Detailed Sample Task: Stage I

CLB 3 - Writing
Getting Things Done

Education and Learning

Real-World Task

Write a short message of a few sentences to your child’s teacher to request a meeting to discuss your child being bullied at school.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Vocabulary related to K-12 schooling.
Some basic vocabulary related to sending messages to people in a more formal environment.
Knowledge of typical communication between teachers and parents.

Context:

In Canada, parents and teachers share a collaborative role in a child’s education. They work together to support a child’s learning and development. Parents are expected to support learning at home as well as to advocate for their child if additional help and support is needed.
Regular and respectful communication between the school and home is a regular expectation.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Polite question formats, “Can we meet…?” “I would like to meet…?”
Simple present tense

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Using message formats, including a simple opening and closing to the message.
Beginning ability to use common spelling and punctuation rules for sentences.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Ability to make polite requests in a more formal environment such as your child’s school.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: Do you have children in school in Canada? Does your school / child’s teacher send you lots of messages? How do they communicate with you? By phone? By email? By notes? Have you met your child’s teacher? When did you meet them? How has your child settled in at school? Have they had any problems? How did you help them to solve them?
Present vocabulary with images. Practice pronunciation, Practice vocabulary with various activities such as matching images to words, or word / image to definition.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Listen to several short audios describing some challenges children can face at school such as problems with friends, bullying, difficulties with learning and so on.
Answer some comprehension questions or true / false questions about the audios. Identify the problem for each speaker, what the solution was and how their parents and teacher helped.
As a class, read a short story about a child who is being bullied at school and how they got help from their teacher. The instructor reads the story and the learners listen, then echo read and choral read. Learners can read the story in pairs, taking turns, focusing on pronunciation, intonation and fluency.
In pairs, learners ask and answer simple polite question formats to ask for help, then switch partners and confirm answers.
Present a sample message such as:

Dear Teacher,

I am worried about my son. He is being bullied at school.
I would like to talk with you about this problem.
Can we meet this week?

Thank you,
Maria

Read the message together. The instructor can read to the class. In pairs the learners read the message, trying to shadow the pronunciation of the instructor, matching intonation, pronunciation and speed.

Review the message again. Underline the person who is being bullied. Underline the sentence where the writer explains what they want to talk about in the meeting. Circle the sentence which asks for the meeting. Provide other examples of requests for help. Show different images of children having difficulties at school. Learners write other messages to each other using various scenarios and different requests for help.
Together, as a class, write a short new message on the board with blank spaces for the problem and the request for help. Have learners complete the sentences in pairs.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Write a short message to a teacher asking for a meeting to talk about some problems that your child is having with the reading homework.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Write a short message of a few sentences to your child’s teacher to request a meeting to discuss your child being bullied at school.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Some learners may not be very familiar with the school system in Canada, including the levels, learner-centred approaches and regularly meeting with instructors common in many Canadian schools. Teach learners what to expect in a Canadian school and teach that it is all right to speak with your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns.
Bullying is taken seriously in Canadian schools and schools usually have anti-bullying policies. Parents are encouraged to report concerns early.
Parents are expected to advocate for their child and work together with the teacher. The teacher and parent are a team.

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.
Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages.
Type information to appear on screen
Send and receive text messages and messages on other texting apps.
Send and receive email messages
Complete formatted texts online, such as forms
Navigate and use online learning management systems (LMS) such as Avenue.
Use a search engine 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.
Use digital tools such as translation or pronunciation tools to support language learning and foster autonomous learning.
Share knowledge and strategies to ensure online safety.
Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:

In some cultures, roles of parents and instructors may be different to those in Canada. Instructors may be seen as unapproachable and authority figures. Parents may not realize that in Canada they are welcome and even expected to ask questions, share concerns, or request meetings.
In some cultures, talking about bullying may carry stigma or shame. Parents may be unsure how to talk about their child’s needs or may want to avoid stigmatizing their child.

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.
Dealing with authority, such as instructors and principals can be triggering for learners who have experienced trauma, especially for learners who have been in unsafe situations or have been in a political regime.

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:

Take a field trip to a parent resource centre to learn more about parents as partners in education.
Invite a guest speaker from a local school to talk about the benefits of parent teacher partnerships in your child’s education.
Take a field trip to a local library to look at parenting resource books or books specifically related to best ways to support your child’s learning.
Look at the website of a local school and identify key information such as the name, what level it is (e.g. elementary, junior high, high school), address, and phone number.

Realia:

Report cards
School newsletters
School anti-bullying posters and brochures
Websites for local schools
Pictures of Canadian classrooms

Units and Modules:

Tutela: CCLB: Communicating with a Child’s School: CLB 3/4
Tutela: Classroom Instructions: CLB 3

Lessons and Activities:

Multimedia:

Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Education