ABSTRACT
The point of this topic is that metaphors are common in the language and can have
a ‘hidden influence’ on the way we think and feel. My aim is to raise children’s
awareness of this and to encourage them to question the use of metaphors and
begin to ‘unpack’ the meaning that may lie behind them. Attempting to do this
can bring immediate practical results. I once gave a talk on creative writing to a
Y5 class, during which the teacher wondered how I overcome writer’s block when
I hit ‘that barrier’. I said ‘I put a doorway in it and walk through’. ‘Or,’ said one
pupil, ‘you could jump in a hot air balloon and sail over!’ This led to a game where
we spontaneously created over twenty metaphors that felt better than the limiting idea of ‘blocks and barriers’.
