Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy
CLB
1L-Reading
Getting Things Done
Global Citizenship
Real-World Task
Read information on your ID card.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Lowercase and capital letters
- Some basic phonics
- Numbers 0-9
- Personal identification words
Context:
- ID cards contain personal identification information such as your full name and address.
- Personal information can also be verified by driver’s licenses, passports, and immigration documents.
- Learners should be aware that carrying passports and immigration documents is not advisable due the risk of loss, theft and identity fraud.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- first name
- last name
- address
- own street name
- number
- ID
- card
Sample Grammar:
- Capital letters for names and other proper nouns
- Format for street address
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- An ID card contains personal information.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- It’s a good strategy to keep a card with your personal information for copying onto forms.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Begin each class with a very simple dialogue to introduce yourself to each learner: Hi, my name is ______. What is your name? My name is ________. It’s nice to meet you! Gradually change greetings and add more information over time.
- Sing the Phonics Alphabet Song.
- Practice forming letters as capitals and lowercase, using 2-3 letters at a time.
- Copy own name. Point to first name and last name. Underline capital letters for the first name and last name and any other names on the card.
- Sing and work out to Count by 1s to 10.
- Work with a partner to count objects and write the number.
- Practice writing numbers. The instructor will call out a number from 0-9. Write the number on a personal whiteboard.
- Choral read own address with instructor. Identify the street number and street name.
- Copy own address. Use a capital letter for the street name.
- Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
- Read a very simple instructor made story: This is Ahmed. His last name is Mohamed. His address is 125 Main Street. Read the story to learners. Choral read and echo read the story. Do activities based on the story such as matching a card to a word in the story, circling the street number, or finding Ahmed’s last name.
- Fill in a very basic instructor-made form with first name, last name, and address, by copying from a personal information card.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Read own address. Circle the street number. Say the street number and street name.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Read information on your ID card. Demonstrate comprehension by pointing to and saying your first name, last name, and address when asked.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Some learners may be unfamiliar with carrying an ID card on them.
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:
- Try to ensure that learners’ names are spelled correctly and include everything in their names, following the conventions of their language or culture.
- 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 experienced trauma, especially around being forced to leave their homes or being persecuted, arrested, or detained, may find discussions of ID cards/papers 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
- Allow learners choice:
- 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:
- Give each learner a “mailbox” (e.g. a file folder stapled on the sides). Have learners decorate their folders with stickers and write their name on the folder. Give learners cards or a short template to fill in to write to each other and deliver their “mail” to the right “mailbox.”
- Use dollar store greeting cards or print cards from the internet and have learners copy the name of a classmate and their own name to give each other cards.
Realia:
- Greeting cards
- ID cards
Units and Modules:
- Tutela (CCLB): Greetings and Introductions: CLB 1L/2L
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Starting a New English Class: CLB FL/1L
Lessons and Activities:
- Tutela (Archway): Personal Information: Numeric Focus: CLB 1L/2L
- Tutela (Archway): Personal Information: Alphabetic Focus: CLB 1L/2L
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
- 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: Phonics Alphabet Song
- YouTube: Count by 1s to 10
Detailed Sample Task
This exemplar is aligned with the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) and is designed to guide and inform your lesson and module planning. Consult the Canadian Language Benchmarks English as a Second Language for Adults for detailed performance descriptors at this benchmark and skill.
The information in this document is not exhaustive and can be expanded on. As well, you can use more learner-friendly language in your materials and assessments.
This is NOT a lesson or module plan.
