Mr. Otis, an American ambassador, wants to move his family into Canterville Chase in England. However, Lord Canterville warns that the house is haunted by a 300-year-old ghost. Despite this, Mr. Otis does not believe in ghosts and decides to move in anyway. The lesson aims to help Spanish-speaking English learners comprehend the story through strategies like think-alouds, QAR, IEPC charts, and double-entry reading logs to build comprehension skills and engage them with the text.

1. The Canterville
Ghost
Lesson created for Level
2 English Learners
By: Leslie Goldsberry

2. The Students
• 13-14 year olds, 2nd in year high school (2 ESO)
Spanish speakers (living in Jerez de la Frontera,
Spain)
• For part of a bilingual program, where 33% of
their subject area classes (math, social studies,
and physical education) are given in English, along
with their regular English language class.
• This adapted version of The Canterville Ghost
(Wilde & Hart, 2009), is part of their English
language curriculum

3. Junta de Andalucía:
Standards for 2 ESO Bilingual
Students
Standards for 2 ESO Bilingual
Students
• Comprehension of specific and general information in
different texts, in print and digital, authentic and
adapted, about familiar subjects and related to other
content areas.
Use of reading comprehension strategies: identification of
text theme, with help from textual and non-textual
elements; utilization of previous knowledge of the theme;
inferencing meaning from context, from visual elements,
from comparing similar words and phrases in the
languages students already know.

4. Lesson Objectives
• Students will be able to identify the questions they have
about the text, and also relate it to past experiences.
Using metacognition, students will identify the sources of
answers to questions using QAR.
• Students will be able to evaluate text more profoundly
by predicting and engaging the text using an IEPC chart
Students will be able to defend assumptions from text
through double reading logs and resolve doubts using the
group collective knowledge.

5. Strategy 1- Think Aloud
• Show students how to think metacognitively while
reading a text
Model questioning a section of the text (next
slide) by doing a Think Aloud (Vacca, Vacca &
Mraz, 2011).
• Through this, students will begin questioning the
text and also connecting it to prior knowledge.
This is linked to the Junta de Andalucia’s goal of
students successfully using reading strategies.

6. • The Canterville Ghost
By: Oscar Wilde
Retold by: Julie Hart
(Boldface words shown as in original text. Think Aloud in boldface and capital letters)
Chapter 1
The American ambassador, Hiram Otis, and his family needed to find a home in England. Mr. Otis saw many houses, but
he only liked Canterville Chase, the family estate of Lord Canterville. The house was grand and elegant, but there was only
one problem: it had a ghost!
The Canterville Ghost was 300 years old. He always appeared before the death of somebody in the Canterville family.
PREDICTION: SOMEONE IN THE HOUSE WILL DIE IF THE GHOST APPEARS! MAYBE MR. OTIS? Because of
this, nobody wanted to live in the house.
Lord Canterville was a very honest man, and he told Mr. Otis the truth about the ghost.
“My aunt lived in this house,” explained Lord Canterville. “One day, something touched her shoulder. She turned and saw two
skeleton hands! It was the ghost. She was terrified. She left the house immediately and ever returned.”
Mr. Otis smiled. “I come from a modern country,” he said. “We don’t believe in ghosts.” QUESTION: WHAT DOES
MODERN COUNTRY MEAN? THEY DON’T BELIEVE IN GHOSTS SO DO THEY NOT BELIEVE IN SPIRITUAL
THINGS?
“Oh, but this ghost is real,” said Lord Canterville. “It appeared in this house for the first time in 1584. After that, other
members of my family saw the ghost, too. Now, nobody wants to live in this house.”
“Well, we aren’t afraid of ghosts,” sad Mr. Otis, “and we like your house. I’m sure everything will be fine.”
IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS: AFTER ALL THE STORIES LORD CANTERVILLE TOLD, I THINK IT’S A BAD IDEA
FOR MR. OTIS TO MOVE INTO THE HOUSE. WHY DOES HE STILL DO THAT?
“Americans are very practical,” said Lord Canterville. “Well, the house is yours. But remember my words and good luck!”
A few weeks later, Mr. Otis and his wife were ready to move to Canterville Chase. They took the train with their four
children Washington, Virginia and the twin boys, George and Lincoln. They were all very happy.
SUMMARIZING-MR. OTIS, AN AMERICAN AMBASSADOR, IS LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO MOVE TO IN
ENGLAND. HE WANTED TO MOVE INTO CANTERVILLE CHASE, BUT LORD CANTERVILLE SAID IT WAS
HAUNTED. MR. OTIS DOESN’T BELIEVE IN GHOSTS SO HE DECIDES TO MOVE IN ANYWAY.

