Lesson Plan

• Describe the gist of a passage in one concise sentence.
• Identify opinion markers and explain the writer’s viewpoint.
• Determine the writer’s purpose and the intended effect on the reader.
• Apply a five‑step strategy to infer hidden meaning in short texts.
• Evaluate peers’ analyses using a checklist for gist, opinion, purpose and intention.

• Projector and screen
• Printed excerpts (newspaper or textbook passages)
• Worksheets with the five‑step checklist
• Whiteboard and markers
• Sticky notes and highlighters

Begin by showing a short advertisement and ask students what hidden messages they think the ad is sending. Recall their prior knowledge of summarising a text (gist) and explain that today they will uncover opinions, purpose and intention that are not stated outright. Success criteria: students will correctly identify each element and justify their choices with textual evidence.

1. Do‑now (5'): Students read the advertisement and write the gist in one sentence (quick check).
2. Mini‑lecture (10'): Teacher models the five‑step strategy—gist, opinion markers, writer’s purpose, intention—using examples from the source.
3. Guided practice (12'): Whole‑class analysis of a provided excerpt; students highlight markers on the worksheet.
4. Pair work (10'): New excerpt analysed in pairs; students complete the checklist and then peer‑review each other’s work.
5. Whole‑class debrief (8'): Discuss common misconceptions, differentiate purpose from intention, and clarify any lingering doubts.
6. Exit ticket (5'): Individually write the writer’s purpose and intended effect for a third paragraph.

Recap the five steps and highlight how each helps uncover hidden meaning. Collect exit tickets as a quick retrieval check. For homework, students will select a paragraph from a newspaper article, apply the checklist, and bring their analysis to the next lesson.