Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 2L - Writing
Sharing Information

Getting Around and Transportation

Real-World Task

Write words to complete a short guided text to say 1 to 2 places you can walk to from your home.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Present simple

Context:

Many neighbourhoods in Canada are walkable.
Walking around can be a way to get to know your community.
Many people walk for fitness / for health.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

walk
neighbourhood
close
nearby
community words: store, library, park, school, pharmacy, community centre

Sample Grammar:

Modal verb: can
Prepositions for direction and location: to and at

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Explaining what is nearby is one way of expressing what you like about a home.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Writing about your home can make you feel more connected to your community.
Sharing about your home and neighbourhood can connect you to others.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class the area about your school or organization. What things are nearby? What can you walk to on lunch, on a break, or after class? Write the words close, nearby, and neighbourhood on the board and repeat them throughout, inviting learners to use these words in the discussion.
Ask learners what is in their neighbourhood. Elicit the community vocabulary from them and make a list on the board.
Use vocabulary cards with words and pictures to practice vocabulary by matching or playing games such as Bingo, Taboo (in which learners try to describe a place without saying the word while the others guess) and Go Fish (in which learners use multiple sets of vocabulary cards, deal out five cards to each learner in the group, and take turns asking each other for a card; when they make a pair, they put it down in from of them; if the person they ask does not have the card, this person says “Go Fish,” and they have to draw a card from the middle).
Give learners a very simple hand-made map with a grid of streets. Give them instructions on where to locate the community buildings. Have them place their vocabulary cards in the correct places on the map (e.g. The library is on Oak Street).
Play “I Can:” Have learners stand in a circle. Each learner takes a turn saying something they can do, e.g. I can speak Farsi. Any learner who cannot do this has to sit down. The last learner standing wins.
Listen to a dialogue between two people talking about their neighbourhood. Practice the parts of the dialogue with a partner and then perform the dialogue for the class.
Interview your partner about what is in their neighbourhood.
Go for a walk as a class around the community around your school or organization. Make a note of the places you see. When you return, elicit an LEA (Language Experience Approach) story from the learners. Write this down, and have learners read the story with a partner.
Discuss to and at. Copy vocabulary words for community places to fill in the blanks in sentences and choose the correct preposition, e.g. I buy medicine at the pharmacy. I borrow books at the library.
I walk to the school.

Have learners share sentences completed about locations near their home with a partner.

Explore the neighbourhood around your school or organization on Google maps. Demonstrate to learners how they can enter an address, find directions, and use street view. If learners are willing, find locations for them in their countries.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Write words to complete a short guided text to say 1 to 2 places you can walk to from your school or organization.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Write words to complete a short guided text to say 1 to 2 places you can walk to from your home.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Walking in a neighbourhood may be a new idea for some learners. Some 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 identify as 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.

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 any neighbourhood.
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:

Go for a neighbourhood walk and identify businesses you see.
Visit a local park and have a class picnic.

Realia:

Maps

Units and Modules:

Tutela (CCLB): Finding a Place to Live: CLB 1L/2L

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela (OCDSB): Assessment Task: Understanding Road Signs: CLB 2 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (OCDSB): Assessment Task: Reading a Flyer about Opening a New School in the Community: CLB 2 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (OCDSB): Assessment Task: Asking for and Giving Directions in a Neighbourhood: CLB 2 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
LINC 2 Classroom Activities: Neighbourhood Services (p. 237-249) (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:

Tutela: ESL Image Bank: City Maps
Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Community
Unite for Literacy: Community Matters
Unite for Literacy: The City Park