7. Strategy 2- QAR
• This strategy goes along with the Think Aloud,
but “make explicit to students the relationships
that exist among the type of question asked,
the text, and the reader’s prior knowledge”
(Vacca et al, 2011, p. 200).
• This metacognitive thought building activity
helps students understand where answers are
found in texts or outside of them, something I
see my students struggle with.
• This can be used with the activites section
in the book.

8. Strategy 3- IEPC
• Help readers become more involved in the text by using
an Imagine, Elaborate, Predict, and Confirm (IEPC)
chart (Vacca et al., 2011).
This is useful for struggling readers by more deeply
involving them in the story and helping them identify
their own issues in comprehension.
• Readers draw on imagery, and further develop
reading strategies as a class and individually (See
page 186 in Vacca et al. for more explanation)

9. Strategy 4-Double
Entry Reading Logs
• These logs can be used to review plot or vocabulary
from the story.
Through this activity, students will be focused on key
aspects of the story and have to defend their
inferences of what is happening or definition of a
word.
• A reading log can also help students comprehend
specific and general information at a greater level by
confirming their assumptions about the story.

10. Theories Behind the
Strategies
• Socioculturalism
Comprehension is a social activity. It is also
guided by Vygotsky’s i+1 theory, in that
scaffolding is an essential part of the
learning process (Brown, 2008)
• Funds of Knowledge
Students will bring their outside, previously
learned cultural and linguistic knowledge,
which can be used in the classroom
environment to aid in comprehension (Brown,
2008)

11. References
• Brown, R. (2008). Strategy matters: Comprehension instruction for older
youth. InK. A. Hinchman, H. K. Sheridan-Thomas, D. E. Alvermann, (Eds.),
Best Practices in Literacy Instruction. The Guilford Press, pgs. 114-131.
• Ferrario, K. (n.d.) Think Aloud Metacognitive Strategy [PowerPoint Slides].
Junta de Andalucía Consejería de Educación. Currículo integrado de las
lenguas: Propuesta de secuencias didácticas [Brochure]. Retrieved on
March 18, 2012 from
http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/averroes/html/portal/com/bin/contenidos/B
f
• Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. L., & Mraz, M. (2011). Content area reading:
Literacy and learning across the curriculum (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
• Wilde, O. & Hart, J. (2009). The Canterville ghost. Cyprus: Burlington
Books.

12. NAME: Your Comments (Justification for Score
self-assessment)
4/3 2/1
Description of how literacy is Integration clearly and explicitly uses literacy Integration of literacy is unclear or
integrated into content area concepts/strategies for promotion of students’ not explicit
construction of content understanding(s)
Strategies for engagement Each of 3 strategies is explicitly described in Strategies are vague
detail
Learning Outcomes (LOs) Each of 3 LOs has a clear cognitively LOs focus on lower-level thinking
engaging process (verb) and aligns with the skills and/or are not aligned with the
strategy with which it is associated strategies
Rationale Rationale for each of the strategies selected Rationale for each of the strategies
explicitly describes how content will be is not clear as to how it will promote
understood, as opposed to following a content understanding
standard or transmitting information
Learning Theory Learning Theory is used to explain each Learning theory is noted tangentially
strategy