Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy
CLB
4L-Speaking
Sharing Information
Banking and Numeracy
Real-World Task
Tell a friend information about how to get ready for the upcoming tax season like deadlines, tax clinics locations, and websites.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Information questions in the simple present: where, when, how
- Imperative voice
Context:
- People in Canada are responsible for filing taxes every year. Taxes need to be filed if you have income coming into your household, even if you don’t have a job. You will need certain information to file taxes. There are resources and supports available to help you file taxes.
- Many settlement agencies offer free income tax clinics for Newcomers. They are often quite busy so Newcomers should go early.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- form
- income tax
- T4
- tax slip
- tax clinic
- deadline
Sample Grammar:
- Modal verbs: can, should
- Sentences with There is/are…
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- You can give advice to a friend using the imperative voice or modals.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- There are resources and services available to help you file your taxes.
- There are paid services, like an accountant, and some free services for filing your taxes.
- Each adult in Canada is responsible for filing taxes each year.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Discuss as a class: What is income tax? Do you pay income tax in your country of origin? Has anyone yet paid income tax in Canada? What is the purpose of income tax? How much does income tax cost?
- Review income tax vocabulary and complete a cloze exercise to create a mini-dictionary. Practice vocabulary using a variety of games and activities, such as crosswords, word searches, fill-in-the-blanks, BINGO, and Guess the Word (where one person in a group describes a word without saying the word, and the others guess).
- Read a simple instructor-made story about paying income tax. Match vocabulary words to the story. Work with a partner to answer comprehension questions.
- Read a simple poster for a tax clinic. Discuss: What is a tax clinic?
- Review modal verbs and elicit examples from learners using can or should. Complete various activities to practice modals.
- Work with a partner to take a list of instructions in the imperative and rewrite them into sentences using You should…
- Teach sentences with There is/are. Complete practice activities to give information.
- As a class, read a simple information poster about taxes that includes deadlines, tax clinics, and websites. Locate main idea and key details.
- Work with a partner. Partner A reads a prompt card about what they want to know and asks a question: Where is the tax clinic? Partner B gives the information: There is a tax clinic on Main Street or What are the dates of the tax clinics? There are tax clinics on April 3rd, 4th and 5th.
- Listen to a dialogue between two friends discussing key information about taxes. Practice the dialogue with a partner and perform the dialogue for the class.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Read a poster about a tax clinic. Respond to the instructor’s questions about the information and tell the instructor where the clinic is, when it is, and what you need to bring with you.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Tell a friend information about how to get ready for the upcoming tax season like deadlines, tax clinics locations, and websites.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- People from different cultures may have different experiences with income tax. Some learners may not have had to pay income tax before. Some learners may come from countries with higher levels of corruption and may be concerned about giving money to the government.
Digital Literacy Strategies:
Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline knowledge and digital skills.
Learners may need to:
- Have keyboarding and typing skills.
- Locate, navigate and use websites relevant to the task.
- Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages relevant to the task.
- Read information from a screen.
- Navigate camera and microphone.
- Adjust volume on device.
- Navigate forms.
Instructors can:
- Dedicate time to improve digital literacy for learners.
- Make and/or adapt digital materials.
- Introduce websites that are relevant to the task(s).
- Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites relevant to the task.
- Support with clicking on appropriate fields for an online form.
- Introduce tools and apps that can aid learners in coping with communication barriers, such as translation, pronunciation, text to speech, speech to text tools and so on.
- Share knowledge and strategies to ensure online safety.
- Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:
- Use diverse representations of people in all your learning resources and images, including people who are 2SLGBTQ+, Indigenous, Francophone and of other cultures, and people who have disabilities or who are neurodivergent. Consider this diversity as you choose names for characters in stories you create as well.
- Learners who identify as women may not have had access to their own finances. Make sure that all learners are aware of their rights in Canada and are aware of services and resources that can help them.
- Share information with learners about free tax services they may qualify for.
Trauma-informed Strategies:
Possible Trauma Triggers:
- Learners who have lived or are living in poverty and learners who have lost their homes and possessions may find discussions around banking, money, or finance triggering.
- When teaching about Canada, you may teach about things that are triggering to learners who have experienced trauma. We can’t know what the triggers might be and what seems commonplace to us may have a triggering component for learners. Be aware of this and be prepared to support learners as needed.
Strategies:
- Give learners advance warning of this topic and be aware that there may be learners who require support.
- Learners who have experienced trauma often benefit from having routine. Create a safe and supportive classroom environment by establishing familiar routines, repeated activities, and model friendly and non-evaluative interactions.
- Learners will benefit from positive relationships established in the classroom with the instructor and peers.
- Learners who have experienced trauma benefit from having choices.
- Allow learners choice:
- the choice to work on a different topic
- 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
- Allow learners choice:
- When learners have shared personal distressing or traumatic experiences, make space for learners to feel safe and recover from the experience of sharing their experiences. Follow the activities which may make learners feel vulnerable with routine, predictable and comforting activities.
- Giving learners the knowledge, skills and language to access resources can be empowering.
Resources
Outings, Guest Speaker Suggestions, Extension Activities:
- Set up a mini society in the class. Create “jobs” such as straightening the chairs, watering the plants, collecting books, etc. Assign jobs and pay learners with play money. Have learners complete a highly simplified form for how much they earned and how much tax they need to pay. Have them give this amount of the play money to a learner representing the CRA.
- Invite a local settlement agency to talk about taxes and the availability of free clinics for Newcomers.
- Invite someone who specializes in financial literacy to the class to talk about income and taxes.
Realia:
- Information on where to get help with taxes in the local area
- Posters for tax clinics
- Play money
Units and Modules:
- Tutela (CCLB): Reporting a Lost/Stolen Bank/Credit Card: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy or the right level but can be adapted)
- Tutela (CCLB Blended Modules): Reporting a Lost/Stolen Bank/Credit Card: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy or the right level but can be adapted)
Lessons and Activities:
- Tutela: Basic Banking: Module Plan and Assessment Tasks: CLB 4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela: Banking and Money: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 4L
- LINC 4 Classroom Activities: Banking (p. 41-84) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.
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.
