Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy
CLB
1L-Reading
Comprehending Instructions
Education and Learning
Real-World Task
Read a very simple, familiar instruction for how to contact your teacher if you are sick.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Using a phone
Context:
- Most schools or educational programs have attendance policies.
- It is appropriate to miss school or class if you are sick.
- Most schools, educational programs, and workplaces in Canada request that you let someone know if you’ll be absent.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- miss
- school
- sick
- call
- teacher
- days of the week: Sunday, Monday, etc.
- today, tomorrow
Sample Grammar:
- Comprehending the imperative voice for instructions
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Instructions are given in order from start to finish.
- Written instructions are intended for the person reading the instructions to follow.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- It is polite and respectful to let a teacher know if you will miss class.
- In Canada, it is polite and respectful to let providers know if you will miss an appointment, like a doctor’s appointment or an appointment with the bank or a settlement worker.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Sing the days of the week song. At the start of each class, practice saying what day it is.
- When learners are comfortable with the days of the week, practice saying Today is… and Tomorrow is… each day, eg. Today is Monday and tomorrow is Tuesday.
- Discuss as a class: Which days do you go to school?
- Write the days of the week on the board. Practice saying school or no school for each day.
- Read to the class a very simple story about a learner who is sick and can’t come to school. Discuss as a class: What should the learner do?
- Practice the words sick and absent.
- Learn a short simple dialogue between a teacher and a learner: Hello teacher, I am [Kedijah]. Hello, Kedijah. I am sick. No school today. Okay, thank you Kedijah. Practice the dialogue as a class, and then invite a learner to play one part while you play the part of the teacher. Pretend to use the phone for the dialogue. Repeat with each learner.
- Use TPR (Total Physical Response) to practice basic instructions, such as stand up, sit down, touch your nose, pick up your book, etc. Once learners are comfortable with responding to basic instructions, ask a learner to give the instructions.
- Work with vocabulary cards that have words and pictures to practice reading sick, call the teacher.
- When learners are comfortable with these words and their meanings, switch to separate vocabulary cards for the words and the pictures. Practice matching the words to the pictures.
- Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Read a very simple instruction supported by pictures: Sick? Call the teacher.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Read a very simple, familiar instruction for how to contact your teacher if you are sick.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Expectations around attendance and punctuality can be different in different cultures. In Canada, high value is placed on attendance and punctuality, and there is an expectation that you will contact someone if you’re going to be absent from school or work, or you will miss an appointment. Teach learners that in Canada, it’s important to let people know if you’ll be absent for both school and work or if they will miss an appointment.
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.
- Read information from a screen.
- Send and receive text messages and messages on other texting apps.
Instructors can:
- Dedicate time to improve digital literacy for learners.
- Make and/ or adapt digital materials.
- Support learners in navigating and using texting and messaging apps.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:
- Recognize that some learners may not have access to a phone. For learners who do not have their own phones, come up with an acceptable way for them to inform you when they are sick. Depending on the learner, this could be to borrow a phone or to tell you the next day that they were sick. It is not likely that learners at this level can send email (and likely wouldn’t have access to email if they do not have access to a phone).
- Recognize that some learners may experience violence in the home, including gender-based violence. It is possible that a requirement to inform the school if they will be absent will help learners to stay safe, but it is also possible that these learners will not be able to contact the school.
- Recognize that learners may be absent for many reasons, including illness or a child’s illness, but also including appointments, work, or exhaustion.
Trauma-informed Strategies:
Possible Trauma Triggers:
- Learners who have experienced trauma can be triggered by people in positions of authority. A respectful approach to an attendance policy can help these learners.
- 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
- Allow learners choice:
- 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 practice a dialogue about informing a teacher about an absence and perform it for the class.
- Have learners practice the days of the week song and then share it with another class at a similar level.
Realia:
- Phones
Units and Modules:
Lessons and Activities:
- LINC 1 Classroom Activities: Classroom Language (p. 257) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
- Tutela (OCDSB): Understanding a Notice from a Child’s School: CLB 1 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela (OCDSB): Reading and Responding to Instructions: CLB 1 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela (OCDSB): Understanding Rules and Signs at School: CLB 1L
- A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.
Multimedia:
- YouTube: Days of the Week Song
- YouTube: Days of the Week Song (Addams Family Tune)
Detailed Sample Task
This exemplar is aligned with the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) and is designed to guide and inform your lesson and module planning. Consult the Canadian Language Benchmarks English as a Second Language for Adults for detailed performance descriptors at this benchmark and skill.
The information in this document is not exhaustive and can be expanded on. As well, you can use more learner-friendly language in your materials and assessments.
This is NOT a lesson or module plan.
