Hand each pupil a clear copy of a kid-friendly comic strip from the newspaper. Hide the words inside the speech balloons so that the conversation between the characters is open to interpretation. In a group discussion, ask each child to guess what the message could possibly be. Ask them what hints provided by the pictures led them to their assumptions. Once each pupil has had his turn, reveal the original words inside the balloons. With similar questions, discuss how the pictures support this particular text.
A class spent solving riddles will hardly seem like work, and may even coax participation out of tentative learners. Begin the lesson with one riddle. An example may include: "I am green. I lay eggs. I used to swim. Now I hop. If you kiss me I will turn into a prince." The answer to the riddle is: a frog. Once your pupils guess the answer, discuss the unconscious mental steps they took to come to that conclusion. Share more riddles. For homework, ask each child to write his own riddle and share it in class.
Show clips of one or two movies during class. You may want to start with a silent movie, in which the characters usually overact to compensate for the lack of audio. Pause the clip after each scene and ask the children to interpret the storyline. Ask what clues from the characters helped them draw these conclusions. Next, show a clip of a regular movie with the sound turned off. Your pupils will need to look for more subtle clues in the scenes in order to make inferences about the story.
This approach may work nicely in an advanced class to integrate inferences with social or political studies. Choose articles from reliable news sources to share with your students. Pick articles that discuss an upcoming event, such as a hurricane, an election or a movie release. Ask the students to point out the facts stated in the article. Then ask them to hypothesize the outcome while explaining their reasoning. Lighthearted topics, such as the success of an upcoming movie, will give the students an opportunity to discuss their own interests during class. If you choose a more serious topic, such as an environmental or political issue, guide the conversation in a noncontroversial direction while allowing the students to share their fact-based opinions.