Detailed Sample Task: Stage II
CLB 5 - Writing Reproducing Information
Health and Workplace Safety
Real-World Task
Complete a short workplace incident report form including a short description of an accident or incident.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Some knowledge of health and safety expectations in Canada.
- Some knowledge of workplace rules in Canada, such as labour standards and workplace rights.
Context:
- Canada has strong health and safety rules in the workplace. This is to keep workers safe. Any time there is an accident, or nearly an accident, you must complete an accident/ incident report form so that your supervisor knows what happened. This helps them to fix the problem to keep people safe.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- hazard
- slip
- trip
- fall
- chemical
- PPE (personal protective equipment)
- measures
- injury
- first aid
- equipment
- exposure
- violence
- harassment
Sample Grammar:
- Simple past tense to describe incidents and sequences of incidents that happened.
- Present perfect tense to describe steps or measures that have been taken.
- Sequence adverbs (sequencers) to describe the sequence of events in an incident.
- Reported speech to describe what someone said after an incident, for example, “He said he would go to hospital” or “She said she would fix the problem”.
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Able to summarize and use some paraphrasing to relay what happened.
- Knowledge of cohesion links such as sequencers and reason connectors to describe a series of events in an incident.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- Knowledge of workplace appropriate language to complete a form.
- Knowledge of the importance of health and safety in the workplace in Canada.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Define the word “hazard”. In groups, look at pictures of dangerous workplaces such as an office with wires across the floor, a factory with badly stored items or a grocery store with a wet floor and identify the hazards in each picture.
- Watch a short video of an incident or accident in the workplace. Identify the hazard and the sequence of results.
- Read or listen to an explanation of what an incident report is and why it is important.
- Read an example of an incident report based on the video you watched and compare how the incident is described in the report with the events that happened. Identify which sentences in the report describe each event.
- Learn what information belongs in an incident report and which details are unnecessary.
- Read an example of a poorly written incident report and edit/ shorten it by removing unnecessary details.
- Read examples of stock phrases to describe common workplace incidents.
- Review the simple past and focus on irregular past tense verbs, such as “broke”.
- Watch short videos or look at pictures and write a description of what happened.
- Brainstorm examples of sequencers you can use to describe a series of events in the past.
- Look at pictures of workplace incidents that are out of order and sort them into the correct order.
- Write a description of an incident using sequencers.
- Learn about the importance of taking steps to remove a hazard after an incident or accident, and about different people’s responsibilities in the workplace for taking action.
- Learn the present perfect to describe who has taken a step or done an action to address a hazard.
- Learn about reported speech to relay what someone said.
- In groups, practice saying something to a classmate. The classmate then uses reported speech to what you said to someone else. Practice this in groups with different phrases.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Look at pictures of an accident and complete a workplace incident report including a short description.
- Watch a video of an incident, then complete a short workplace incident report form including a short description of the accident or incident.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Complete a short workplace incident report form including a short description of an accident or incident.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Occupational health and safety is taken very seriously in Canada, and this may differ from learners’ countries of origin. Compare and contrast workplace safety and workplace rules from their own countries and Canada to develop intercultural awareness.
- Include examples of different workplaces, including workplaces where your learners are most likely to work or currently work.
Digital Literacy Strategies:
Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline digital knowledge and skills.
Learners may need to:
- Have keyboarding and typing skills.
- Evaluate online research results.
- Interpret information from online sources such as statistics, graphs or charts.
Instructors can:
- Introduce websites that are relevant to the task(s).
- Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites.
- 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 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.
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 reporting incidents to supervisors.
- Learners who have experienced trauma may be triggered by visuals of people in dangerous situations, even if accidental.
Strategies:
- Learners who have experienced trauma benefit from having choice.
Give learners advance warning of discussions of this topic. - Learners have the right to choose if, when and what they share about themselves and their experience finding or looking for housing in Canada.
- 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 health and safety representative as a guest speaker to give information to learners.
- Visit a local workplace and get a safety tour. Ask about health and safety protocols.
- Learn about PPE, WHMIS and or First Aid training in Canada.
Realia:
- Authentic workplace incident forms.
- Alis: Be Safe At Work
- Government of Canada: Canadian Centre for Health and Safety
Lessons and Activities:
(Adapt for the CLB level you teach)
Multimedia:
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.
