Detailed Sample Task: Stage II
CLB 8 - Reading Comprehending Instructions
Creativity, Innovation and Adaptability
Real-World Task
Read a list outlining significant changes to a job description and understand how to adapt to the changes.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Vocabulary related to job tasks and job descriptions.
- Some familiarity with job postings or ads.
- Some familiarity with different forms of communication in the Canadian workplace.
Context:
- In the Canadian workplace, employers value adaptability as a workplace skill. Employees can demonstrate adaptability in many ways. On a smaller scale that may mean changing your duties or tasks for the day to respond to the needs of a colleague, team or client. On a larger scale, when significant changes such as promotions, mergers or changes in company ownership occur, employers may redistribute responsibilities and employees may have to adapt to changes in job responsibilities or even roles.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- job description
- responsibilities
- expectations
- tasks
- skills
- rights
- collective agreement
- reporting / reports to / reporting structure
- employee manual / employee handbook
- due to/ as a result of
- unforeseen
- promotion/ demotion
- buyout/ merger
- layoff / termination / recall / redistribute
Sample Grammar:
- Gerund phrases.
- Compound and complex sentences.
- Conditionals.
- Relative clauses.
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Recognize list format.
- Identify purpose/ main idea.
- Identify conditionals and relative clauses to indicate contrast or change depending on circumstances or others’ actions.
- Scan for detailed information.
- Infer reasons for changes.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- Awareness of the unspoken dos and don’ts of the Canadian workplace.
- Awareness of employee resources/ assistance in the Canadian workplace (employee manuals, HR personnel, colleagues, mentors, management and so on) for information about responsibilities, expectations and rights for employees.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Elicit examples of job tasks and responsibilities.
- Read examples of job tasks and responsibilities in sample Canadian job descriptions or employment contracts and identify types of phrasing used (gerunds, conditionals, relative clauses).
- Create a list of job responsibilities from a sample Canadian job description or employment contract.
- Compare phrasing in two sample Canadian job descriptions or employment contracts, create lists and identify changes.
- Discuss personal experiences with change in the workplace.
- Read an article about reasons employers make changes to position or responsibilities and the best ways to respond, for example, What to Do If Your Job Description is Changing – Idealist.
- Brainstorm ways to adapt to task changes at work in a small group.
- Listen to a supervisor describing significant changes to your part of a project and respond appropriately.
- Give peer feedback on responses and brainstorm ways to improve responses.
- Read a list of changes to a job description and work with a partner to brainstorm ways to adapt to the changes.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Read a ‘before’ and ‘after’ job description to identify what has changed; brainstorm how you would adapt to the changes.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Read a list outlining significant changes to a job description and understand how to adapt to the changes.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Understand that change is not always a reflection of individual performance and in many Canadian workplaces, employees can approach their supervisor or manager to ask questions or express concerns about a change in position or responsibilities.
- Have learners compare and contrast different forms of workplace communication from their own countries and Canada to develop intercultural awareness.
Digital Literacy Strategies:
Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline knowledge and digital skills.
Learners may need to:
- Locate, navigate and use websites.
- Scan online resources to find information.
- Evaluate online research results.
- Interpret information from online sources such as statistics, graphs or charts
- Effectively navigate job search websites.
Instructors can:
- Introduce websites that are relevant to the task(s).
- Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites.
- Teach reading strategies such as skimming and scanning to find information on websites
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:
Instructors can:
- Use diverse representations of people in all your learning resources and images, including people who are 2SLGBTQIA+, Indigenous, Francophone and of other cultures, and people who have disabilities or who are neurodivergent.
- Recognize that learners with disabilities and learners who are neurodivergent may need accommodations in the workplace; when possible, help learners of all abilities understand their rights in the workplace.
- Raise learner awareness of the need for respecting and using preferred pronouns of co-workers when making requests or talking about them with others.
- Recognize that some learners may have different views. You can be sensitive to their differing opinions, but all learners benefit from EDI, and all learners have the right to an inclusive and equitable learning environment.
- Teach that race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics and disability are all protected grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Trauma-informed Strategies:
Possible Trauma Triggers:
- Learners who have experienced trauma can be triggered by people in positions of authority; make sure learners understand their rights in the workplace and give strategies for making polite requests.
Strategies:
- Learners have the right to choose if, when and what they share about themselves.
- Give learners advance warning of discussions of this topic.
- Make space for learners to feel safe and recover from the experience of sharing their experiences.
- Giving learners the knowledge, skills and language to access resources can be empowering.
Resources
Outings, Guest Speaker Suggestions, Extension Activities:
- Invite a guest speaker to share information about employee rights and responsibilities under provincial or territorial labour laws, such as the BC Federation of Labour.
- Use common job information websites such as Indeed or Glassdoor to review job descriptions in different fields and compare postings for similar positions with different employers.
Realia:
- Sample job descriptions
- Sample job contracts
- Sample employee manual excerpts
- National Occupational Classification (NOC)
- Government of Canada Job Bank
Units and Modules:
- Avenue Course Builder: Select the themes Workplace Communication – General, Reading Skills and Employment, and CLB 5, 6, 7 and 8 for units related to job descriptions, reading strategies and communication about change in tasks (adapt for the CLB level you teach)
- CLB 5 Researching an Occupation
- CLB 5 Pathways to Employment: Workplace Communication and Teamwork
- CLB 5+ Getting Information From Tables, Charts and Graphs
- CLB 5+ Taking Notes While Reading
Lessons and Activities:
Instructor Resources and References:
- Adaptability – Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks
- Skill components and proficiency levels – Canada.ca
- UP Skills for Work Get Started: Adaptability
- Creativity and Innovation – Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks
- Skill components and proficiency levels – Canada.ca
- UP Skills for Work Get Started: Creativity and Innovation
- Free Employee Training Resources l UP Skills for Work
- Canadian Workplace Culture: 5 Key Characteristics (Newcomer success) (newcanadians.tv)
- Skilled Worker
- Careers & Education | Canadian Immigrant
Detailed Sample Task
This exemplar is aligned with the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) and is designed to guide and inform your lesson and module planning. Consult the Canadian Language Benchmarks English as a Second Language for Adults for detailed performance descriptors at this benchmark and skill.
The information in this document is not exhaustive and can be expanded on. As well, you can use more learner-friendly language in your materials and assessments.
This is NOT a lesson or module plan.
