A week’s worth of engaging lessons to introduce middle or high school intermediate English language learners, or mixed classes with both native speakers and ELLs, to reading comprehension skills and some important academic vocabulary.

Help students practice inferences, predicting, close reading, summarizing, and the use of context clues and word analysis (including recognition of some common roots and affixes.)

Now editable, with the contents in a word document as well as a pdf.

5 detailed lesson plans that include:

• An introduction to detective work and inferences, using a retelling of Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue (with an excerpt of the original as an alternative for more advanced students.)
• be a Word Detective’ categorizing and gap-fill practice
• A discussion of the Scientific Method and related vocabulary, followed by a short quiz
• Scanning, close reading, summarizing, and a timeline activity relating to "Solving the Mystery of Yellow Fever."
• A two-page excerpt from Treasure Island followed by a worksheet practicing context clues (and answer key)-- 4 pages (and an easier selection of the same for students with more limited English)
• Practice with roots, prefixes, and suffixes
• Word Detective Quiz

as well as crossword and game ideas for practicing academic vocabulary.