Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 4L - Speaking
Getting Things Done

Health and Wellness

Real-World Task

Call an information line to find out about the options for healthcare services in French / other languages that may be available in the community.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Present simple
Names of languages: French, English, Spanish, Farsi, Amharic, and so on

Context:

Many communities in Canada have translators available or health care services available in multiple languages.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

information line
health care services
appointment
medical testing
diagnostic imaging / xrays
specialist
request
polite phrases: excuse me, could you tell me, where can I find information about…?

Sample Grammar:

Subordinating conjunction: if: Could you tell me if there is…?

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

When you make a phone call to find out information, you usually begin with a greeting followed by a polite request.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Polite phrases show respect and soften requests.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: What kinds of medical services are available in your community? What are the options for medical care? Discuss options such as family doctors, walk in clinics, urgent care facilities, emergency rooms, specialists, testing, and diagnostic imaging.
Copy words to complete a mini-dictionary of task vocabulary.
Practice vocabulary using a variety of activities, such as matching, fill in the blanks, Bingo, Taboo (in which one learner describes a word without saying it and the other learners guess), crossword puzzles, putting the words in alphabetical order, and so on.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Discuss as a class: What are polite ways to find out information? Listen to a series of dialogues of someone making a phone call to find out information. Listen to each one several times with the transcript and underline or circle polite phrases. Make a list of polite phrases on the board.
Review the subordinating conjunction if and practice making sentences: I don’t know if it will rain. Can you tell me if you know the time?
Unscramble words to make sentences using the task vocabulary with if.
Match health care services to photographs.
Use prompt cards to role-play a situation with a partner in which one of you is a patient and one of you has information about health care services. Ask your partner about the services available in the community in your language. After a few minutes, take new prompt cards and switch roles.
Read an instructor-made story about someone trying to find health care services in their own language in your community. Read the story several times over several days and complete comprehension activities such as answering comprehension questions, matching pictures to words in the story, sequencing events in the story, and retelling key ideas to a partner.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Use prompt cards to role-play a situation with a classmate between a patient and a receptionist in which the patient is requesting a health service in their own language. Switch roles, take new prompt cards, and repeat.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Call an information line to find out about the options for healthcare services in French / other languages that may be available in the community.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Depending on where you live in Canada, there may be a shortage of family doctors, and in some communities, the emergency room is one of the only ways to see a doctor in person. Tailor your discussions for this task to the situation in your community.
Be aware that some learners may not know that health care in Canada is confidential and that you can access health care without your family knowing. Make sure all learners are aware of their rights.

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.
Read information from a screen.
Scan online resources to find information.
Read formatted texts online, such as forms or labels.

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.
Teach reading strategies such as skimming and scanning to find information on websites.
Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills.

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.
Recognize that women may not have had access to medical care. Make sure these learners are aware of their rights in Canada and the resources that are available to them.
Make sure that learners understand how to access medical care in Canada. Make sure learners understand what medical care is free, and that there is sometimes a cost involved in a prescription, and that there are ways to get help with those costs.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Learners who have experienced trauma may find discussions of medical care triggering. Learners who are frightened or phobic about needles may find discussions of vaccines triggering.
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:

Attend a talk by a public health nurse.
Work in a small group. Read scenario cards with different patients experiencing different medical complaints. Discuss with your group whether the patient should go to a family doctor, walk-in clinic, urgent care, or emergency room.
Look up local walk-in clinics online and note the closest one, including the address, phone number, and opening hours.

Realia:

Pamphlets or handouts about medical care

Units and Modules:

The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Staying Healthy: CLB 2L/3L
(Not the right level but can be adapted)
CCLB: At the Walk-In Clinic: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela (OCDSB): Assessment Task: Comparing Information on Prescription Medicine Labels: CLB 4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia:

Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Health