Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy
CLB
4L-Reading
Getting Things Done
Banking and Numeracy
Real-World Task
Read a utility bill to find out how much the late payment penalty charge is and find the total amount that will be due after that date.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Basic utility bill vocabulary: bill, electricity/hydro, telephone, water
- Numbers to 1000
- Amounts with decimals (dollars and cents)
Context:
- Most bills have a due date; beyond that date, there is usually a penalty charge and/or interest.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- utility
- amount
- total
- due date
- late penalty
- charge
Sample Grammar:
- Format of charts with rows and columns
- Future with will: The payment will be…
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Utility bills are usually formatted in rows and columns.
- The formatting of bills changes depending on the company/provider.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- It is least expensive to pay utility bills before the due date.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Discuss as a class: What are utilities? Brainstorm utilities in your area, using the local names, e.g. electricity/hydro or the names of specific companies or providers.
- Discuss as a class: What is the difference between owning and renting? What are the different kinds of homes you can rent? Brainstorm types of housing such as house, basement apartment, apartment in an apartment block, townhouse/row house, and so on. Discuss as a class: the utility bills you pay may depend on your type of housing and whether you own or rent.
- Make a chart on the board. Write the learners’ names in the first column and type of housing in the next column, and then along the top all the different kinds of utility bills. Review with learners how to read or write a chart, and have learners practice finding the intersection of the row (with their name) and the different columns. Have each learner come up to the board, find their row, write in their type of housing, and put a check mark under each utility bill they pay.
- Use the chart on the board for reading activities around reading charts, asking questions such as Does Maria pay a water bill? Does Ahmet live in an apartment? Does Abeldin pay an electricity bill?
- Project a simplified instructor-made utility bill on the board. Elicit from learners what they already know about reading utility bills. Elicit as much information as you can, such as the name of the company, the type of utility, the amount due, the due date, and so on. Make a list of new vocabulary on the board: utility, amount, total, due date, late penalty, and charge.
- Discuss as a class: What is a due date? What are late penalties?
- Use vocabulary cards with words, pictures, and very simple definitions to practice the vocabulary. Do activities such as matching, filling in the blanks, and crosswords.
- Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
- Review prices with decimals. Use play money and coins to count out amounts given a price and to count money and then record how much there is.
- Review the future tense with will. Practice the future tense in a variety of ways including filling in the blanks, completing sentence stems, and writing sentences.
- Read instructor-made utility bills and identify key information: name of company, type of utility, total amount, due date, and total amount with late penalty. Share your findings with a classmate and compare answers.
- Work with a partner to complete a jigsaw activity with utility bills. Partner A has a bill with some missing information and Partner B has the same bill with other missing information. Ask your partner questions to complete your bill and respond to your partner’s questions.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Read an instructor-made utility bill. Follow instructions to circle/underline/draw a box around different information on the bill (or use different coloured pens to circle in blue, circle in red, and so on).
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Read a utility bill to find out how much the late payment penalty charge is and find the total amount that will be due after that date. Demonstrate understanding by answering comprehension questions. Use an instructor-made utility bill that has the same format as other bills from the skill-building activities.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Some learners, including women and young learners, may not be in control of their family finances and may not have access to information, including which bills they pay. Whether or not learners can speak to their own situation, it is helpful and empowering for all learners to understand how utility bills work.
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 relevant to the task.
- Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages relevant to the task.
- Read information from a screen.
- Navigate camera and microphone.
- Adjust volume on device.
- Navigate forms.
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 relevant to the task.
- Support with clicking on appropriate fields for an online form.
- 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.
- Learners who identify as women may not have had access to their own finances. Make sure that all learners are aware of their rights in Canada and are aware of services and resources that can help them.
- There are often programs available to help learners with financial literacy and basic financial planning. Research programs in your area and share this information with the learners.
Trauma-informed Strategies:
Possible Trauma Triggers:
- Learners who have lived or are living in poverty and learners who have lost their homes and possessions may find discussions around banking, money, or finance triggering.
- 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:
- Invite someone who specializes in financial literacy to speak to the class.
- Have learners read due dates from utility bills and add them to a calendar.
Realia:
- Sample bills
- Utility websites
- Play money
Units and Modules:
- Tutela (CCLB): Reporting a Lost/Stolen Bank/Credit Card: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela (CCLB Blended Modules): Reporting a Lost/Stolen Bank/Credit Card: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Paying Utility Bills: CLB 2L/3L (Not the right level but can be adapted)
Lessons and Activities:
- Tutela: Basic Banking: Module Plan and Assessment Tasks: CLB 4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela: Banking and Money: CLB 3/4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela (OCDSB): Collecting Information About Banks: CLB 4 (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- LINC 4 Classroom Activities: Pre-Authorized Payment Plan Application Form (p. 70) (Not literacy but can be adapted)
- Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 4L
- A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.
Multimedia:
- Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Banking and Finance
- Janis ESL ISSBC: Banking and Money (Not the right level but can be adapted)
- Learning Chocolate: Money Matters: ATM (Not the right level but can be adapted)
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.
