1. AAPI Women Voices: Untold Stories Through Poetry
LESSON 4
Connotation and
Denotation
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Definitions
A. Denotation
The literal, dictionary definition of a word
Example: Hollywood denotes a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California.
B. Connotation
The emotional, social, or cultural implications of a word that go beyond its dictionary definition. Connotations are on a spectrum of positive or negative.
Example: Hollywood connotes materialist, glamorous, and superficial lifestyles or beliefs.
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“I live in a house, but I want to feel like I live in a home.”
Denotation
Connotation
Home
The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family
Family, love, stability
“Home is where the heart is.”
Hollywood
A neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California.
Materialist, glamorous, superficial lifestyles
“A typical Hollywood plot”
Dove
A small wild bird that is related to pigeons
Gentle
“The new policy contains a dovish increase in spending.”
Shark
A large and often dangerous sea fish with very sharp teeth
Ruthless
“This loan shark charges 10% interest per week.”
Other pairs: Cheap vs. affordable, Intelligent vs. cunning, Determined vs. stubborn, nosy vs curious, chef vs cook
Curious and nosy denotation: eager to know or learn something
Curious connotation: Curiosity is usually seen as a positive trait; curious people are learning and discovering
Nosy connotation: Nosiness is seen as annoying, because it refers to an eagerness to know/learn personal or confidential information
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4. Negative Connotation & Positive Connotation
Words have varying degrees of negative (unfavorable) connotation or positive (favorable)
Negative Connotation
General Denotation
Positive Connotation
Intrusive, Nosy
Interested
Curious, Inquisitive
Stubborn, Inflexible
Persistent
Strong Willed, Determined
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5. Negative Connotation or Positive Connotation
thrifty, stingy, penny-pinching, cheap, economical, resourceful
uncommon, off-the-wall, bizarre, weird, exceptional, extraordinary
Words have varying degrees of negative (unfavorable) connotation or positive (favorable).
Decide whether these groups of words with similar denotations have positive or negative connotations.
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6. Negative Connotation or Positive Connotation
General Denotation
Positive Connotation
Stingy, Penny-pinching, Cheap
Thrifty
Economical, Resourceful
Off-the-wall, Bizarre, Weird
Uncommon
Exceptional, Extraordinary
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7. Negative Connotation or Positive Connotation
Same situation
What impression of each sentence?
The activist spoke passionately of his platform at the demonstration.
2. The vigilante fanatically preached his ideology at the riot.
Consider these two sentences that describe the same situation, but in different words. How does changing the word choice affect the impression of the sentence?
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8. Negative Connotation or Positive Connotation
Positive impression
The activist spoke passionately of his platform at the demonstration.
Impression: This person cares about changing the world.
1. Impression: this person wants positive change for the world
2. Impression: this person is crazy and sticks too much to his beliefs
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9. Negative Connotation or Positive Connotation
Negative Impression
2. The vigilante fanatically preached his ideology at the riot.
• Impression: This person is crazy and sticks to his beliefs even if they are wrong.
1. Impression: this person wants positive change for the world
2. Impression: this person is crazy and sticks too much to his beliefs
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10. “Guantanamo” by Shadab Zeest Hashmi
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Shadab Zeest Hashmi
Born in Pakistan and moved to the US at 18 to attend college.
Writes about the affect of British colonialism on Pakistani identity, relations between the United States and the Middle East, and Arab American issues
Works as an editor for MahMag World Literature (magazine) and a columnist for 3 Quarks Daily (blog and magazine)
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12. “Guantanamo”- Background
Short for Guantanomo Bay Detention center in the US Cuban Naval Base
Imprisons suspected members of al-Qaeda (Islamic militant group) and the Taliban (Islamic fundamentalist group), as part of the larger “War on Terror”
Infamous for its many human rights abuses, use of torture tactics on prisoners and lack of due process.
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13. “Guantanamo” by Shadab Zeest Hashmi
Scream
A guard forces you to urinate on yourself Another barks out louder than his dog the names of your sisters who live in the delicate nest  of a ruby-throated hummingbird Each will be a skeleton he says
Comfortable Home
Ask students to put circles around positive connotations boxes around negative connotations.
Bark: Negative connotation for animalistic, savage, non-human characteristics.
Nest: Positive connotation for beauty, delicateness.
Hummingbird: Positive connotation for beauty, delicateness.
Skeleton: Negative connotation for to be killed, death
Killed
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14. “Guantanamo” by Shadab Zeest Hashmi
Was there someone who gave you
seven almonds for memory,
a teaspoon of honey every morning?
Cardamom tea before bed?
Someone who starched your shirts
in rice water, then ironed them?
Held your chin
To say the send-off prayer
before school?
The detainee is remembering what his/her life was like.
