Detailed Sample Task: Stage II
CLB 8 - Reading Getting Things Done
Financial and Numerical Literacy
Real-World Task
Review extended product descriptions, reviews and costs to determine which product best meets your needs.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Experience shopping in person or online in Canada.
- Some knowledge of customer service norms in Canada.
- Some knowledge of common online product or service review sites.
- Some knowledge about types of language and expressions used in product reviews.
Context:
- In Canada, using product reviews can be a savvy way to shop. However, not all product or service reviews are authentic. It is important to be able to analyze reviews to recognize the differences between types of review sources (consumer versus professional). Learners should also be able to identify facts, opinions, persuasive language and bias.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- to review / a review / reviewer
- to influence/ influencer
- live bot / chat bot
- AI
- rave
- satisfied/ dissatisfied
- recommend / don’t recommend
- pros/ cons
- rating/ stars
- warranty/ guarantee
- legitimate/ authentic
- fake/ counterfeit
- biased/ unbiased
- analyze/ critical thinking
- idioms or common expressions: too good to be true / you get what you pay for / take it with a grain of salt
Sample Grammar:
- Compound and complex sentences (to describe products or services).
- Noun clauses (to describe outcome of product or service use).
- Modals of advice (to describe recommendation for or against).
- Superlatives.
- Persuasive language.
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Recognize online review website genre.
- Recognize product review genre.
- Knowledge of keywords for product search terms.
- Knowledge of website layout and format (where to find reviews when shopping online).
- Recognize product or service descriptions and features.
- Recognize common rating systems.
- Recognize facts versus opinions.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- Awareness that some companies or review websites pay for favourable reviews and/ or pay influencers to promote their products or services.
- Awareness that some companies or sites use AI and/ or bots to write favourable reviews.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Elicit learners’ experiences of shopping in Canada.
- Identify ways to describe a familiar product or service in both positive and negative ways.
- Role-play recommending a familiar product or service to a neighbour or friend.
- Elicit experiences using product reviews and/ or review sites.
- Review different types of product or service rating systems (stars, thumbs up/ down, numbers and so on).
- Learn and recognize keywords for product reviews.
- Search a common shopping or review site for products using keywords.
- Predict content of a review based on the review title and rating.
- Read sample product reviews and isolate facts versus opinions.
- Watch a video about ways to identify paid product reviews.
- Contrast two product review samples to identify a paid product review.
- Research a product and review several reviews to identify patterns in ratings, facts and opinions offered in the reviews.
- Compare and contrast ratings and reviews for two similar products and decide which product is best.
- Compare and contrast costs of products.
- Read a profile that identifies a specific need, compare a series of reviews on several similar products and select the best product for the identified need.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Read a new profile that identifies a specific need, compare a series of extended product reviews and costs, then select the best product for the identified need.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Review extended product descriptions, reviews and costs to determine which product best meets your needs.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Awareness of consumer rights in Canada.
- Have learners compare and contrast different shopping and consumer habits from their own countries and Canada to develop intercultural awareness.
Digital Literacy Strategies:
Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline digital knowledge and skills.
Learners may need to:
- Locate, navigate and use websites.
- Use familiar apps and web pages.
- Scan online resources to find information.
- Identify safe and reliable sources of information and news.
- Understand safe use of the internet and social media.
- Recognize scams and phishing through messaging on social media platforms, email or phone calls, and on online shopping sites.
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.
- Share knowledge and strategies to ensure online safety.
- Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills.
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 and teach learners that Canada is a diverse place and has people from many different cultures. Canadian culture includes the cultures of all people in Canada.
- 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.
Trauma-informed Strategies:
Possible Trauma Triggers:
- Give learners advance warning of this topic and be aware that there may be learners who require support.
- Discussions of scams, fraud, and theft may be triggering for learners who have experienced trauma, especially those who have lost their homes, possessions, and or money. Make space for learners to feel safe and recover from the experience of sharing their experiences.
Strategies:
- Learners have the right to choose if, when and what they share about themselves.
- 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:
- Watch a webinar on consumer reviews.
- Invite a consumer safety specialist to speak to the class.
- Role-play giving a friend or neighbour advice about identifying fake reviews.
- Write a product or service review describing a recent purchase in detail and either recommend the product or advise against purchasing it.
- Role-play a conversation describing a recent purchase in detail to a friend or neighbour and either recommend the product or advise against purchasing it.
Realia:
- Online consumer review websites (such as Yelp, Reddit, Google and so on)
- Professional review websites (such as Consumer Reports, BBB and so on)
- Online shopping sites with product reviews (such as Amazon, Best Buy Canadian Tire, Costco and so on)
- Reviews on social media
- Global News Consumer Matters: How to Spot a Fake Online Review
- CBC Radio: The Current: Fake Reviews
- Consumer Reports
Units and Modules:
- Avenue Course Builder: Select the theme Shopping, and CLB 5, 6 ,7 and 8 for units related to shopping and product or service reviews (adapt for the CLB level you teach).
- CLB 5 Assembling a Product from a Store
- CLB 5 Shopping for Clothes
- CLB 5 Shopping Online
- CLB 5+ Reading Product and Service Reviews
- CLB 5 Taking Notes About a Product
- LINC Works: CLB 5 Supporting Materials: Reading Strategies
Lessons and Activities:
(Adapt resources for the CLB level you teach)
- Ellii.com Distinguishing Fact from Opinion (CLB 5-6)
- Ellii.com The Language of Opinions (CLB 4-12)
- Ellii.com How to Write an Opinion (CLB 6-8)
- Ellii.com Comparatives and Superlatives (CLB 5-6)
- Ellii.com How to Write Persuasively (CLB 8-10)
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.
