AIR Time

 AIR Time

For my 4th-8th graders, I typically start at least one session per week with "AIR time".  This simply means that I have written on the whiteboard on my wall one verbal analogy, one idiom, and one riddle.  I typically try to have them be related to the seasons/holidays.  For example (Back to School)...

A - Book is to library as food is to ____________.

I - "Hit the books"

R - What school supply is the king of the classroom?

For many students, but particularly students that are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, these types of activities that target figurative language, multi-meaning words, semantic relations, and "playing with words" is very challenging.  I typically have one of the students read each item.  For the analogy, I ask if the students know all the words because you can't answer if you don't know what all the words mean.  A great way for my Deaf students to show me that they know is to sign them.  If they don't know a word, then I present that particular word in a personally relevant and/or highly relatable context.  I teach my students that a verbal analogy is like a math sentence.  It has to be equal on both sides.  So, if there's a "thing" and "where we find it" on one side then there has to be a "thing" and "where we find it" on the other side.  The relationships have to be the same/equal.  

When we focus on the idiom, I often will act out or discuss the literal interpretation first.  If I have an ASL interpreter working with me, I ask them to sign it in "English" so they don't give it away.  The reality is if they interpreted "hit the books" they would just sign "study" and my student would likely miss that English-sign connection.  Once we've established that the idiom can't possibly mean the literal interpretation, I try to present it in a highly-relatable context.  For "hit the books" I might talk about finding out that they have a science test in two days so they better "hit the books."  This is a great way to work on using context to determine meaning.    

For the riddle, I typically let them guess and then try to give some hints.  The reality is, most of the time, I end up providing the answer.  While some students may still look confused, if the student laughs or like many of my pre-teen students, tries not to laugh or I get an eye roll, then I know they have understood.  

Playing with language is very challenging for most of my students...so we have frequent practice with direct and explicit instruction.