Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 3L - Reading
Getting Things Done

Employment:
At the Workplace

Real-World Task

Read a pay stub to find your name, gross earnings, tax, and net earnings.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Whole numbers to 1000
People who work get a pay stub each payday.

Context:

Pay stubs give key information about hours worked, earnings, and deductions.
It is important to check a pay stub/statement for accuracy.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Numbers with decimals to two places (money)

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Scanning for a key word helps you find information in formatted text.
Formatted texts, like pay stubs/statements, often have rows and columns.
Many companies provide pay stubs through online services.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

If there is an error in your pay stub/statement, you can speak with your employer.
You have the right to know how much you are being paid and what your deductions are.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: Who has a job in Canada? Who had a job in another country? How do/did you get paid? Cash? Cheque? Direct deposit? Discuss what is most common in Canada.
Project a large, simplified pay stub onto the board. Elicit from learners what they already know about pay stubs and what they can read from this pay stub. Identify new vocabulary: pay stub/statement, earning, deduction, tax, net pay, gross pay.
Practice new vocabulary using word cards with simple explanations. Have learners work in small groups and quiz each other about the meaning of the words.
Complete a fill-in-the blanks activity to use the new vocabulary in context.
Look at a flyer and circle the prices. Examine the prices: What do the numbers mean? Teach that the numbers before the decimal are whole dollars, and the numbers after the decimal are cents (or less than a dollar).
Practice prices with dollars and cents using play money. Make amounts given a price, and count money given a stack of bills and coins.
Listen to a dialogue between an employee and an employer about a pay stub.
Complete a gap-fill activity with a partner using a pay stub/statement with missing information.
Read a simple story about a Newcomer to Canada and their first job in Canada.
Discuss as a class: What are common deductions in Canada? Make a list of deductions on the board, such as income tax and EI, and explain what each one means.
Look at an online employment payroll program to identify gross earnings, tax, and net earnings.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Read a simple text that includes gross earnings, tax, and net earnings, and record the information on a simple chart.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Read a pay stub/statement to find your name, gross earnings, tax, and net earnings.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Some learners come from cultures where those who identify as women do not work outside the home and/or may have gendered expectations of who does what kind of work. You can be sensitive to their differing opinions and to different choices, but make sure that all learners understand their rights in Canada. Knowledge about employment systems, such as understanding pay statements, can be empowering.

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.
Locate, navigate and use websites.
Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages, such as employment payroll programs.
Read information from a screen.

Instructors can:

Dedicate time to improve digital literacy for learners.
Make and/or adapt digital materials.
Introduce websites and/or apps 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 or apps.
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.
Some learners may experience changes to gender roles when they come to Canada. For some, this may be a welcome change, but for others it may be challenging. Address their concerns with sensitivity but teach that Canada is equitable and inclusive to people of all genders.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma triggers:

Learners who have experienced trauma and learners who have lived or who are living in poverty may find discussions of money and 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
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:

Invite a guest speaker from an employment centre to discuss hours, wages, and common deductions.
Visit a job fair.
Invite a guest speaker in financial literacy.

Realia:

Play money
Pay stubs
Flyers

Units and Modules:

Tutela (CCLB): Making Requests in the Workplace: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (Norquest): Reading a Pay Stub: CLB 3 (Not literacy but can be adapted)

LINC 3 Classroom Activities: Employment (p. 343-390) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (Archway): Introduction to Employment Centres: CLB 3L/4L

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela: Assessment Task: Reading a Pay Stub: CLB 3 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (OCDSB): Assessment Task: Reading a Pay Stub: CLB 3 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 3L
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia:

Tutela: ESL Directions: Money and Banking (Not literacy but can be adapted)

Skills for Success