Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 4L - Listening
Comprehending Information

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Real-World Task

Listen to up to 10 sentences about your rights and responsibilities in Canada and name several of your rights and responsibilities.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Present simple
Coordinating conjunctions: and, or, but, so

Context:

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees basic rights and freedoms to all people in Canada.
There are protected grounds in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. People may not be discriminated against based on these protected grounds, including race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and disability.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Preposition to with right: the right to…

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a list with no linking language in between items.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Everyone in Canada has the same basic rights and freedoms, but some rights, such as the right to vote, are extended only to citizens who are 18 years of age or older.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: What are rights? What are basic human rights? What is the Charter of Rights and Freedoms? Elicit from learners what they already know about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Copy words to complete a mini-dictionary of task vocabulary. Cut out picture cards with clear photographs or clear symbols and tape or glue them in a space next to the word and definition in your mini-dictionary.
There are seven categories of rights and freedoms under the Charter: fundamental freedoms (the freedom to practice your religion and to speak your mind, including to protest against the government), democratic rights, mobility rights, legal rights, equality rights, official language rights, and minority education rights. Write these on the board in clear, simple language, and illustrate with large, easy-to-understand clear photographs. Use the same photographs for each right throughout the module. e.g. You have the right to your religion. All citizens have the right to vote. You have the right to move to another province. The police and courts must be fair. You have the right to equality (everyone is the same). Depending on your class, you may choose to focus on a few of these rights. Explain the rights to the class.
Have learners copy from their vocabulary cards to fill in the blanks in simple sentences about the rights, illustrated by the same photographs.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
As a class, discuss responsibilities in a democracy. What are the responsibilities of each citizen? Make a list on the board, e.g. follow the law, do not discriminate against others, vote, and so on.
Review the preposition to and how it is used in the right to…Teach learners this can be used with actions (e.g. You have the right to move to a different province) or with things (e.g. You have the right to no discrimination.)
Practice naming the seven categories of rights and freedoms. Elicit the categories from the learners and write them on the board. Hand out a clear photograph or symbol to go with each right and have learners tape them by the correct right on the board.
Work in a small group. Read sentences about people in Canada and decide what category of rights and freedoms this belongs to, e.g. Rashid is Hindu, and he worships in his temple in downtown Toronto. This right belongs to the fundamental freedoms. Magda moves from Saint John, New Brunswick, to Halifax, Nova Scotia. This right belongs to mobility rights.
Read a short, instructor-made story about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Read it to the class and then have learners read the story with a partner. Match vocabulary words to the story and answer true and false questions about the story.
In pairs, choose one of the rights and explain to your partner what it is and why it is important to you.
Look at Five Things You May Not Know about the Charter as a class. Read and simplify the facts about the charter and discuss as a class.
Sing This Land is Your Land (Canadian Version). Complete a cloze exercise with the lyrics of the song.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Listen to a dialogue between two friends discussing rights and responsibilities in Canada. Demonstrate understanding by answering comprehension questions.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Listen to up to 10 sentences about your rights and responsibilities in Canada and name several of your rights and responsibilities.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Some learners may have different views. You can be sensitive to their differing opinions, but all learners benefit from EDI, and all learners have the right to an inclusive and equitable learning environment.
Race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics and disability are all protected grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Some learners may have lived in countries that do not have guaranteed human rights. These situations can be very complex, and their feelings about Canada and their countries can also be complicated. Share the facts about rights in Canada, but avoid judgement about “good” or “bad” countries.

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.
Navigate camera and microphone.
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.
Teach reading strategies such as skimming and scanning to find information on websites.
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 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.
Teach learners that all people in Canada have the right to no discrimination.
Teach learners that many people still experience sexism, racism, and other forms of discrimination in Canada, but that there are things that can be done if you have this experience.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Learners may have experienced discrimination, racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny or gender-based violence. Discussions of EDI may be triggering: be aware that there may be learners who need help, but it may also provide some comfort and 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:

Focus the discussion on the things that can be done to prevent, stop, or report discrimination. Focusing on what can be done about discrimination may help learners who have experienced trauma to not feel helpless.
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:

Invite a guest speaker from a cultural centre to speak about their culture.
Create a book about cultural inclusion with your learners. Have each learner write a few sentences about themselves, where they are from, and what language(s) they speak. Work together as a class to write an introduction about inclusion. With permission, include photographs of learners on their pages.
Invite an Elder to visit the class.

Realia:

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Images to represent the different rights to support clarity.

Units and Modules:

The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Going to a Powwow: CLB 3L/4L
Tutela: Kichi-Asotamatowin: Land and Treaties 3L/4L
Tutela (ATESL): Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism: a 3/4 Module (Not literacy but can be adapted)

Lessons and Activities:

The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Canadian Indigenous Content
Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB 4L
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia:

Ottawa Public Health: How to be an Ally
Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Citizenship