Detailed Sample Task: Stage I

CLB 2 - Writing
Interacting with Others

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Real-World Task

Complete a simple message template to a friend to invite them to a community workshop on how to be an active senior.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Capital letters for proper nouns
Structure of and useful phrases for written invitations
Basic information about dates, days and times

Context:

Many seniors in Canada live active and healthy lives. They may take part in different activities such as walking, swimming, or yoga. Some seniors join community centers or clubs to meet new people and learn new skills. They often do volunteer work to help others in their communities. Seniors believe that staying active helps them feel happy, healthy, and independent.
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:

Sample Grammar:

Spacing between words and lines
Planning writing to the space available
Time: hours and half hours

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Appropriate phrases and expressions for opening and closing written messages.
Common text formats for specific purposes such as informal notes.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Canadian social conventions related to specific occasions such as invitations.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: What are the main activities for seniors in your community in Canada? How can seniors stay active? Is this the same or different from places you have lived before? What can seniors do to make friends in Canada? Why is it important for seniors to stay active? Why is it hard for seniors to make friends sometimes? Elicit options for seniors in Canada that learners are familiar with.
Use visuals to support your discussion.
Introduce the concept of active seniors programs at community centres and the importance of healthy active lives for seniors. Explain the role of friendship, exercise, community engagement and healthy living for seniors in Canada.
Use vocabulary cards with words and clear pictures to practice some basic vocabulary around seniors, such as community, friends, active living and so on.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Read a very simple, instructor-made story about a community program for seniors.
Using the story, answer some basic comprehension questions. Underline the vocabulary words.Identify the day, time and location of the activity.
Using this story, practice as a class, modelling the instructor for pronunciation, intonation and fluency. Practice in pairs taking turns to read each sentence aloud.
As a class, discuss the phrases for opening and closing a written message from the vocabulary list such as I hope you are well!, and so on. Ask learners what words / phrases they would include in a friendly written message. Write phrases for written invitations, based on what learners share, on the board.
Look at a very simple, instructor-made written message inviting a friend or neighbour to a community event. Highlight the phrases to start and close the message, draw learners attention to the key information included and any of the vocabulary words used. Copy the messages into a notebook or digital document.
Complete several message samples with missing information from a word bank.
Assemble sentence strips in the correct order to make up a simple written invitation to a friend to create a complete message. Copy the invitation with all the sentences in the correct order into a notebook or digital document.
Copy some sample phrases for starting a written invitation, such as How are you? How are things? I hope you are well., and so on to a message template.
Look at a sample written invitation. Indicate that we should write the name of the person we are sending the invitation to at the top and write our name at the bottom. Circle the name of the person who sent the invitation and underline the name of the person who will get the invitation. Repeat with other written messages. Highlight the necessary information in the invitation such as the day / date, time and location.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Complete a simple message template to a neighbour to invite them to a block party in the neighbourhood for Canada Day.
Complete a simple message template to a classmate to invite them to an event at your child’s school.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Complete a simple message template to a friend  to invite them to a community workshop on how  to be an active senior.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

In Canada, many seniors value their independence. They often want to make their own decisions about how to live and stay active.
Canadian culture encourages volunteering and community service. Many seniors take part in local projects, help at schools, or join charity events. Active senior programs often include people from many cultures and languages. Activities are planned to be respectful and welcoming to everyone, including Indigenous, Newcomer, and other communities.

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
Send and receive email messages
Complete formatted texts online, such as forms

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).

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.
Some learners may experience changes to gender roles when they come to Canada. For some, this may be a welcome change, but for others it may be challenging. Address their concerns with sensitivity but teach that Canada is equitable and inclusive to people of all genders.

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.
Recognize that learners that have experienced death of senior members of their families may be triggered by this topic. While knowledge of active living for seniors is important, the written message can be changed to one more generic and inviting a friend of any age to participate in a community activity.
Recognize that not everyone will feel comfortable with the idea of inviting neighbours or community friends to activities; adapt tasks to invite “safer” people such as classmates or other teachers 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:

Take a field trip to a community centre or seniors centre to learn about programs for seniors.
Invite a guest speaker who is an active senior in the local community to share their active lifestyle and what community programs they enjoy.
Learners interview a senior in their own community to ask them how they stay active. Each learner shares a photo of the person they interviewed and one tip they learned.

Realia:

Brochures or flyers from community or senior centres
Photos of seniors doing activities such as yoga, walking, gardening
Maps of walking trails or community event schedules to encourage an active lifestyle
Information about discounts for seniors in the local community

Units and Modules:

Lessons and Activities:

Multimedia:

Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Community