- Warm Up
A cliche is a phrase that has become bland and unexciting through overuse. It may have started off original and interesting, but is no longer so. Teacher begins by asking the class for examples of some cliches - phrases or descriptions that lots of people say all the time. The following sorts of things might emerge:
it was raining cats and dogs
as shiny as a diamond
as fast as a cheetah
at the end of the day
I lost track of time
head over heels in love
Once this brief exercise has been completed, each student needs to write their own list, giving as many cliches as they can. There could be a prize for the student who comes up with the most!
- Group Poems
Students get into teams with the others on their table. They need to sort through their lists, and make a poem out of their cliches, aiming for five to ten lines for the completed poem. They can add connectives if they like, to help the poem make grammatical sense, or they can just leave the lines as they are. Each team then nominates someone to read the group poem to the class.
- Creating 'Striking Lines'
Cliches started out as ways of saying something in an interesting way. It is not interesting any more because everyone says it! Students now need to make them interesting again. Each student needs to go through their list of cliches, and, for each one, try and make it more interesting. This could be done by asking what each cliche is trying to say, and then thinking of how to say that thing in a more exciting, original way. For example:
Cliche: "it was raining cats and dogs"
What does this mean? It was raining a lot
Original way of saying it: "the rage of demons was pouring from the sky"
Cliche: "she was head over heels in love"
What does this mean? She felt very strongly
Original way of saying it: "her heart was a clump of lava scratching against her ribs"
The key here is to remember that there are no right or wrong answers, except to say that each student should aim for lines they haven't encountered before. Other than this it really is a case of being playful with language.
Anything goes!
Competition
Students come together back in their groups, this time with their new lists. Each group has to nominate the 'most striking line' from the collection of lists they now have in front of them. They need to collaborate in order to choose it. If they really can't decide they can come up with a new line. Each team then nominates some to read their line out, and they have a battle with the other teams. The teacher chooses a winner for Most Striking Line.
