Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 1L-Speaking
Getting Things Done

Global Citizenship

Real-World Task

Offer to volunteer at a food bank.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Basic employment vocabulary: job, money, pay, work, skills
Many people volunteer

Context:

Volunteering is common in Canada to give service to the community, to meet others, and to build job skills.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Word order: subject-verb-object
Present simple
Suggestion with I can…

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

We often use can to make an offer: I can do that.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Volunteering is a good way to help others and to meet other people. It is also a good way to put Canadian experience on your resume.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: what is a job? Elicit that it is work for pay. Then discuss: what is volunteering? Teach learners that many people in Canada volunteer to help others, to meet people, and to get skills. Ask about volunteering in their country of origin.
Show photographs of different volunteer opportunities: food bank, animal shelter, second hand stores, and park clean up. Practice the names of these places. Ask learners what they think volunteers do at each of these places.
Use vocabulary cards with words and clear pictures to practice the vocabulary. Play games such as Bingo, matching, Memory, and Go Fish with the vocabulary cards.
Read a very short simple instructor-made story about volunteering at the food bank. Read the story to learners, and then choral read and echo read the story. Have learners find 1-2 vocabulary words in the story.
Read a very short, simple, instructor-made story about volunteering at the animal shelter. Read the story to learners, and then choral read and echo read the story. Have learners use photographs to sequence the events of the story.
Read a very short, simple, instructor-made story about volunteering at a park clean up. Read the story to learners, and then choral read and echo read the story. Have learners find the word volunteer.
Read a very short, simple, instructor-made story about volunteering at a second hand store. Read the story to learners, and then choral read and echo read the story. Have learners find 1-2 vocabulary words in the story.
Listen to a short dialogue about volunteering. Practice the dialogue with a partner and perform for the class.
Show the photographs of the food bank, animal shelter, second hand store or park clean up. Ask learners where they would best like to volunteer. Try to make it clear this is for a school exercise, not to actually volunteer. Teach the phrase: I can volunteer there or I can volunteer at the animal shelter/food bank/second hand store/park clean up.
Complete a very simple instructor-made online form for volunteering (e.g. on Google Forms) by typing your name and clicking on the picture of the place you’d like to volunteer: food bank, animal shelter, or park clean up.
Interview your partner. Look at the four photos and ask: Where can you volunteer? Follow up with why? Learners can respond, I like animals/I like to help people/I like food/I like parks and so on.
Listen to the instructor give a prompt: I can volunteer at the __________ and circle the place they say on your page, e.g. I can volunteer at the food bank and respond by circling the food bank.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Look at three photographs of the food bank, animal shelter, second hand store, and park clean up. Offer to volunteer at one of the places.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Offer to volunteer at a food bank.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Canada has a strong culture of volunteerism as a service to the community, as a way to meet other people, and as a way to get job skills.

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.
There may be learners in the class who have accessed the food bank. Always avoid judgemental language about accessing resources such as the food bank, and be mindful that learners who need resources like this might also like to be in a position to help others.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Learners who have lived or are living with food scarcity may be triggered by this topic. Some learners also feel shame about needing to access resources such as a food bank. If any learners are triggered by this topic, focus on a different volunteer opportunity instead, such as the animal shelter or park clean up.
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:

Invite someone who volunteers to speak to the class about what they do and why. This could be yourself or another instructor at your school or organization.
Arrange for a volunteer experience for the learners and elicit an LEA (Language Experience Approach) story following the experience.

Realia:

Online form

Units and Modules:

Tutela (Archway): Introduction to Volunteering: CLB 1L/2L
Tutela (Archway): Volunteering at a Foodbank: CLB 1L/2L
Tutela (OCDSB): Taking Part in a Neighbourhood Clean Up: CLB 1 (Not literacy but can be adapted)

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:

Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Community
Unite for Literacy: Community Matters