Real-World Task Guidelines:
EAL Literacy

CLB 1L

Banking and Numeracy

Planning Context

Learners may require the following:

  • Visual clues
  • Topics are related to immediate personal needs
  • Face-to-face or one-one-one digital interactions
  • Text that is clear, sparse and very easy to read
  • Slower rates of speech
  • Non-demanding contexts

Instructors may need to:

  • Limit vocabulary to familiar words and phrases
  • Speak slowly
  • Create simplified versions of online forms
  • Modify instructions to limit to 2 to 5 words

Literacy Learner Considerations

Listening and Speaking

1L learners are meeting the requirements of CLB 1 in listening and speaking. It is important for 1L learners to develop all new language 
orally first so that it is familiar to them when they learn to recognize it in print. Listening and speaking should be taught and assessed orally and 
not through the skills of reading and writing. There is a focus on learning basic and immediately relevant vocabulary and beginning to learn the sounds of the language, including the ability to break words into sounds and to blend sounds into words.

Reading

To be successful in 1L reading tasks, 1L learners can work towards the development of reading skills in the context of real-world tasks, such as:

  • developing oral vocabulary related to the task
  • recognizing that letters have distinct sounds
  • connecting letters to sounds
  • reading own name and recognizing own address and personal information
  • developing first sight words

Writing

To be successful in 1L writing tasks, 1L learners can work towards the development of writing skills in the context of real-world tasks, such as:

  • developing oral vocabulary related to the task
  • forming lowercase and uppercase letters
  • identifying the first sound and some others sounds in a familiar word
  • copying words
  • writing own name and personal information

Additional Sample Real-World Tasks and Competency Areas

Listen and Respond to a greeting from a bank teller.
(Interacting with Others)

Answer a question about the bank you go to.
(Sharing Information)

Find the phone number on a highly simplified 
utility bill.
(Getting Things Done)

Copy the personal identification information (name and address) on a form to open a bank account. (Getting Things Done)

Additional Resources

Digital Literacy Strategies

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

Learners may need to:

  • Look at a website.
  • Read information from a screen.
  • Send and receive text messages.

Instructors can:

  • Introduce websites that are relevant to the task(s)
  • Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites
  • 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
  • Teach reading strategies such as skimming and scanning to find information on websites
  • Share knowledge and strategies to ensure online safety

Equity, Diversity 
and Inclusion Strategies

Instructors Can:

  • Use diverse representations of people in all your learning resources and images, including people who are 2SLGBTQIA+, Indigenous, Francophone and of other cultures, and people who have disabilities or who are neurodivergent.
  • Use gender neutral titles when addressing people.
    Recognize that people who identify as women may not have had independent access to financial professionals and banking services. Make sure these learners are aware of their rights in Canada and the resources that are available to them.

Trauma-Informed Strategies

Triggers:

  • Learners who have experienced trauma can be triggered by people in positions of authority.
  • Filling in forms can be a trigger for learners who have experienced trauma.
  • Discussions of scams, fraud, and theft may be triggering for learners who have experienced trauma, especially those who have lost their homes, possessions, and/ or money.

Strategies:

  • Give learners advanced warning of discussions of this topic.
  • Allow learners the choice:
    • to work on a different topic
    • to share or not share their own experiences
    • to work alone or to work with others
    • to take care of themselves
    • to step out of the learning environment
  • Learners have the right to choose if, when and what they share about themselves.
  • Make space for learners to feel safe and recover from the experience of sharing their experiences.
  • Giving learners the knowledge, skills and language to access resources can be empowering.

Sample Real World Tasks

This information is aligned with the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) and is designed to help guide you in the planning process. You can use these sample real-world tasks to guide and inform 
your selection or creation of skill-building activities, skill-using tasks and assessment tasks.

These sample real-world tasks include the following: skill, real-world task, competency area, one competency statement and two sample indicators of ability. This is not an exhaustive list: there are more indicators of ability and information about this CLB level in Canadian Language Benchmarks English as a Second Language for Adults. Consult this resource for more information and to select your own competencies or indicators of ability. Remember, you can use more learner-friendly language in your materials and assessments.

This is NOT a lesson plan, module plan or curriculum.