Teach the basic concept of foreshadowing using examples from a well-known movie or fairy tale. This lets students learn the key elements of foreshadowing without worrying about understanding the language or plot of a more difficult book. Play a clip from "The Little Mermaid" or "Toy Story," both of which foreshadow a future event. Ask the class what the clip indicates based on their knowledge of the entire movie. Using their answers, write the key elements of foreshadowing on the board and ask for additional examples from other well-known stories.
Understanding the function and purpose of foreshadowing makes the abstract concept seem tangible to students. Demonstrate the purpose of foreshadowing by playing foreshadowing clips from popular movies and asking how removing that specific instance of foreshadowing would affect the plot, characters or audience. Record the answers on the board. Ask how moving the instance of foreshadowing to a different point in the plot would affect the components of the movie. This lesson also helps students recognize their role as the audience by underscoring the relationship between foreshadowing and the reader.
Give each student a timeline of the story's major events and ask them to find foreshadowing instances for each event. Use short stories such as "The Lottery" by Susan Jackson. This lesson helps students recognize the obvious, literal instances of foreshadowing along with the subtle, symbolic examples. Use this exercise to discuss the different levels of foreshadowing.
Ask students to write a short story that includes two examples of foreshadowing. Encourage them to use different venues of foreshadowing, such as changing the weather or foreshadowing an event through character dialog. Employing foreshadowing in their own work encourages students to examine the structure and function of their own words as related to foreshadowing. This lesson is most effective toward the end of the unit, after the students demonstrate a sound understanding of literary foreshadowing.