Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 1L - Listening
Interacting with Others

Community and Recreation

Real-World Task

Listen to two people who attended a Pride event greet each other, and find out from listening to them where the location was.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Basic greetings: Hello, hi, how are you?

Context:

June is Pride month in Canada, and there are many events in different communities.
Pride is the celebration of people who love other people, men and women, men and men, women and women and all others.
Pride events are often held in parks, community centres, or other public spaces.
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.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Pride
2SLGBTQIA+ See description above
(Can be learned as one piece and in receptive vocabulary only)
where
park
community centre
restaurant
event

Sample Grammar:

Question in the simple present: Where is the…?

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

You usually greet someone before asking them a question.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Pride events are inclusive and are open to anyone.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: what is Pride? What does 2SLGBTQIA+ mean? Explain that in Canada, it is possible for men to love and marry women or men, and for women to love and marry men or women, and that Pride is a celebration of all people. It is not necessary at this level to try to explain each of the letters in the acronym.
Practice greetings. Elicit greetings in English from learners. Write them on the board. Greet each learner and have them greet you in return.
Discuss as a class: how do you greet someone in your culture? Do you shake hands? Kiss? Bow? Write these options (and any others) on the board. Choral read the options several times. Give each learner a sticky note and have them place their sticky note beside what they do in their culture. Count up the sticky notes and write down the number. Discuss as a class: which form of greeting is the most common in the class? What forms of greetings are common in Canada?
Have learners mingle and greet each other.
Look at word cards with clear photographs of locations in the community and practice their names: park, community centre, restaurant.
Look at a picture of a place in the community and ask your partner, Where is it? The partner responds with the name of the place. Switch roles and repeat with another place.
Using worksheets with the community words written on them with pictures, do copying and matching activities to practice the vocabulary.
Read a very simple instructor-made story about planning to attend a Pride event. Match the vocabulary cards of community places to the words in the story.
Listen to an instructor-made dialogue between two friends about the location of an event. Using a transcript of the dialogue, practice the dialogue with a partner and perform it for the class.
Read a very simple instructor-made poster for a Pride event and circle the location. Answer comprehension questions orally.
Have learners script their own dialogue
with a partner that includes greetings
and a location.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Listen to a dialogue between two people who are planning to go to a community party and identify the location. Demonstrate comprehension by circling the correct picture for the location of the event.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Listen to two people who are attending
a Pride event greet each other and through listening to them, find out the location of where they were. Demonstrate comprehension by answering 1-2 very simple comprehension questions.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Learners may not come from a culture or religion that is accepting of people who are 2SLGBTQIA+, and some learners may come from places where it is illegal to be 2SLGBTQIA+ and / or where they can be at serious risk of discrimination or violence. Some learners may welcome living in a more inclusive country, while others may not. Focus on what is legal in Canada (marriage equity) and what is illegal (discrimination). Respect a learner’s right to their own opinion, but gently respond to any hateful comments. Ensure that learners are aware that the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is a protected population, the same as they are as immigrants to Canada.

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.

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.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:

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. Consider this diversity as you choose names for characters in stories you create as well.
Learners who are 2SLGBTQIA+ may not feel safe or comfortable identifying themselves. Never require a learner to identify their gender or sexual orientation.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Learners who have experienced or are experiencing discrimination may feel triggered by this discussion.
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:

If you are going to go on a field trip, for example to a community centre, give learners advanced warning and explain where you are going, how you will get there, and what you are going to do there.
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:

Go for a community walk and count the Pride flags, for example in businesses or crosswalks.
Visit a library or a community centre, or look online, and take note of the advertisements for Pride events. Present some events and their locations to the class.

Realia:

Pride flags
Poster for a Pride event or other community event to practice locations

Units and Modules:

Tutela (CCLB): Greetings and Introductions: CLB 1L/2L

Lessons and Activities:

LINC 1 Classroom Activities: Community and Government Services (p. 227-256) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 1L
Tutela: Foundation L-CLB 2L Phonics Curriculum
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia:

Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Community
Unite for Literacy: Community Matters