Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 4L - Writing
Sharing Information

Global Citizenship

Real-World Task

Describe in a short paragraph what you can do at home and in your community to help the environment.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Present simple
Basic knowledge of garbage collection and sorting in Canada

Context:

There are many strategies individual people and families can use to help the environment.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Modal verbs: can, could

Coordinating conjunctions: and, or, but, so

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

A paragraph has one main idea with several examples.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Taking care of the environment is part of being a part of a community.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: what is the environment? Elicit words like nature, land, water, animals, forests, and so on. What are some problems with the environment right now? Elicit from learners ideas about climate change, pollution, too much garbage, deforestation. If learners don’t have the vocabulary, write down the ideas on the board and give learners the word (e.g. cutting down trees = deforestation). Use images to support the discussion.
Discuss as a class: what can happen if we don’t take care of the environment? What is the impact of environmental problems? Discuss the impacts of climate change, such as increased severe weather events, drought, increased disease (e.g. the spread of malaria has increased due to warmer temperatures), and so on. Use images to support the discussion. Please see note on trauma-aware practice below regarding climate anxiety and learners who have experienced trauma.
On the same day as the discussion of problems, move into small groups to brainstorm what individual people can do to help the environment. Have learners make notes on chart paper and present their ideas to the class. Make a larger list on the board of everyone’s ideas.
As a class, brainstorm successes: make a list of practices learners are already doing that help the environment, such as taking public transportation, bringing coffee/tea/water from home in a reusable container, buying items second-hand, and so on.
Use vocabulary cards with photographs, words, and very simple definitions to practice the module vocabulary. Use activities such as Bingo, matching, crosswords, and fill in the blanks.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Read a simple, instructor-made story (or use a story from the module below) on the environment. Do comprehension activities such as comprehension questions, matching vocabulary to the story, and sequencing events. Read the story multiple times over the course of several lessons to practice fluency and intonation.
Review coordinating conjunctions and do grammar activities to practice using and, or, but, so.
Review the modal verbs can and could for making suggestions and practice writing sentences with suggestions. Do activities to unscramble words to make a sentence or follow a prompt to write sentences with can or could.
Discuss the parts of a paragraph. Review with learners that a paragraph is usually made up of 5-8 sentences. It has one main idea and several examples to explain the idea, and the first sentence of the paragraph says what the main idea is. Choral write a paragraph on helping the environment, eliciting wording from the learners. Encourage learners to use coordinating conjunctions to write compound sentences.
Read several paragraphs on a variety of topics. Underline the topic sentence and highlight the supporting sentences.
Complete a template to create a simple outline for your paragraph. Choose one topic and brainstorm examples for the topic.
Write a simple paragraph on a very simple topic such as a typical day or family.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Write a paragraph about why you think it is important to protect the environment. Share your paragraph with a partner and receive feedback on the content. Practice constructive feedback practices such as a feedback sandwich or two pieces of praise and a suggestion. Avoid having learners editing each other’s language or correcting each other’s mistakes because at this level that can lead to introducing further errors.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Describe in a short paragraph what you can do at home and in your community to help the environment.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

People who are struggling with basic survival do not tend to place much emphasis on protecting the environment; however, these people also rarely have much impact on the environment compared to the average Canadian household or larger companies and industries. Avoid judgemental language around choosing to protect the environment and stick to facts as best as possible.

Digital Literacy Strategies:

Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline digital knowledge and skills.

Learners may need to:

Have keyboarding and typing skills.
Locate, navigate and use websites.
Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages.
Type information to appear on screen
Send and receive email messages
Navigate and use online learning management systems (LMS) such as Avenue.

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 how to move to different fields in an email.
Use digital tools such as translation or pronunciation tools to support language learning and foster autonomous learning.
Share knowledge and strategies to ensure online safety.
Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:

Focus on strategies that are realistic for learners in the class, such as sorting their garbage into recycling and compost, or donating things they are done with. Also highlight the many things that learners are likely already doing, such as taking public transport or minimizing consumerism.
If learners are typing their paragraphs, show them how to access accommodations online, such as changing font size, changing viewing size, using speech to text, or having the computer read what is written.
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 may be triggered by discussions of climate change, droughts, extreme weather events, or negative impacts on the world. Keep these discussions as gentle as possible and watch for learners who are feeling upset. As best as possible, shift the focus to what learners are already doing that helps the environment and small actions they can take now.
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:

Offer learners a choice of what to write about. Give any learner who is feeling triggered by writing about the environment a choice to write on a different topic, such as shopping second hand through thrift stores or online marketplaces or taking public transportation. These topics are still related to the module but may give learners a little more distance.
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:

Have learners work together to create a poster about what can be recycled, composted, donated, or thrown out. Post these posters near the recycling stations in your school/organization.
Tour a recycling facility.
Have learners make a photo journal of things they’re doing to help the environment and write sentences to describe each photo, e.g. taking the bus, bringing a reusable water bottle, and so on.

Realia:

Recycling, compost, and garbage bins
Examples of reusable items such as water bottles and travel mugs
Examples of items that replace single-use plastic, like wooden cutlery and cloth bags

Units and Modules:

Tutela (CCLB): Caring for the Environment: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)

Lessons and Activities:

LINC 4 Classroom Activities At Home in Our Community and The World (p. 3-40) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 4L
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia:

Climate Change for Kids (A fairly simple and slow-paced video on climate change; includes discussion of carbon dioxide which will need scaffolding)