Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 3L-Writing
Sharing Information

Getting Around and Transportation

Real-World Task

Write a few sentences to describe your favourite way to travel in your community, town or city (such as on foot, by bus, by car, by taxi and so on).

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Present simple
Possessive pronouns: my, your, his, her, our, their

Context:

There are often many different ways to get around a community with advantages and disadvantages to each.
Public transportation works on a predictable schedule (though it may be late). There are usually brochures, websites, or apps to tell you the schedule for your bus or other form of transportation so that you can plan your trip.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

transportation words: bus, car, taxi, train/subway/metro, on foot
advantage
disadvantage
favourite
transportation

Sample Grammar:

Prepositions: on foot, by bus/car/and so on.

Complex sentences with because

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Writers usually give their reasons when they say their favourite thing.
Reasons can be introduced with because: e.g. I like to travel by bus because…

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Public transportation can often let you get around to the places you need to go, giving you independence and the chance to connect with other people.
There are usually more buses and other forms of transportation on weekdays, especially during the daytime, and fewer in the evenings and on the weekends.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: how do you get to class? Do you drive, walk, take the bus or use other public transportation? Ask learners how many take the bus on a regular basis. How do they plan their trips? Do they use the bus or other public transportation to go to other places in their cities/towns/ communities?
Review the vocabulary and practice using vocabulary cards with words and clear pictures. Play games such as Guess the Word (same rules as Hangman without the image of the gallows), Pictionary, and Crosswords.
Practice the vocabulary using vocabulary cards with words and clear pictures. Have learners work in groups and take turns drawing a card and explaining it (without saying the word). The rest of the learners guess which word it is, and whoever guesses first gets a point.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Split learners into groups of 3-4 and give each group a means of transportation, such as bus, on foot, taxi, car, and so on. Have learners brainstorm the advantages and disadvantages of their means of transportation in their group, make a list on a chart, and present their ideas to the class.
Read a simple instructor-made story about taking the bus. Work with a partner and use simple sentence strips to sequence the events of the story.
Have learners work with a partner to make a poster about a means of transportation. Have them cut out pictures to illustrate the poster and write 2-3 sentences about the means of transportation.
Review sentences with because. Complete a worksheet in which you link a statement with a reason using because.
Interview a partner about their favourite means of transportation. Find out their reasons and present the information to the class. Write simple sentences about their partner’s preferences.
Re-read the story and answer questions by writing simple sentences about the story. Practice reading the story as a class, modelling the instructor for pronunciation, intonation and fluency.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Write 2-3 short sentences to say an advantage and a disadvantage of a means of transportation, e.g. I like to take a taxi. An advantage is it’s easy. A disadvantage is that it’s expensive.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Write a few sentences to describe your favourite way to travel in your community, town or city (such as on foot, by bus, by car, by taxi and so on).

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Depending on where you live, there may be a variety of public transportation, such as buses, trains, subway, or ferries. There may also be very little public transportation. Adapt the task to fit the community you live in. If you live in a rural area with little public transportation, choose a regional bus if there is one instead.

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 relevant to the task.
Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages relevant to the task.
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.
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.
Recognize that some learners may not feel safe on public transportation, including women and learners who are 2SLGBTQIA+. Discuss strategies for safer use of public transportation, including riding with a friend and avoiding riding after dark, and for other options for transportation, such as ride shares.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Learners who have experienced trauma may not feel safe on public transportation. Acknowledge this concern and discuss strategies for safer use of public transportation or alternatives to public transportation.
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:

Take a field trip using public transportation and elicit an LEA (Language Experience Approach) story when you return to class. Have learners use your local website or app to plan the trip together.
Read a route map together and plan how to get to different locations in the community using public transportation.
Read a bus schedule and answer questions about arrival times.

Realia:

Websites and apps for local public transportation
Bus schedules
Maps
Route maps

Units and Modules:

Tutela (CCLB): Getting Around the City: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela (OCDSB): Assessment Task: Finding Information about the Train or Bus or Subway: CLB 3 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (OCDSB): Assessment Task: Interacting with the Driver on the Bus: CLB 3 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
LINC 3 Classroom Activities Transit Schedule (p. 490) (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: