Materials and equipment

Flip chart and markers
Handout 7.2: Brainstorming or Mind-mapping (2 pages)

Preparation

Be sure you are comfortable with the mapping process. See the example at the end of this unit and use it to practise, if necessary.
Copy handout.

STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS

1. Have tutors tell you what they know about brainstorming. You may want to write down their ideas.
2. Explain that you are going to work through an activity that helps with brainstorming.
3. Write “My dream garden” or another topic in the middle of the flip chart and circle it.
4. Discuss the topic and write related words and ideas as they come to mind. Draw lines from main words to other related words to create the spokes of a wheel.
5. Place words that are similar next to one another. This is called clustering. Explain to tutors that some people wait until they have finished mapping and then make clusters of related words, but it’s fine to do it while you’re making the original map.
6. Give each cluster a heading.
7. The clusters can now become sentences and paragraphs.
8. Ask tutors if they have used this process before. Would they be able to use it with their learners? Why or why not?
9. Help tutors problem-solve about using mapping until they seem comfortable with the process. Review with tutors the handout Brainstorming or Mind-mapping.
10. In small groups or pairs, have tutors do a mapping activity using a topic of their choice.