Detailed Sample Task: Stage II

CLB 8 - Writing Reproducing Information

Products and Services

Real-World Task

Summarize the benefits of home or renters’ insurance from a website or pamphlet.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

General knowledge of what insurance  is and what it’s used for.
Some knowledge of home or renters’ insurance, as well as other forms of insurance.

Context:

If you own a home, home insurance is often required by the bank who lends you money. Sometimes, landlords require proof of renter’s insurance. Even if you aren’t required to have insurance, it is recommended as a good practice to safeguard your valuables and property.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Gerunds as a subject such as “Having home insurance can protect you from…”, “Purchasing rental insurance gives you peace of mind..” and so on.
Passive voice such as “If assets are damaged”, “if your home is flooded”, “check which items are covered”  and so on.
Zero conditional sentences to express possibilities, for example, “If your home is flooded, you can file a claim.”

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Ability to paraphrase to rewrite ideas  in a shorter way.
Ability to identify key words and ideas  in order to reduce information to points.
Ability to use headings and bullet points  to organize notes and to create a comprehensible summary.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Use Canadian conventions of order  and linear convention to organize notes  and ideas.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Elicit what learners already know about insurance in Canada and other forms of insurance they may be aware of.
Look at different insurance company web pages or brochures to identify common vocabulary found on different pages and brochures. Use a dictionary to look up the meanings of these words.
Match vocabulary words to synonyms to help with paraphrasing.
Elicit learner ideas about taking notes, paraphrasing and summarizing.
Learn about strategies for summarizing and paraphrasing, such as focusing on key words, writing with abbreviations and symbols and using headings and bullet points to organize ideas.
Practice reading short texts and summarizing them using these strategies. Compare notes with classmates.
Complete “jigsaw” exercises where learners have different texts and use strategies to summarize them. Other classmates read notes and see if they can reconstruct the meaning from the notes to check if they are understandable.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Read a webpage about the benefits of renters’ insurance and take notes to summarize the points.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Summarize the benefits of home or renters’ insurance from a website or pamphlet.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

In some areas and cities in Canada, it is common for landlords to require proof of rental insurance, although it cannot be legally mandated. Ensure learners know to carefully review a rental lease  to check for this clause.
Be aware that some learners may be landlords and some learners are tenants. Some learners may be homeowners and for others this may not be possible. Be sensitive to different attitudes and feelings around tenancy and homeownership.

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.
Scan online resources to find information.
Identify safe and reliable sources of information and news.

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.
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.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Discussions of homeownership and damage to property 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 who have experienced trauma benefit from having choice.
Give learners advance warning of discussions of this topic.
Allow learners choice:
- the choice to share or not share their own experiences
- the choice to work alone or to work with others
- the choice to take care of themselves
- the choice to step out of the learning environment
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:

Invite a guest speaker from CMHC or a realty agency to talk about home insurance.
Invite someone from the local landlord-tenant board or similar to talk about landlord and tenant rights and responsibilities.
Learn about reading leases and understanding legal rental documents.
Learn about different forms of insurance and compare and contrast different insurance products for specific situations.
Practice summarizing other forms of information, or summarizing while listening to presentations.

Realia:

Units and Modules:

(Adapt for the CLB level you teach)

Tutela: Learning about tenant/ renter’s insurance (CLB 4-6)

Lessons and Activities:

(Adapt for the CLB level you teach)

Multimedia: