Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy
CLB
3L-Listening
Getting Things Done
Getting Around and Transportation
Real-World Task
Ask for directions to two different locations in the community on foot.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Simple present
- Questions in the simple present
- Locations in the community: library, school, park, river, supermarket, clothes store, bank, pharmacy, and so on.
Context:
- Asking directions and understanding the responses can be very helpful.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- polite expressions to interrupt someone: Excuse me, do you mind, can you tell me…
- cardinal direction words: north, south, east, west
- relative direction words: left, right, straight
- cross
- next to
- landmark
Sample Grammar:
- Imperative voice for directions
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Directions are given sequentially, starting with your current location.
- Sometimes people include landmarks when they are giving directions.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- There are polite ways to interrupt someone and get their attention.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Discuss as a class: How do you find locations in the community? How do you find somewhere new? Do you use maps? Do you ask directions? Have you ever been lost?
- On a large piece of chart paper, draw a simple map of the classroom. Include symbols for all the “landmarks” in the class, such as desks, tables, computers, plants, and so on. Orient it correctly to the room and mark the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west). Gather round the map and discuss what it is and what each symbol means. Have a learner volunteer to stand in one corner of the actual room and use a small figure such as a Lego Minifigure to represent the person. Move it around the map as they move around the classroom.
- Give learners a very simple instructor-made map of a small community with 2-3 streets and cross-streets, a park, and a river. Have learners cut out instructor-made “buildings” (squares printed on a paper with labels such as library, supermarket, school, and so on.) from a paper and place the buildings on the map according to your directions.
- Spread out a large map of your community on a table and gather around to look at it. Elicit from learners what they already know about the map, including basic questions like what it is and what community it is for. Point out the key and discuss important conventions such as north, south, east, and west, and traditional colours for maps, such as blue for water and green for parks.
- Review task vocabulary and practice by playing games such as Bingo and Memory and completing activities such as fill in the blanks and matching.
- Listen to an instructor-made dialogue that includes a polite interruption and a request for directions. Discuss the polite interruptions. Practice with a partner and perform the dialogue for the class.
- Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
- Review the imperative voice and use TPR (Total Physical Response) with common actions to practice. After a number of rounds, have learners take turns calling out the instructions.
- Work with a partner. Complete an activity using a very simple instructor-made map. Take turns asking your partner for directions to locations on the map.
- Using a simplified map of your own community, give instructions to a partner on how to get to a community location such as a library, community centre, or mall.
- Read a very simple instructor-made story that includes directions. Match vocabulary words to the story and complete comprehension questions with a partner. Practice the reading as a class, matching the instructor on pronunciation, intonation and fluency.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Ask a partner for directions to a location in the school or organization.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Ask for directions to two different locations in the community on foot.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Some learners may not come from places where it was safe to walk on the streets, and some may not come from cultures with the expectation that public transportation follows a strict schedule.
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.
- Read information from a screen.
Instructors can:
- Dedicate time to improve digital literacy for learners
- Make and/ or adapt digital materials.
- Introduce websites and/or apps that are relevant to the task(s).
- Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites, for example, finding a specific route
- Teach reading strategies such as skimming and scanning to find information on websites or apps.
- Introduce tools and apps that can aid learners in coping with communication. barriers, such as translation, pronunciation, text to speech, speech to text tools and so on.
- Share knowledge and strategies to ensure online safety.
- Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills.
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.
- Show learners where to find information about subsidized transit passes in your area.
- Recognize that some learners may not feel safe walking in their community, possibly including those who are women or who are 2SLGBTQIA+. Help learners identify some strategies for safety, such as avoiding public transportation after dark, riding with a friend, staying in well-lit areas, or staying alert. Avoid assuming that everyone takes public transportation or walks or feels comfortable doing so.
Trauma-informed Strategies:
Possible Trauma Triggers:
- Learners who have experienced trauma may not feel safe walking in their community. Help learners identify strategies for staying safe, but also recognize that the community doesn’t feel safe for everyone.
- 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:
- Walk to a nearby train or subway station as a class and look at the route maps, layout, and ticket machines.
- Take a short walk around the community as a class and create an LEA (Language Experience Approach) story about it.
Realia:
- Websites and apps for public transportation in your area
- Paper maps and mapping apps such as Google maps
Units and Modules:
- Tutela (CCLB): Getting Around the City: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Lessons and Activities:
- LINC 3 Classroom Activities: Travel and Transportation (p. 471) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela: Taking the Bus (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela: CLB 3 Module Plan: Transportation (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela (OCDSB): Assessment Task: Finding Information about the Train or Bus or Subway: CLB 3 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 3L
- A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.
Multimedia:
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.
