“Think and Link” ~ Teaching Students to Solve Advanced Verbal Analogies

Few language exercises provide as much bang for the buck as analogy challenges do! Students learn to think critically and logically as they evaluate word meanings, connotations, characteristics, parts of speech, and many other possible relationships connecting words and ideas. With more advanced analogies, students engage in verbal reasoning that requires an extensive vocabulary and the ability to discern subtle variations in meaning in order to select the best answer.

At more than one school, I coordinated the WORDMASTERS CHALLENGE™, a national vocabulary competition for students in grades 3 – 8 in which students are challenged to master multiple meanings of advanced vocabulary words. The “meets” involve completing analogies that incorporate those words, so students must also know how to solve all forms of analogies.

In my experience, the BRIDGE SENTENCE method is the best strategy to use in solving analogies, and the one that helps students the most. In fact, my advanced students explain it as “talking in their heads,” mentally constructing a sentence that describes a relationship.

You can find FREE ANALOGY PRACTICE SHEETS for grades 1- 12 and FREE DOWNLOADS that further explain the bridge sentence strategy at English for Everyone. The leveled worksheets allow you to choose. for example, 7th or 8th-grade analogies for use with 5th-grade gifted students if you need more advanced analogies for your classes! And, of course, the WordMasters site has practice tools and sample analogies as well.

Students sometimes have to revisit their “bridge sentences” and make them more precise. I came up with the phrase “think and link” to reinforce this idea with students. The bridge sentence often needs to be extended, in the same way that links are added to a chain to make it longer. A link is complete when the phrasing is precise enough to lead to only one possible answer choice.

Here is a short tutorial (less than 4 minutes) that demonstrates the “Think and Link” concept. You can also view this video HERE. Your students might think through these a little differently, and I would encourage them to explain their thinking! Pause the video and discuss the choices! The answers are at the end of the video.

Students as young as kindergarten can learn to recognize and create all kinds of analogies (e.g. part to whole; synonyms, antonyms, function, etc.). Analogies can be incorporated into all disciplines ~ math, science, social studies, and literature ~ and presented in many ways. For example, rather than giving students a vocabulary list, have them race to solve or even create analogies that include the new words. After reading a nonfiction article, have students work in teams to create a few analogies based on the reading. In math, there are many possibilities! These Triple-A Analogies for older students present a type of analogy you’ve probably not seen in any workbook!

Student-created analogies demonstrate learning and can be displayed for all to solve. We did this with WordMaster™ vocabulary to help prepare for meets, and students added to the display throughout the year.

There are many resources and ideas other than the ones pictured and described here. If you can suggest specific ones, especially those that help students with more advanced analogies, please comment below so that we can all benefit!

If you’re interested in other types of contests, you might like to check out the Contests and Competitions page, where you will find a great list PLUS a planning calendar.

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