Have students study poetic devices by reading and writing riddles. According to Read Write Think, an online resource for English teachers, riddles contain many poetic devices, such as metaphor, simile and abstract description. Provide students with riddles that use the poetic devices you are studying. Explain the devices, and then have students find them in the riddles. Ask students to explain how the poetic device made the riddle more effective. Ask students to write their own riddles using a particular poetic device.
Encourage English as a second language (ESL) students to give clear, precise explanations by solving and explaining riddles. According to Yoda Schmidt of Lanternfish, an ESL resource website, non-native speakers can use the solutions to riddles to practice precise speech. Have students read and solve riddles. Next, ask students to describe the solutions to the teacher in a concise, precise manner. If their explanations are confusing, the teacher must pretend to be confused, explain why and start again.
Use riddles as examples to teach rhetorical decision making. Place a riddle on the overhead or board, and have students read it out loud. Together, solve the riddle. Next, ask students to rewrite the riddle in their own words. They must not keep any of the original wording or sentence structure. Have each student read their riddles, and compare them to the original. Discuss the different rhetorical choices that each student and the riddle author made. Ask students to discuss which decisions were more effective and why. Encourage students to use this practice of weighing choices no matter what they are writing.