she sat down. When it was my turn, voice came out, a crippled animal running on broken legs. You splinter in my voice, bones rubbing jagged against ‘one another. | was loud, though. | was glad | didn't whisper. Exercise from Maxine Hong Kingston’s short story 1 How did Hong Kingston's communication difficulties affect her identity? 2. Inwhat ways can you relate to Hong Kingston's story about language and silence? 3, Discuss the similes and [ISEEBHGIS (figurative language) Hong Kingston uses. Which ones affected you the most? 4. Give some examples of similes or metaphors used in your first language.