Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy
CLB 3L - Writing
Recording Information
Employment:
At the Workplace
Real-World Task
Copy 5-6 sentences about a workplace sexual harassment policy.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Present simple
Context:
- Sexual harassment is any unwanted sexual actions, comments, or contact that is likely to offend, humiliate, or place sexual conditions on employment opportunities or advancement.
- All people in Canada have the right to not be sexually harassed.
- Many Canadian workplaces (and educational institutions and community organizations) have sexual harassment policies. It is up to employees to follow all policies at their workplace, and the consequences for not following a policy can include dismissal.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- relationship vocabulary: dating, flirting, getting engaged, relationship, marriage
- workplace
- coworker
- sexual harassment
- action
- comment
- contact
- Respect
Sample Grammar:
- Modal verbs: must
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- All employees have to follow workplace policies or they could face consequences such as dismissal.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- Everyone has the right not to be harassed in the workplace. If you are being harassed, you can report it to your supervisor, their supervisor, or to Human Resources.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Discuss as a class: How are relationships formed in your culture? Do you have a culture of dating or do you immediately become engaged? Who arranges relationships? Is it the couple themselves or their families?
- Teach relationship vocabulary. Practice new vocabulary using word cards with simple explanations. Have learners work in small groups and quiz each other about the meaning of the words.
- Complete a fill-in-the blanks activity to use the new vocabulary in context.
- Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
- Discuss as a class: Where in Canada is it appropriate for adults to flirt or talk about dating? Where is it okay to give someone a compliment? Discuss places where this might be okay and places where this is probably not okay, like in churches, mosques, or synagogues, or in the workplace.
- Discuss the expectations in the Canadian workplace that everyone be treated with respect. Explain in very simple and clear terms that flirting, giving compliments, or touching someone when they don’t want it is called sexual harassment. Teach that sexual harassment is taken very seriously in Canada, and anyone who engages in sexual harassment could lose their job or even go to jail. Explain that sexual harassment can be things like saying sexual things to a person, making sexual jokes, posting sexual content, or when a boss suggests they can get a promotion if they have sex with them (or could lose their job if they don’t).
- Have learners copy words to complete a mini-dictionary about sexual harassment vocabulary.
- Write vocabulary words to complete sentences.
- Read a simple, gentle, instructor-made story about mild sexual harassment and how the person reported it. Answer simple yes/no and comprehension questions to demonstrate comprehension.
- Practice reading a transcript of the story. Read the story and have the learners echo and choral read. Take turns reading the story with a partner.
- Read a highly simplified sexual harassment policy. Discuss as a class and answer simple comprehension questions.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Copy 5-6 sentences about a workplace code of conduct.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Copy 5-6 sentences about a workplace sexual harassment policy.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Some learners come from cultures where those who identify as women do not work outside the home and/or may have gendered expectations of who does what kind of work. You can be sensitive to their differing opinions and to different choices, but make sure that all learners understand their rights in Canada.
- Some learners may come from cultures where women have no recourse to report sexual harassment. Make sure all learners understand their rights and responsibilities in Canada, and make sure all learners understand the possible consequences of sexual harassment.
Digital Literacy Strategies:
Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline digital knowledge and skills.
Learners may need to:
- Have keyboarding and typing skills.
- Locate, navigate and use websites.
- Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages, such as employment payroll programs.
- Read information from a screen.
Instructors can:
- Dedicate time to improve digital literacy for learners.
- Make and/or adapt digital materials.
- Introduce websites and/or apps that are relevant to the task(s).
- Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites.
- Teach reading strategies such as skimming and scanning to find information on websites or apps.
- Introduce tools and apps that can aid learners in coping with communication barriers, such as translation, pronunciation, text to speech, speech to text tools and so on.
- Share knowledge and strategies to ensure online safety.
- Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills.
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.
- 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:
- Learners who have experienced abuse, harassment, gender-based violence, or sexual assault may find this topic triggering. If learners feel triggered, offer a different task that meets the language requirements with different content, such as a policy about personal cell phone use in the workplace.
- 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:
- Create a classroom code of conduct for showing respect to all people in the class.
- Read a very simple email about a workplace policy and answer comprehension questions.
Realia:
- Simplified workplace policies
- Simplified workplace emails
Units and Modules:
- Tutela (CCLB): Making Requests in the Workplace: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela (Archway): Introduction to Employment Centres: CLB 3L/4L
Lessons and Activities:
- LINC 3 Classroom Activities: Employment (p. 343-390) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 3L
- 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.
