Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 1L - Speaking
Sharing Information

Employment - Finding a Job

Real-World Task

Name a job skill you have.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Personal pronouns: I, you, he, she
Can and can’t

Context:

People have specific skills that are useful for different jobs.
Knowing your job skills is helpful when you are trying to find a job.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

common jobs: teacher, nurse, cleaner, construction worker, security guard, cook
job
skill
hardworking
punctual
helpful
Strong
Basic skills to be used with “can”
such as clean, speak English or cook

Sample Grammar:

Simple present: I am, I can

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Some words (adjectives) can describe people.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Saying your job skills lets other people know what you can do.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: What is a job? Elicit from learners names of common jobs.
Use vocabulary cards with words and clear photographs to practice names of common jobs. Play Bingo, matching, and memory.
Read a very simple story based on the vocabulary job words: Mark is a teacher. Mark is helpful. Mark can help students. Jane is a construction worker. Jane is strong. Jane can lift heavy things. Ali is a cook. Ali is punctual. Ali can cook food. Read the story to the learners and then choral read and echo read.
Use vocabulary cards with words and clear photographs to practice job skill adjectives: helpful, strong, punctual, hardworking. Have learners match the vocabulary cards to the correct words in the story.
Use vocabulary cards with words and clear photographs to practice job skills: help, lift, cook, work hard. Have learners match the vocabulary cards to the correct words in the story.
Trace h/H. Use air writing, sand trays, and pencils to write h and H.
Elicit common words that begin with h: have, hold, hug, he, happy.
Trace and then copy common words that begin with h and include vocabulary words: hardworking, help and helpful.
Listen to a very simple dialogue between two people talking about their job skills. Practice the dialogue together. Have learners practice with a partner and perform the dialogue for the class.
Copy job skill adjectives to complete the sentence stem I am…
Copy job skill words to complete the sentence stem I can…
Give learners a flag with h and H written on it (e.g. an index card taped to a straw or popsicle stick). Read out words. Have learners raise their h-flag when they hear a word that starts with h.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Ask your partner what their job skill is.
Tell the instructor their skill, e.g. She is hardworking. She can cook.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Name a job skill you have.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

In many cultures (including Canadian culture), there is an expectation of modesty, and people do not like to talk about their skills and abilities. Explain to learners that it is important for getting a job.

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 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.
Learners may come from places where there are strong gender roles for employment, and in some cultures, it is not common for women to work outside of the home. Respect cultural differences, but teach learners that in Canada, people of all genders can do all jobs.
Some learners may experience changes to gender roles when they come to Canada. For some, this may be a welcome change, but for others it may be challenging. Address their concerns with sensitivity but teach that Canada is equitable and inclusive to people of all genders.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Questioning can be triggering for learners who have experienced trauma; be careful with the tone of questions in any kind of mock job interview situation and make sure learners understand the purpose of the activities.
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.
Hold a job fair. Have learners work in small groups to cut out pictures and copy one or two words to make a poster about a job. Invite another class at a similar level, and have learners explain their posters.

Realia:

Objects associated with specific jobs, such as hammer, cleaning cloth, flashlight, etc.

Units and Modules

Tutela (CCLB): Safety at Work: CLB 1L/2L
Tutela (Archway): Cashier Module: CLB 1L/2L
Tutela (Archway): Warehouse Worker Module: CLB 1L/2L
Tutela (Archway): Saying No to a Work Shift: CLB 1L/2L
LINC 1 Classroom Activities: Employment (p. 285-326)

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela (OCDSB): Reading Assessment: Understanding Jobs and Job Titles: CLB 1 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (OCDSB): Listening Assessment: Listening for Job Names: CLB 1 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela (OCDSB): Speaking Assessment: Saying the Name of my Job: CLB 1 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 1L
Tutela: Foundation L-CLB 2L Phonics Curriculum
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
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