Question and answer activities involve reading passages to students -- or having them read the passages themselves -- and then answering questions that pertain to foreshadowing. For instance, after a particular passage is read the teacher may ask the students what they think happens next. The students are expected to identify why, specifically, they came to the conclusion about what they think happens next. The teacher asks them to point to a specific word or sentence in the passage that leads them to believe one thing or another.
A visual activity for teaching foreshadowing is that of filling in comic strips. Comic strips are useful foreshadowing tools because they stimulate readers and give readers visual cues that help formulate predictions of upcoming events. In a comic strip activity, give students a comic strip that tells a short story. Cut the story short so that it does not have a conclusion, but provide blank comic boxes where students are instructed to fill in their own endings. The endings must be based on foreshadowing techniques that make sense given how the story unfolded thus far. Compare your full story to the foreshadowed sections that the students create to see which students come the closest to the real ending.
A journaling activity lets students keep track of their foreshadowing predictions while you read a novel together. Select a novel to read as a class and read one chapter together at a time. At the end of the chapter, give students a writing assignment to write in their journals about what they think will happen in the upcoming chapter. Once you read that next chapter, give students a chance to share their predictions from the prior reading to see whether they foreshadowed the events correctly.
As you read a story together as a class, stop periodically to ask students what types of things are changing and what new details have surfaced. For instance, if a particular object, such as a magical wand, was discovered in a chapter of the book, this is a detail that is worth noting because the wand may become an important weapon later on in the story. Similarly, students should pay attention to, and track, when the weather changes, when the seasons change or when it goes from daytime to nighttime in order to help foreshadow events.