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Connotations and Colours
Learning aim: to give students a practical guide to
understanding how literature often works around
connotations and symbols.
A good lesson starter for A-Level literature, it encourages
the students to think about connotations in texts.
1. Give the students a coloured square each (do not let
the other students see the colour)
2. Ask a series of questions about the colour, such as:
a. If your colour was a place where would it be?
b. If your colour was an emotion what would it be?
c. If your colour was a temperature what would it be?
d. If your colour was a famous person who would it be?
e. If your colour was a novel what would it be?
This list could be endless, but around ten questions
are usually sufficient.
3. Students then have to read their answers back to
the group, ‘If my colour was an emotion it would be
sadness’ etc, who have to guess the colour.
4. After the students have read out all of their answers
check to see if they were right – they usually are.