Oral prompts
oral prompts, whether isolated words, riddles or puzzles, provided by the teacher can be a way of getting a reaction from the class. The student is not asked to engage in an open debate at this stage, but simply to react spontaneously. The response to the prompts is individal and open.
Word association
This is a kind of controlled brainstorming which has the following steps:
1. The teacher dictates a number of words (around 20) subtly related to the topic he/she has in mind.
2. Each student add three word to each example. After a while, each original word has a group of related item a round it. The total number of words goes up from 20 to about 80.
3. The student compare their lists in small groups. They usually enjoy sharing the associations they have made, as they can reveal different personalities.
These liste generate a lot of ideas from which the student can start making connections, suggesting topics and/or building up a story.