Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 2L - Speaking
Getting Things Done

Getting Around and Transportation

Real-World Task

Ask for directions to a familiar location, such as the school or grocery store.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Present simple
Forms of transportation: bus, train, subway, ferry, taxi, walk, drive
Locations in the community: school, library, grocery store, bank, etc.

Context:

Asking for directions is an important skill.
Commuting is an important part of the day for many people in Canada.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

take (a bus, train, subway, taxi, ferry)
drive
walk
turn
left
right
straight
names of buses, subways, or streets in own community

Sample Grammar:

Questions in the present simple:
How do I get to…
Imperative voice for directions
Personal pronouns: I, he / she and so on

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Directions tell you where to go or what to do.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

You can give friends directions to visit you.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: how do you get to school and / or work? Make a list of ways to get to school or work on the board. Write down examples such as bus, train, subway, taxi, ferry, walk, drive. Only use the words that are appropriate for your community. Give each learner a card to copy down the word for how they get to school and / or work.
Review forms of transportation.
Complete a matching exercise to practice forms of transportation vocabulary.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Practice transportation actions: take (a bus, train, subway, taxi, ferry), drive, walk, wait (for a bus, etc.), turn (left or right). Together with learners, decide on a physical action for each word, such as standing holding onto a pole for taking a bus or tapping your foot while looking at your phone for waiting. Use TPR (Total Physical Response) to practice the actions. Call out a word and have learners respond with the correct action.
Teach the phrase: How do you get to school? Write the question on the board. Give learners a sticky note or card with a word from the sentence. Have them match their sticky note to the correct word on the board.
Review / practice personal pronouns
I / he / she and so on. Complete exercises
to practice personal pronouns.
Work with a partner. Ask: How do you get to school? Tell the class how your partner gets to school, e.g. She takes the train.
He walks. She takes the bus.
Have learners practice the imperative voice by using TPR in small groups and using familiar actions such as stand up, sit down, open your book, touch your nose, and so on.
Complete exercises to practice the imperative.
Discuss as a class how to give directions to get somewhere from the school or organization. Use real examples from your community: How do you get downtown from here? or How do you get to the mall from here? Elicit specific 1-step answers, such as take the green line or walk down Main St. or take the train and get off at City Hall.
Work with a partner. Look at a very simple instructor-made map. Take turns asking,
How do I get to… and have your partner give simple 1-step directions based on the map.
Read a simple instructor-made story
about asking for directions. Answer comprehension questions about the transportation used. Circle pictures to
show understanding.
As a class, explore a public transportation website or app. Practice putting in a destination and seeing how to get there.
Give some learners a destination card and some learners a simple direction for how to get to the destinations. Mingle with classmates asking “how do I get to ____” until they find the correct matching direction.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Have learners interview each other about how they get to a familiar location in the community. Learners respond with 1 to 2 steps.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Ask for directions to a familiar location,
such as the school or grocery store.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Some learners may not have ever lived in a place where it was safe for them to walk around their neighbourhood and may still not feel safe doing so in Canada. Some learners who are women may never have been able to walk around outside their home on their own.

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.
Read information from a screen.
Adjust volume on device.

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.
Discuss how to get a subsidized public transit pass in your community, if that is possible.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Many learners who have experienced trauma, or learners who may be vulnerable such as learners who are women, learners who are 2SLGBTQIA+, or learners with disabilities, may not feel safe walking around in their neighbourhoods or in using public transportation.
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:

Look at a large-scale map together as a class. Drive a little car around the map to show how to get from one place to another.
Take a trip on public transportation as a class. Use planning apps to plan the trip together beforehand. After the trip, elicit an LEA (Language Experience Approach) story from the learners.
Walk around your school, inside or outside, and have learners use vocabulary practiced in class to guide you from one location to another.

Realia:

Maps
Public transportation apps or schedules

Units and Modules:

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela (OCDSB): Assessment Task: Asking for and Giving Directions in a Neighbourhood: CLB 2 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (OCDSB): Assessment Task: Understanding Road Signs: CLB 2 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
LINC 2 Classroom Activities: Travel and Transportation (p. 425-467) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 2L
Tutela: Foundation L-CLB 2L Phonics Curriculum
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia: