Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 1L - Reading
Getting Things Done

Community and Recreation

Real-World Task

Read highly familiar words and symbols on a highly simplified weather report that says whether it is sunny, cloudy, rainy, or snowy.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Basic descriptive words: hot, cold, warm
Days of the week

Context:

Weather reports in a newspaper or on an app are a common way to make plans for what to wear and what to do each day.
Dressing for the weather is very important in extreme weather conditions.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

weather
sunny
cloudy
rainy
snowy
windy
days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, etc.

Sample Grammar:

Present simple: It is…

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Weather reports often give information about the next few days.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

People in Canada often discuss the weather as small talk.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: how is the weather in Canada? How is the weather in your country of origin? Elicit basic weather words from the learners and list them on the board: hot, cold, warm, rain, snow, wind.
Using word cards with clear symbols, practice weather vocabulary: sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, and windy. Use TPR (Total Physical Response). With the learners, decide on a physical motion for each word, such as putting on sunglasses for sunny or holding an umbrella for rainy. Call out a word and have learners give the response or point to their picture.
Copy 2 to 3 vocabulary words underneath the word and picture.
Incorporate phonics activities based on the vocabulary and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Divide learners into two teams. Write two lists of the vocabulary words on the board. Tape clear photographs next to the words. Give one learner from each team a fly swatter. Call out a vocabulary word. The first learner to hit the correct word gets a point for their team.
At the start of every class, look at a weather app together as a class. Look at the symbols used for sunny, cloudy, windy, and so on. Match the vocabulary cards to the correct symbol. Discuss what the weather is for the day.
As a class, track the weather for the week. Keep a large chart on the wall with the days of the week and have a learner volunteer to choose a symbol and copy the word onto the chart for each day.
Have learners take turns each day writing or completing the sentence stem “The weather is …” with the applicable weather word on the board.
Complete a worksheet about today’s weather. Circle the symbol that describes today’s weather and copy the word from your vocabulary card underneath the symbol.
Play “Find Someone Who.” Give each learner a sheet with “Find someone who likes it when it is windy / sunny / cloudy / rainy / snowy.” Have them ask each other questions and copy a classmate’s name who likes that kind of weather.
Read a very simple instructor-made story about the weather. Read the story to the learners and then choral read and echo read the story. Have learners sit together and read it with a partner. Match vocabulary cards to the words in the story.
Sing the Days of the Week Song or the Days of the Week Song (Addams Family Tune).

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Read a very simple message from a friend about the weather and choose the correct symbol to match the weather in the message.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Read highly familiar words and symbols on a highly simplified weather report that says whether it is sunny, cloudy, rainy, or snowy. Circle the symbol that represents the weather report.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

How a temperature feels depends on what you are used to.
Learners who are used to very hot weather will likely find most Canadian weather (including weather that most people in Canada would consider mild) to be very cold. Learners may also not know how to dress for Canadian weather. Discuss clothing choices for the weather, especially for cold weather, and teach learners how to choose warm fabrics like wool or fleece and how to dress in layers. Depending on where you live, it might be appropriate to include a parka or a waterproof outer layer.

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.

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.

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:

Discuss the season you are currently in. Go for a community walk and look for signs of the season, such as orange leaves in the fall or flower buds in the spring.
Have learners copy words to complete sentences about the weather they like best. Have them cut pictures out and glue them to the page to illustrate their work.
Show photographs of people dressed for certain kinds of weather and elicit what weather they are dressed for. Discuss the clothing choices. Have learners match the clothing with the weather symbols. Present mismatched pairs and have learners identify the errors.

Realia:

Weather apps or websites
Weather forecasts in newspapers
Samples of warm clothes from a used clothing store or lost and found

Units and Modules:

The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Dressing for Winter: CLB FL/1L
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Dressing for Summer: CLB FL/1L
Tutela (CCLB): The Weather: CLB 1L/2L

Lessons and Activities:

LINC 1 Classroom Activities: Canadian Weather (p. 99-120)
(Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela: Months of the Year Activity (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 1L
Tutela: Foundation L-CLB 2L Phonics Curriculum
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia: