Attaining Core Content for English Learners (ACCELL):
A Framework for Making Core Grade-Level Content
Accessible to English Language Learners
Participant Activity Handout
Activity 1: Building Background
Directions: Refer to The Secret Garden excerpt above. Describe any additional background knowledge that is important for
understanding this passage, including methods for teaching it.
When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking
child ever seen. It was true, too. She had a little thin face and a little thin body, thin light hair and a sour expression. Her hair was
yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another. Her father had held
a position under the English Government and had always been busy and ill himself, and her mother had been a great beauty who cared
only to go to parties and amuse herself with gay people. She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed
her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out
of sight as much as possible. So when she was a sickly, fretful, ugly little baby she was kept out of the way, and when she became a
sickly, fretful, toddling thing she was kept out of the way also. She never remembered seeing familiarly anything but the dark faces of
her Ayah and the other native servants, and as they always obeyed her and gave her her own way in everything, because the Mem
Sahib would be angry if she was disturbed by her crying, by the time she was six years old she was as tyrannical and selfish a little pig
as ever lived. The young English governess who came to teach her to read and write disliked her so much that she gave up her place in
three months, and when other governesses came to try to fill it they always went away in a shorter time than the first one. So if Mary
had not chosen to really want to know how to read books she would never have learned her letters at all.
Topics
Teaching Methods
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Activity 2: Vocabulary
Directions: Read the following excerpt from The Secret Garden. Complete the chart:
 Identify some words for teacher-directed vocabulary instruction prior to and during close reading.
 Identify some words for student-directed vocabulary learning prior to and during close reading.
 Determine several strategies for teaching these words.
http://vocabularytool.airprojects.org/
Username: Pennsylvania
Password: Grouse3#
Good for one year
The child stared at him, but she stared most at her mother. She always did this when she had a chance to see her, because the Mem
Sahib—Mary used to call her that oftener than anything else—was such a tall, slim, pretty person and wore such lovely clothes. Her
hair was like curly silk and she had a delicate little nose which seemed to be disdaining things, and she had large laughing eyes. All
her clothes were thin and floating, and Mary said they were “full of lace.” They looked fuller of lace than ever this morning, but her
eyes were not laughing at all. They were large and scared and lifted imploringly to the fair boy officer’s face.
Teacher Directed
Prior to Close Read
During Close Read
Student Directed
Strategies
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Activity 3: Text Dependent Questions
Directions: Create a text-dependent guiding question and supplementary questions for the excerpt from The Secret Garden below. Ensure that the
questions are text dependent:
 Does the question have a text-based focus?
 Is the question aligned to a close-reading standard?
 Does the question require a text-based answer?
The child stared at him, but she stared most at her mother. She always did this when she had a chance to see her, because the Mem Sahib—Mary
used to call her that oftener than anything else—was such a tall, slim, pretty person and wore such lovely clothes. Her hair was like curly silk and
she had a delicate little nose which seemed to be disdaining things, and she had large laughing eyes. All her clothes were thin and floating, and
Mary said they were “full of lace.” They looked fuller of lace than ever this morning, but her eyes were not laughing at all. They were large and
scared and lifted imploringly to the fair boy officer’s face.
Question Types
Guiding Question
Aligned
to a
reading
standard?
Has a
textbased
focus?
Supplementary
Question
Supplementary
Question
Supplementary
Question
Supplementary
Question
Supplementary
Question
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Grade 4 Literature Text Question Stems
Standard
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or
poem from details in the text; summarize
the text. (RL.4.2)
Generic Question Stem
Question Stems applied to:
What is the theme of the story/drama/poem?
What are the details that help you determine
the theme?
Summarize the story/drama/poem in your own
words.
Describe in depth a character, setting, or
event in a story or drama, drawing on
specific details in the text (e.g., a
character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
(RL.4.3)
Identify key details (e.g., a character’s thoughts,
words, or actions) and use them to describe a
character, setting, or event from the
story/drama.
Determine the meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in a text, including
those that allude to significant characters
found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).
(RL.4.4)
What does the word/phrase __________ mean
in this text?
Explain major differences between poems,
drama, and prose, and refer to the
structural elements of poems (e.g., verse,
rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of
Explain the differences among poems, drama,
and prose, including structural differences?1
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Structural elements of poems include verse, rhythm, meter; Structural Elements of drama include casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage
directions; Structural Elements of prose include sentences and paragraphs. Elements of prose that are not structural include character, setting, plot, theme and
point of view (e.g. third versus first person) . Note that in poetry and drama there are structural elements that are not in prose.
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Standard
Generic Question Stem
Question Stems applied to:
characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue,
stage directions) when writing or speaking
about a text. (RL.4.5)
Compare and contrast the point of view
from which different stories are narrated,
including the difference between first- and
third-person narrations. (RL.4.6)
How do stories with first-person narration differ
from stories with third-person narration?
Make connections between the text of a
story or drama and a visual or oral
presentation of the text, identifying where
each version reflects specific descriptions
and directions in the text. (RL.4.7)
Identify where specific descriptions in a story
are reflected in the visual or oral presentation of
that story.
Standard 8 is not applicable to Literature
Standard 8 is not applicable to literature
Compare and contrast the treatment of
similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition
of good and evil) and patterns of events
(e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and
traditional literature from different
cultures. (RL.4.9)
How are similar themes, topics, and patterns of
events treated differently in stories, myths, and
traditional literature from different cultures?
How are stories with first-person narration
similar to stories with third-person narration?
Need to clarify if descriptions also apply to
drama.
Identify where specific directions in a drama are
reflected in the visual or oral presentation of
that drama.
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