Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 1L - Speaking
Interacting with Others

Canada

Real-World Task

Introduce yourself to someone and ask them where they live.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Name of own country in English
A few basic greetings

Context:

People in Canada live in a community (rural community, town, or city) and also in a province or territory.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Greetings: hello, hi, good morning, good evening
Common courtesy phrases: My name is…What’s your name? How are you? Fine, thanks. Where do you live? I live in _________
Names of provinces and territories in Canada: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, etc. (Introduce the provinces / territories in this task but don’t require learners to learn all of them; build oral recognition)

Sample Grammar:

Simple present: I live in…He / she lives in…
Personal pronouns: he / she, his / her
Questions in the simple present (learned as phrases): Where do you live? What is your name?

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Information questions begin with a question word.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Introductions and small talk are helpful when you’re meeting new people.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Begin each class with greeting each learner in turn, gradually building up a small dialogue with each learner: Hi, it’s nice to see you, how are you? Vary the greeting words over time until learners know several greetings and courtesy phrases.
Learn a short dialogue: Hello. How are you? I’m fine, thank you. My name is ____ What’s your name? My name is _____. Where are you from? I am from…Where do you live? I live in… Practice with learners using their own information.
Discuss as a class: What province or territory do you live in? Look at inclusive images of Canadians from your community, and elicit from learners that there are many differences in people in Canada.
Review personal pronouns (he / she,
his / her) and complete a fill-in-the-blanks activity to practice.
Work with learners to read a short message from a friend saying where they are from. Write the message on the board. Use your own city / community name, e.g. Hi. I live in Hamilton. Practice different reading approaches, such as choral reading and echo reading. Give learners large sticky notes with words from the sentence and have them match their sticky note to the correct word.
Have learners interview each other: What’s your name? Where do you live? My name is ______. I live in… Report back to the class where your partner is from: His / Her name is ______ He lives in… / She lives in…
Look at a large, simple map of Canada as a class. Elicit from learners the name of their community and province/territory. Find them on the map.
Sing The Canada Song by Nancy Kopman.
Listen to a simple dialogue between two people from different places in Canada introducing themselves and saying where they live. Practice the dialogue as a class several times, and then practice with a partner. Present your dialogue to the class.
Colour a simple line map of Canada (with a simplified number of islands). Colour each province and territory with a different colour. Put a star in your province.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Introduce yourself to a classmate and ask them where they live. (Very similar to assessment task; only one of the two may be used in the portfolio.)

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Introduce yourself to someone and ask where they live.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Canada is a multicultural country, and Canadian culture includes the cultures of all the people who live in Canada. Discuss with learners, as best as you can in learner-friendly language and using visuals, what it means to live in a multicultural country.

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:

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.
Teach learners that Canada is an inclusive, multicultural country.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Learners who have experienced trauma or discrimination based on their own culture may be triggered by discussions of culture and multiculturalism.
Learners who have come to Canada as refugees may not have chosen Canada so much as they chose to flee a place where they were unsafe. Be sensitive when discussing Canada that not all learners will feel equally enthusiastic about being in a new country.
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:

Teach learners that Canada is an inclusive, multicultural country, and that all people have equal rights in Canada.
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:

Work together to colour the flags of all the cultures represented in the class.
Invite another class to visit and introduce yourselves to the other learners.
Create a poster to display in the classroom of some common courtesy phrases used in greetings and introductions.

Realia:

Maps
Flags

Units and Modules:

Tutela (CCLB): Greetings and Introductions: CLB 1L/2L
Tutela (ISANS): Canada Theme: CLB FL/1L

Lessons and Activities:

LINC 1 Classroom Activities: Canada (p. 85-120) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (ISANS): Bookfolds for Canada Theme: CLB FL/1L
Tutela (RODS): My Canada Book
Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 1L
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
Tutela: Foundation L-CLB 2L Phonics Curriculum
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia: