Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 1L - Listening
Comprehending Information

Employment - Finding a Job

Real-World Task

Listen to a common question in a job interview like where do you work now or when can you start?

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Present simple

Context:

It is common to do a job interview to get a job, and there are common questions to expect in a job interview.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

job
interview
question words: where, when, can
work
start

Sample Grammar:

Information question in the present simple

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

The question word in a question tells you what kind of information they’re asking about (e.g. place, time).

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

In a Canadian job interview, the interviewer will expect you to make some eye contact.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: what is a job? Who has a job in Canada? What do you do? Who had a job before coming to Canada? What did you do?
Discuss as a class: how do you get a job in Canada? What is a job interview? Have you ever had a job interview?
Read a very simple instructor-made story about a job interview: Mark wants a job. Mark has a job interview. Where do you work now? I am a student. When can you start? Next week. Mark gets the job! Read the story to learners several times. Look at the pictures together and discuss what is happening. Choral read and echo read the story.
Use vocabulary cards with words and clear pictures to practice jobs vocabulary. Play games such as Bingo, matching, and Memory.
Incorporate phonics activities based on the vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Listen to a simple instructor-made dialogue of a very simple job interview. Practice the dialogue several times as a class. Once learners are familiar with the dialogue, have them practice in pairs and then perform their dialogue for the class.
Listen to the instructor call out a question: where do you work now? or When can you start? Hold up the correct card illustrated by a very clear picture, either I am a student or Next week. Practice many times.
Practice other questions with where: where do you live? Where do you go to school? Focus mostly on the word where and the correct response of a place.
Practice other questions with when: when do you go to school? When do you eat dinner? When do you go to bed? Focus mostly on the word when and the correct response of a time.
Use a prompt card to ask your partner where they live or when they go to school.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Listen to a very simple instructor-made dialogue of a job interview. Demonstrate understanding by answering 2-3 very simple oral comprehension questions.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Listen to a common question in a job interview like where do you work now or when can you start? Demonstrate understanding by giving an appropriate
1- or 2-word oral answer.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Learners may not be familiar with the expected body language
in a Canadian job interview, such as making eye contact. Practice expected body language.

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:

Learners who are women (all women, including transwomen),
may not have had the opportunity to work in their country of origin. Teach learners that people of all genders can do any job in Canada.
Recognize and teach learners that work done in the home and other unpaid work is still work, and list cooking, cleaning, gardening, and raising children as examples of work.
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. 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 authoritarian questioning or figures of authority, such as a boss. Make all discussion of jobs gentle and be aware of any learner who needs support.
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
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:

Visit a job fair.
Practice copying own name to fill out a very simple application form.
Cut out clear pictures of people doing jobs or the tools they need and glue them to a poster with the name of the job.
Role-play interviewer and applicant using simple questions and basic responses.

Realia:

Items associated with different professions such as a stethoscope, tools, and so on. Use items from a range of different jobs, including many jobs that learners at this level might do or might come into contact with.

Units and Modules

Lessons and Activities:

LINC 1 Classroom Activities Employment (p. 285-326)
(Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (Archway): Personal Information: Numeric Focus: CLB 1L/2L
Tutela (Archway): Personal Information: Alphabetic Focus: CLB 1L/2L
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 1L
Tutela: Foundation L-CLB 2L Phonics Curriculum
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia:

Tutela: ESL Image Bank: People in Different Jobs
Unite for Literacy: People at Work