Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 1L-Listening
Comprehending Instructions

Global Citizenship

Real-World Task

Listen to 2 or 3 short word instructions about clearing snow.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Months of the year
Seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter
Very basic weather words: hot, cold, rainy, sunny, snowy, stormy

Context:

Snow clearing is important in many places across Canada, and it is often a bylaw to clear the snow in front of your home.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Imperative voice for instructions

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Instructions are often given without a subject. The first word in the sentence is the action you need to do.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Neighbours and people who visit your home, like postal workers or delivery people, appreciate when you clear snow regularly. In many communities it is a requirement.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Review the months of the year. Sing the 12 Months of the Year Song.
Discuss as a class: what are the seasons like in Canada? Write spring, summer, fall, winter on the board and elicit from learners when they happen (which months) and what the weather is like (hot, cold, snow, rain, leaves, and so on). Depending on the season you are currently in, ask learners who has experienced each of these seasons in Canada.
Review adjectives for describing the weather: hot, cold, rainy, windy, snowy, sunny, foggy, stormy. Use vocabulary cards with clear pictures and words.
Copy 2-3 weather words beneath clear pictures.
Interview a partner: what is the weather like in your country?
Project a picture of a snowy street onto the board. If possible, use a picture from your own community. Elicit words from the learners: snow, ice, sidewalk, street. Use large sticky notes to label words on the scene. Invite learners to place the sticky notes.
Show learners a snow shovel, a snowbrush/scraper, and a small cup or bag of the crushed gravel or salt we put down on sidewalks or steps. Invite learners to demonstrate how they are used.
Play Bingo to practice vocabulary.
Read A Blanket of Snow to the class. Have learners listen to the story and follow if they can on a computer or other device. Show them how to click or tap to turn the pages and play the audio.
Discuss clearing snow: who has cleared snow? Is it hard or easy? What do you do? Discuss the process for clearing snow using phrases such as shovel snow, clear ice, put down gravel.
Put the process onto flashcards. Have learners sequence the steps to clearing snow. Revisit the process with matching activities and copying sentences under pictures.
Use TPR (Total Physical Response) to practice the commands for clearing snow. Call out an instruction and have learners mime the response. Invite learners to call out the instructions.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Listen to short instructions about clearing snow and match them to a photograph.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Listen to 2 or 3 short word instructions about clearing snow. Demonstrate comprehension by responding with an appropriate action or pointing to a picture.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

There is often a culture of helping your neighbours clear snow in Canada, especially if your neighbour is older. In some communities, this is called being a Snow Angel.

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:

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.
Learners with disabilities or who struggle with physical activities may not be able to clear snow. Discuss what people do when they cannot clear snow themselves, such as asking a friend or neighbour for help or paying someone to clear snow.
Learners who live in apartments may not have any need to clear snow themselves. Avoid assuming that everyone lives in a house, and discuss who clears the snow for an apartment building. Make learners aware that apartment buildings must keep walkways and parking lots clear of snow and safe to walk or drive.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Learners who have experienced trauma can often be frightened by new experiences, and if they are not used to a cold, snowy winter, they may feel uncertain about how to cope. Discuss strategies for dressing warmly and for enjoying winter weather.
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:

Depending on the season, visit a local park in the wintertime for a winter walk as a class. Invite learners to take photos on their phones, if they have them, of things they find beautiful, and look at the pictures when you return to class.
If learners are willing, especially if you have younger learners, discuss or demonstrate fun things to do in the snow, such as sledding/sliding/tobogganing/coasting, skating, skiing, snowboarding, having a (gentle) snowball fight, making a snow fort, or making snow angels.

Realia:

Snowshovel
Snowbrush/scraper
Winter clothes

Units and Modules:

The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Dressing for Winter: CLB FL/1L
Tutela (CCLB): The Weather: CLB 1L/2L

Lessons and Activities:

LINC 1 Classroom Activities What do you think of Canadian weather? (p. 99-120) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
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:

YouTube: 12 Months of the Year Song
YouTube: Bob the Canadian Makes a Snow Angel (Language is high, but it is very short and shows an actual snow angel)
Unite for Literacy: A Blanket of Snow
Unite for Literacy: It’s Winter!