Detailed Sample Task: Stage I

CLB 2 - Reading
Comprehending Information

Getting Around and Transportation

Real-World Task

Read 5 to 7 simple sentences about a local event for National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Basic vocabulary related to Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
Vocabulary related to National Indigenous Peoples Day events

Context:

In Canada, National Indigenous Peoples Day events may be held in the community and in the workplace to mark this day, June 21st, each year. This day honors Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) Peoples with events that can include music, food, art, and cultural sharing.
Workplaces, and communities, often host events like this to show respect and learn about Indigenous cultures, to build inclusion and celebrate diversity.

This task reflects the intention to include all people in Canada in the themes. The language skills in this task could be applied to other contexts and other local events.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Simple present tense to describe cultural practices.

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Beginning recognition of main ideas.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Beginning recognition of textual clues to interpret the purposes of a text.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: Have you been to any local cultural events or other events in the community? Have you been to any Indigenous events? What activities did you see at these events? Do you enjoy taking your friends and families to local events? Which is your favourite part of these events: the food, dancing, art, activities for children?
Listen to your instructor read the vocabulary words aloud. Hold up the matching image when you hear each word. Next listen to the list of vocabulary words again and this time hold up the correct word card. Now copy the list of vocabulary words into a vocabulary notebook or digital vocabulary word bank.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Listen to your instructor read a few short sentences about a local Indigenous event. Now read the transcript they read. Circle any vocabulary words you can find in the transcript. In pairs, take turns reading one sentence each from the transcript.
In small groups talk about one local event that you or someone in your family has been to. Explain in simple terms what events were at this event such as, facepainting for children, dancing, foods and so on.
Review a few simple phrases to describe different cultural practices, such as “Some Indigenous people wear colorful ribbon skirts.” Discuss the use of the simple present verb to describe these practices. Help learners to write one sentence to describe a cultural practice from their community.
Practice the present tense with various activities and worksheets.
Arrange simple sentences from jumbled word cards to describe different activities at local community events, such as “Families can enjoy food, dancing and music.” Read the sentences aloud with a partner and copy them into a notebook or digital document.

Present to the class one simple idea you have for sharing your culture at an end of term celebration.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Read short sentences about a local Indigenous event and find some basic details in the sentences by underlining the different activities mentioned in the text.
Read a few simple sentences about Indigenous activities at a local multicultural event. From a set of picture flashcards of different activities, Choose only the ones which are mentioned in the text.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Read 5 to 7 simple sentences about a local event for National Indigenous Peoples Day. Identify a few key, concrete facts by answering simple true / false questions.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

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, including Indigenous Peoples.
In Canada, “Indigenous” means the first Peoples who lived here before settlers came. However, Indigenous does not mean one identical group. There are many different Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Each one has its own language, culture, traditions, and teachings. Indigenous Peoples in the forest, mountains, prairies, or North have different foods, homes, stories and ceremonies. So we say there are many Indigenous Nations, not just one way of being Indigenous.

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.
Navigate and use websites.
Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages.
Read information from a screen.
Scan online resources to find information.

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.
Teach basic reading strategies such as skimming and scanning to find information on websites.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:

Ensure that the images and cultural representations of Indigenous Peoples are free from stereotypes and biases.
Raise learner awareness of the need for using appropriate language when discussing and addressing Indigenous Peoples.
Acknowledge that you are learning too, and avoid speaking for Indigenous Peoples.
Use resources and voices from Indigenous communities when possible (e.g., guest speakers, videos, or approved materials).
Use Indigenous sources for researching information related to Indigenous Peoples and traditional ways of being.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma triggers:

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.
Newcomers who come from Indigenous groups in their home countries may be triggered by considerations of the experiences of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
Teaching an Indigenization theme may result in some difficult conversations and may revisit past trauma, oppression and discrimination your learners have experienced.

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:

Visit local Indigenous cultural sites or museums.
Attend public celebrations on National Indigenous Day (June 21).
Include Indigenous art and cultural traditions in class materials.
Build class activities around Orange Shirt Day.
Attend other events in the community to practice reading information about events such as date, time and place as well as what you can see at the event.

Realia:

Authentic event flyers, posters, or brochures for local events
Calendars from local community centres
Images of Indigenous artists, dancers, or speakers

Units and Modules:

The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Canadian Indigenous Content

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela: Indigenous Peoples: Vocabulary and Maps Stage 1
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia: