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English lesson plan · 9th grade (Year 10 in England) · 30 minutes

Naming language techniques (GCSE)

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RL.9-10.4CCSS L.9-10.5.AEngland: GCSE English Language Paper 1 Q2England: GCSE English Literature

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Naming language techniques (GCSE).

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Literal or figurative meaning?; Figurative language: personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia

Leads to: Explaining the effect of a technique (GCSE); Semantic fields: groups of related words; Word classes in quotations (for language analysis)

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Literal or figurative meaning?; Figurative language: personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Is the phrase in capitals used literally or figuratively? The news BROKE MY HEART. (literal / figurative) → figurativePrompt: Could this really, physically happen as written?
  2. Which technique is used here? Big brown bears bounced on the bed. (alliteration / personification / metaphor / hyperbole) → alliterationPrompt: Is it an exaggeration, repeated starting sounds, a sound word, or a thing acting like a person?
  3. What does the figurative phrase suggest? "The idea snowballed." What does this mean? (it grew rapidly / it was thrown away / it became cold / it melted) → it grew rapidlyPrompt: Picture the literal image. What feeling or idea does it create?

Hook · 3 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: Naming language techniques (GCSE). Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Which technique matches this description? Describing something as if it IS something else, without 'like' or 'as'.
  • Step 1: Naming a technique is only the start: in GCSE answers you must also explain its effect.
  • Step 2: metaphor: Describing something as if it IS something else, without 'like' or 'as'.
  • Step 3: So the answer is: metaphor
  • Answer: metaphor
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Which technique matches this description? Placing two contrasting things side by side to highlight the difference. (simile / juxtaposition / metaphor / pathetic fallacy) → juxtapositionPrompt: Recall the key test for each technique: like/as? human actions? weather? s-sounds? exaggeration? contrast?
  2. Which technique is used here? The motorway was a river of red tail-lights. (pathetic fallacy / personification / sibilance / metaphor) → metaphorPrompt: Check for 'like' or 'as' first, then human actions, then exaggeration.

You do: independent practice · 7 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 3 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Which technique is used here? The fog clung to the streets like wet wool. (juxtaposition / personification / simile / metaphor) → similePrompt: Check for 'like' or 'as' first, then human actions, then exaggeration.
  2. Which technique matches this description? Giving human qualities or actions to something non-human. (juxtaposition / metaphor / hyperbole / personification) → personificationPrompt: Recall the key test for each technique: like/as? human actions? weather? s-sounds? exaggeration? contrast?

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Literal or figurative meaning?.
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: Explaining the effect of a technique (GCSE); Semantic fields: groups of related words; Word classes in quotations (for language analysis).
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-9.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Naming language techniques (GCSE)

Name

Date

Score/ 6

  1. Question 1

    Type the technique (in English) that matches this description. Placing two contrasting things side by side to highlight the difference.

    Answer

The Flood

The river had been rising for three days, but in the village nobody spoke of it. People hung out washing, argued about football and queued at the bakery as if the brown water swelling beneath the bridge were simply another neighbour, loud but harmless. Nadia noticed. From her bedroom window she watched the river swallow the lowest step of the old jetty, then the second, then the third. At night she lay awake listening to it muttering against the stones, a low, endless grumble that seemed to grow hungrier by the hour. On the fourth morning, the sky was the colour of a bruise. Rain did not fall so much as hang in the air, soaking everything it touched. Nadia's grandmother, who had lived in the village for seventy years, stood at the door, sniffing the wind like an old dog. "Pack a bag," she said quietly. "Now." They were halfway up the hill when they heard it. A roar. A crack. Then silence, which was worse. Below them, the bridge had gone. Where it had stood, the river surged on, carrying fence posts, garden chairs and a single red umbrella, spinning slowly, like a flower.

  1. Question 2

    Read "The Flood". Which technique is used in 'the sky was the colour of a bruise'?

    • A. onomatopoeia
    • B. pathetic fallacy, using the sky to reflect danger and pain
    • C. a rhetorical question
    • D. hyperbole

  1. Question 3

    Which technique matches this description? Repeating 's' and 'sh' sounds, often to create a soft or sinister effect.

    • A. personification
    • B. juxtaposition
    • C. metaphor
    • D. sibilance

  2. Question 4

    Which technique is used here? Her words were daggers.

    • A. simile
    • B. metaphor
    • C. sibilance
    • D. hyperbole

  3. Question 5

    Which technique matches this description? Describing something as if it IS something else, without 'like' or 'as'.

    • A. pathetic fallacy
    • B. hyperbole
    • C. sibilance
    • D. metaphor

  4. Question 6

    Which technique is used here? The traffic lights winked at us.

    • A. simile
    • B. personification
    • C. sibilance
    • D. pathetic fallacy

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Answer key: Naming language techniques (GCSE)

  1. 1. juxtaposition

  2. 2. B. pathetic fallacy, using the sky to reflect danger and pain

  3. 3. D. sibilance

  4. 4. B. metaphor

  5. 5. D. metaphor

  6. 6. B. personification