Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy
CLB 2L - Writing
Getting Things Done
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Real-World Task
Write words to complete a short text about common accommodations in class like sitting close
to the front where you can see or using headphones if it is hard to hear.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Simple present
- Letter formation: Capital and lowercase letters
- Some phonics knowledge: single sounds and some blends
- Some sight words
Context:
- All learners have the right to accommodation so they can learn best.
- Many schools or organizations have learner support departments to help
meet learner needs. - This task reflects the intention to include all people in Canada in the themes.
The language skills in this task could be applied to other contexts.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- accommodation
- disability
- headphones
- deaf
- sign language
- sense words: see, hear
Sample Grammar:
- Modal verbs: can and can’t
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Sentences have a subject, or a person or thing that is doing the action.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- You have the right to accommodations in a classroom.
- It is okay to tell your instructor what you need so that you can learn best.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Discuss as a class: What do you need to be able to learn best? Make a list of things that help you learn on the board. Write down all suggestions from learners. Elicit things like being able to hear and see the instructor. Use images to support your discussions.
- Discuss as a class: What does it mean to have a disability? Give common examples, such as someone who is deaf, blind,
or in a wheelchair. Teach the word accommodations. Elicit from learners
what kinds of support or accommodations
a deaf person, blind person, or a person
in a wheelchair might need. - Use word and picture cards to learn the task vocabulary. Practice the vocabulary with TPR (Total Physical Response). Give each word an action. Call out the word, and have learners respond with the correct action.
- Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
- Copy the correct vocabulary word next to the picture. Draw a line to a simple sentence that uses that word.
- Review can and can’t. Play I can… Stand in a circle. Each learner takes a turn to say something they can do (e.g. I can speak Dinka or I can ride a bicycle.). Anyone who can’t do that thing sits down. The last learner standing wins. Repeat with I can’t, and anyone who can do that thing sits down.
- Read a very short, instructor-made, simple story about common accommodations in the classroom. Read the story to learners and then choral read and echo read the story. Work with a partner to answer very simple yes/no and comprehension questions.
- Re-read the story. Use pictures from the story to sequence the events in the story. Re-tell the story using the pictures to a classmate.
- Complete sentences with I can… and I can’t. Share your answers with a classmate. Report your classmate’s answers to the class.
- Read a sentence about a fictional learner and draw a line to an appropriate accommodation, e.g. Raj can’t hear…He can sit closer to the instructor.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Write words to complete sentences about what you can and can’t do and how you learn best.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Write words to complete a short text about common accommodations in class like sitting close to the front where you can see or using headphones if it is hard to hear.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- In some cultures, there is a stigma about disability or being neurodivergent. Help learners to understand that in Canada, all people are equal and all learners have the right to accommodations.
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.
- Read information from a screen.
- Adjust volume on device.
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.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:
- Use a variety of different kinds of accommodations in your examples for this task.
- Help give learners the language to say what they need to learn
and to advocate for themselves. - 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.
Trauma-informed Strategies:
Possible Trauma Triggers:
- Learners who have a disability or who are neurodivergent may
have experienced discrimination and may find discussions of accommodations triggering. They may also find them empowering. - 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:
- Go for a community walk to look for accommodations such as wheelchair ramps or Braille on signs. Return to class and elicit an LEA (Language Experience Approach) story about it. Read this story and use it as the basis for further reading activities.
Realia:
- Examples of accommodations such as headphones, wheel chair ramps, signs in Braille, and so on
Units and Modules:
- Tutela (CCLB): A Child’s Education: CLB 1L/2L
- Tutela (Archway): Items in the Classroom: CLB 1L/2L
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Starting a New English Class: CLB FL/1L (Not the right level but can be adapted)
Lessons and Activities:
- Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 2L
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
- Tutela: Foundation L-CLB 2L Phonics Curriculum
- Tutela: A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.
Multimedia:
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.
