Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 1L - Listening
Comprehending Information

Canada

Real-World Task

Listen to a few phrases of a short, simplified 1-day weather forecast for your town / city and answer 1 or 2 questions about the type of weather.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Name of own community
Visual literacy: identifying and distinguishing clear, familiar, repeated images such as images for various types of weather

Context:

Many people check the weather forecast to plan what to wear and what to do each day. Many people also plan activities they would like to do based on the weather forecast such as barbecues, picnics or outdoor sports such as soccer or tennis.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

weather words: sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, windy
temperature words: hot, warm, cool, cold
weather
forecast
today

Sample Grammar:

Present simple: It is…
Questions in the present simple: What is the weather?

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

The weather word usually comes at the end of the sentence, following the temperature word: Today it is cool and rainy.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Knowing the weather helps you plan your day and what to wear.
The weather is a very popular topic for small talk in Canada.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

At the start of every class, elicit help from learners to post the weather on the board. Use the same symbols (e.g. printed out and laminated) each time. Choose two symbols, one for the temperature (hot, warm, cool, cold) and one for the weather (sunny, rainy, cloudy, snowy, windy).
As a class, look at a weather forecast online or on an app. Look at the symbols for the weather for today.
Practice the very simple dialogue: What is the weather (today)? It is…and… (e.g. hot and sunny / cool and rainy / cold and windy). Practice as a class and have learners choral answer, and then have learners practice the dialogue with a partner.
Use vocabulary cards with words and the same clear, familiar images on a white background to practice temperature and weather words. Do activities and play games such as matching, Bingo, Go Fish, and Memory.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Practice the weather as a chant, clapping once for each word in the sentence: Today it is warm and sunny. Stressed words get a big clap and unstressed words (it, is, and) get a small clap.
Copy weather words to complete sentences: Today it is __________ and __________.
Read a very simple instructor-made story about the weather. Read the story to the learners and then choral and echo read the story. In pairs, learners take turns reading the story to each other. Match vocabulary cards to words in the story.
Listen to the instructor say a weather and temperature word and circle the correct image on the page.
Look at a prompt card with a clear photograph of the weather and tell your partner about the weather: e.g. It is warm and cloudy.
Complete a weather journal for a week: Every day, circle the correct symbol for the weather and copy the word. Tell your partner the weather for today.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Listen to the temperature (hot, warm, cool, cold) and weather (sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, windy) and circle the correct symbols on the page.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Listen to a few phrases of a short, simplified 1-day weather forecast for your town / city and answer 1 or 2 questions about the type of weather.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Weather plays an important part in Canadian culture. In most communities in Canada, there is a significant range of temperatures from the hottest to the coldest days. Weather impacts the clothes we wear and the activities we do. Help learners to understand how to plan for the weather and what kinds of activities are done in different seasons in Canada.

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 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:

In small groups, make a season poster. Cut out images from print outs or magazines to represent the season and copy the words for the season, temperature, and weather.
As learners become more familiar with the weather vocabulary and the sentence structure, include writing the weather sentence on the board as a class chore to start the class.

Realia:

Flashcards of weather words.
Weather apps
Weather forecasts in newspapers

Units and Modules:

Tutela (CCLB): The Weather: CLB 1L/2L
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Dressing for Winter: CLB FL/1L
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Dressing for Summer: CLB FL/1L

Lessons and Activities:

LINC 1 Classroom Activities: Canadian Weather (p. 99-120) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (Archway): Dates and Days: CLB 1L/2L
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:

Unite for Literacy: A Blanket of Snow
Unite for Literacy: It’s Winter!