Literal or Figurative
Like cement or concrete
Literal language
Jane is pointing at the sky. She wants you to...
Look where she is pointing
What a rip off
It's too expensive
Hold your horses
Hold on a minute
Wait a second
(Person isn't ready so you need to wait)
Johnny dropped his pencil but it rolled under your desk. He is reaching for it
Pick it up and hand it to him
Is flexible and does not mean exactly what it says
Figurative Language
Two kids in your class are talking during independent reading. The teacher looks up puts her pointer finger to her mouth
Be quiet
No talking
Don't add fuel to the fire
Don't make it worse
Cool as a cucumber
Bethany forgot her backpack. The teacher tells everyone to get out a piece of paper
Ask her if she wants a piece of paper
Take out an extra piece of paper and hold it out toward her
Come on defense! OOOO! Nice tackle!
Literal
Dad is working on the computer. You start to talk to him but he holds up his pointer finger and doesn't look at you
Wait
Hold on
One moment
Let's call it a day
Let's be done
We're finished here
Let's stop
Have mixed feelings
Feeling confused
Feeling different emotions at the same time
(ex. Sister is going to college. Happy she is happy but sad that she is leaving home)
Kyle hurt his foot and needs to use crutches. He's in the lunch line to get food
Ask him if he needs help carrying his food to the table.
IF he says yes, follow Kyle to his seat and set down his food
This problem is hard. Let's tackle it together
Figurative
Mom is on the phone. You ask her where the Lucky Charms cereal is and she motions her pointer finger to the cabinet door.
The cereal is behind the door in that cabinet
I'm all ears
I'm listening
You have my attention
Let's play it by ear
Let's figure it out when we get there
Let's decide that later
Let's see how it turns out and decide what to do
You invite Santiago to your house to play games. You see him get confused and keeps pressing the wrong buttons. He's losing really bad and doesn't look like he's having fun
Press pause and teach him the controls and about the game
Ask him if he's played before. If he has not played the game before, teach him how to play
We are having a ball!
Figurative
The dog peed on the carpet. Mom is mad! She looks at the dog and motions her arm and pointer finger to the backyard door.
She wants the dog to get out
She wants the dog to go outside
Its a bit of a gray area
Not black or white
Not good or bad
I always get a kick out of that
I enjoy that very much
I like when that happens
Catherine looks frustrated. She is holding her pencil very tightly and keeps trying to erase her paper but it leaves a big smear.
Offer her your eraser
Ask her if she wants to use your eraser