Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 1L-Writing
Recording Information

Global Citizenship

Real-World Task

Copy a short Acadian recipe.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Forming lowercase and capital letters
Some basic phonics
Forming numbers

Context:

Many families pass recipes down generations.
Many people use recipes to learn about a new culture.
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:

Imperative voice for instructions

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Recipes include ingredients and instructions for what to do.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Sharing food and recipes is a good way to learn about a new culture.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: what food do you like to eat? Show learners photographs of foods and elicit names. Include foods from learners’ cultures if possible and ask learners to teach you how to say the name of the dish in their language.
Use vocabulary cards with words and clear photographs to practice food vocabulary. Use TPR (Total Physical Response) and have learners hold up the card of the word called out. After a number of rounds, have a learner take a turn calling out the food words.
Play games with the vocabulary such as Bingo, matching, and Memory.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Have learners sort the food cards based on different categories, such as like/don’t like.
Teach words for cooking including mix, boil, and fry.
Read a very simple instructor-made story about making fish cakes: Pierre is Acadian. He is from Nova Scotia. Pierre makes fish cakes. He boils potatoes. He mixes potatoes. He cooks fish. He mixes potatoes, fish, and egg. He fries the fish cakes. They are delicious! Read the story to learners several times. Choral read and echo read the story.
Do activities to better understand the story such as finding Nova Scotia on a map of Canada, matching vocabulary cards to words in the story, and working with a partner to sequence pictures from the story.
Look at a photo sequence of making fish cakes and say words to match the photos, such as boil potatoes, cook fish, mix, or fry.
Copy vocabulary words from the recipe underneath clear photographs: potato, egg, mix, fish.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Copy words to complete a very short shopping list for making fish cakes: fish, potato, egg.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Copy words to complete a short Acadian recipe for fish cakes.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Acadian culture is a Francophone culture mainly found in Atlantic Canada including in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Acadian culture in Canada is more than 400 years old. Note that this is a simplified recipe for fish cakes; actual fish cakes usually include a variety of seasonings.

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.
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.
Show learners that the size of an image on the screen can be adjusted.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:

Include examples of foods from learners’ own cultures.
Use diverse representations of people in all your learning resources and images, including people who are 2SLGBTQ+, 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:

Learners who have been discriminated against or persecuted based on their faith or culture may find discussions of minority cultures in Canada, such as the Acadians, triggering. Note that the Acadians were forcibly expelled from their land by the British in the 18th century (many of whom returned); learners who have experienced trauma may find discussions of this fact 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:

If possible, make fish cakes at home and bring in to share with learners. If this recipe is new to you, there are many recipes online, and haddock or cod can be used in place of salt cod: The East Coast Kitchen Fish Cakes Recipe or Bacon is Magic Fish Cakes Recipe.
Have learners say their favourite food from their culture. Find an image of this food online, print it, and create a food wall collage.
Have learners copy words to complete very simple descriptions of their favourite foods.

Realia:

Pictures of food
Food packaging such as cans

Units and Modules:

Tutela (CCLB): Grocery Shopping: CLB 1L/2L
Tutela: Going Grocery Shopping: CLB 1L
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Eating Fruit: CLB FL/1L
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Making Fruit Salad: CLB FL/1L

Lessons and Activities:

The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 1L
Tutela: Foundation L-CLB 2L Phonics Curriculum
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia:

Unite for Literacy: Our Good Food
Unite for Literacy: Fruits
Unite for Literacy: Let’s Eat Fruits and Veggies
Unite for Literacy: Fresh from the Farm
Unite for Literacy: Count Your Veggies