Glosses can be interpretations, explanations or translations.
Example
Learners work together on a project to provide a gloss for a text on pub life in the UK, investigating the socio-cultural significance of the language in the text.
In the classroom
One interesting gloss exercise is to translate terms within a text into L1. If this is done in groups, then various communicative and analytical aims can be introduced.
Further links:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/working-vocabulary
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/how-useful-are-comprehension-questions