Shiv on Learning

A TED talk by James Geary about metaphor and its importance raises the question how much importance they should be given in ELT.

Key Points:

• We utter about 6 metaphors a minute.
• Metaphorical thinking is essential to how we understand ourselves and others, and how we communicate, learn, discover and invent.
• Metaphor is a way of thought before it is a way of words.
• Metaphors give us more vivid understanding than a literal description would. Metaphor is the creation and detection of patterns.
• We cannot ignore the literal or the metaphorical meaning of words Metaphor influences decisions by activating analogies.

We use phrases like “Just chill out”, “That is cool” and “a bright idea” very frequently. Literal translation does not work in many cases and students have to hear and use metaphors in context.

The approach we use in English City involves lots of natural language, means students encounter metaphors and idioms quickly and often and it quickly becomes part of their vernacular. Being a member of the English City community and interacting with other students and native speakers students come across and begin using metaphors much quicker than they would in a classroom situation. Allowing lower level student to use metaphors in context with confidence.

Note this recent dialogue between two Chinese students:

Student A: China is like a baby when you think about politics - it needs time to grow up.

Student B: You are just a dreamer, China has many problems and it is complicated to fix them.

Student A: Rome was not built in a day, people must be patient and things will get better in the future.

What is surprising is that most have not encountered these metaphors in their English lessons before they are upper intermediate level students. Browsing through some popular ESL textbooks it is difficult to find any use of metaphor for lower levels at all, and it is often difficult to provide a context for introducing metaphors. However, if a student were to live in a country where the language was spoken they would be exposed to metaphorical language right away.

Further Reading:

• Metaphors We Live by - Goerge Lakoff and Mark Johnson
• One Stop English - Vocabulary: explaining the metaphor: article & lesson plans by Lindsay Clandfield