Read Between the Lines: Making Inferences

About This Resource

A complete Grade 6 ESL reading lesson pack on making inferences: using text clues plus what you already know, the inference equation, inferring feelings, settings and character traits, supporting inferences with evidence and telling inferences from stated facts. Includes a lesson plan, worksheet, quiz, homework, A5 flashcards, a rubric, detailed slides with speaker notes, Word files and answer keys.

Overview

Students learn that an inference is a smart guess based on clues in the text and their own experience. They use the inference equation (text clues + what I know = inference), infer how characters feel, where and when a story takes place and what a character is like, separate stated facts from inferences and support every inference with evidence from short passages.

Resource Details

Subject: ESL
Topic: Making Inferences
Category: Reading
File Type: PDF
File Size: 365.5 KB
Published: 31 Oct 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 6 ESL (ages 11–12), B1 55 minutes Reading comprehension critical thinking writing speaking

Learning Objectives

Explain what an inference is and how it differs from a stated fact.
Combine text clues with background knowledge to make inferences.
Support inferences with evidence from the text.

How to Use This Resource

Show the slides and start with a picture or mystery bag inference game.
Use the flashcards to review the key terms, then complete the worksheet passages.
Use the quiz to check learning and send the homework home; answers are in the answer keys.

Classroom Activity Ideas

Mystery bag: show items from a bag (sunscreen, a towel, a shell) and students infer where the owner is going.
Picture detective: show a photo with clues and students write two inferences with evidence.
Who am I? Read clues about a job (I wear a helmet. I climb ladders.) and students infer the job.

Differentiation

Support: use picture-based inferences and a sentence frame (I think … because the text says … and I know …). Challenge: write a short passage that hides clues for a classmate to infer.

Assessment

The worksheet and quiz check inferences and evidence (answer keys included). Use the rubric for written explanations.

Teacher Tips

Always ask "How do you know?" after an inference. Requiring evidence turns guessing into careful reading.

What's Included

11-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
Key vocabulary list (7 words with meanings and examples)
Student worksheet (6 activities)
Quiz / assessment (2 parts)
Homework practice page
Printable flashcards: 7 A5 picture cards (separate PDF)
Assessment rubric (4 levels)
Lesson slides (editable PowerPoint)
Editable Word version of all student pages
Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)