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15. “Guantanamo” by Shadab Zeest Hashmi
You’re tied to a metal coil And memory  is a burnt wire.
Destroyed. Not
Not functioning, worthless, beyond repair
Burnt: Wire damaged or destroyed by fire. Negative connotation for not functioning, worthless, beyond repair
Pay attention to how the poet conveys her message with the concluding line.
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16. “Desert Flowers II” by Janice Mirikitani
Manzanar
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17. “Desert Flowers II”- Background
WWII, 1944: Executive Order 9066 issued by President Roosevelt incarcerated 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent in 10 rural concentration camps around the U.S.
An injustice born out of racism, wartime hysteria, and plain greed, the internment resulted in lost livelihoods and broken communities.
Janice Mirikitani and her family were incarcerated in Rohwer, Arkansas.
Additional information on internment and farming
Families lost their businesses and all belongings that they could not bring
Historically, many Japanese Americans/Japanese immigrants were farmers who played a large role in the agriculture industry. They continued to farm at the camps.
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18. Write your own “I Am” poem
Mirikitani uses “I” in the poem to refer to the community of incarcerated Japanese Americans.
You will be writing your own poem using “I” to refer to a community.
Pay attention to how Mirikitani uses it.
Pay attention to the concluding line.
Learn how poets write the concluding line of their poems. This will help you to write your own.
Additional information on internment and farming
Families lost their businesses and all belongings that they could not bring
Historically, many Japanese Americans/Japanese immigrants were farmers who played a large role in the agriculture industry. They continued to farm at the camps.
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19. Bamboo, mimosa, eucalyptus seed. Resilience, strength, courage.
Negative or positive connotation?
Put circles around negative connotations
boxes around positive connotations in story handout
Bamboo, mimosa, eucalyptus seed.
Resilience, strength, courage.
Ask students to put circles around positive connotations and boxes around negative connotations.
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20. Positive Connotations
Put circles around negative connotations
boxes around positive connotations in story handout
Bamboo, mimosa, eucalyptus seed.
Resilience, strength, courage.
Ask students to put circles around positive connotations and boxes around negative connotations.
Positive connotation:
bamboo means resilience, mimosa means strength, eucalyptus seed means courage
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21. Where are you really from? Go back to where you belong What are you?
“Desert Flowers II” by Janice Mirikitani
Janice was born in the U.S.
incarcerated because of her race, and got asked:
What are you
Where are you really from?
Go back to where you belong
What are you?
Ask students if they got asked these questions.
Explain to students Asian Americans are perceived as perpetual foreigners even when many of them were born in the U.S.
We don’t ask white people these questions. It shows Ignorance and not acknowledging that a non-white can also be American.
Why is it ignorant to ask U.S.- born people of color these questions?
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22. Negative or positive connotation?
Put circles around negative connotations
boxes around positive connotations in story handout
I am the wind that shaves mountains,
twisted barbed wire of Amache Gate, Poston, Manzanar, Rohwer, Tule Lake
Amache Gate, Poston, Manzanar, Rohwer, Tule Lake are Japanese American Concentration Camps
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23. Negative & positive connotations
I am the wind that shaves mountains,
twisted barbed wire of Amache Gate, Poston, Manzanar, Rohwer, Tule Lake
wind is a positive connotation for being strong.
twisted barbed wire is a negative connotation of the abuses in the camps.
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24. Negative or positive connotation?
I am the fist of sand that pushed my mother against a wall of silence.
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Negative connotation
I am the fist of sand that pushed my mother against a wall of silence.
There were frequent sand storms in the camp.
Her mother had to keep her feelings inside amid abuses.
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26. Fold-It Poem in your handout
1. Each student enters his/her name at the top line. Each student starts his/her Fold-It Poem.
2. Writer 1 will write one line except the last word of poetry in the first box. Writer 1 will write the last word of their line in second box. Before passing it on, Writer 1 will fold the paper so that Writer 2 can only see the last word of line A.
3. Pass it on to Writer 2.
4. Writer 2 will write line B using the last word of Writer 1’s last word as the first word of his/her line.
5. Repeat the process until every writer has gone once.
6. Pass the poem back to the student with the name at the top. The student unfolds it and read it back to the team.
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Connotation Homework
Homework section of your handout
Practice writing connotations
Finish reading “Desert Flowers II”
Identify at least 5 additional positive or negative connotations in the rest of the “Desert Flowers II”.
Complete discussion questions
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Connotation Homework 2
Read Sahra Vang Nguyen’s biography in the “AAPI Women Voices” story
Analyze the connotations in Sahra Vang Nguyen’s “Idolize” poem
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29. AAPI Women Voices: Untold Stories Through Poetry
Curriculum Developer:
Megan Roberto
Curriculum Contributors:
Prabhneek Heer, Kristy Phan
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