Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB FL-Listening
Comprehending Instructions

Banking and Numeracy

Real-World Task

Listen to a very short password to enter the letters and numbers in the field.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

8-10 capital and lowercase letters
Numbers 0-9

Context:

Learners often need to enter passwords.
Passwords are often strings of numbers and letters and must be entered exactly.
It is usually possible to show the password so that someone can see what they are entering.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Imperative voice: Listen. Write.
Space between letters in a word
Writing on the line

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Passwords help keep your information safe.
Passwords allow you to access something on a computer.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

You can ask your teacher or anyone to repeat if you didn’t hear something.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Practice making straight lines and curves in a sand tray.
Line up pebbles, marker tops, or other small objects on a paper with a large curved line to develop hand-eye coordination and tracking.
Sing the Alphabet Song.
Review any letters already familiar to learners. Use sand writing, tracing, and copying to practice the letters.
Trace your own name, and then copy your own name.
Teach a new letter every few days. Practice making the sound, tracing the letter, and copying the letter.
Use letter cards or magnetic letters to match familiar capital letters to their lowercase form. Use only a few letters at a time.
Practice tracing and writing the numbers 0-9.
Practice alphabet letters and numbers as many times as it takes for learners to feel confident with them.
Work with a partner to count clear objects on a sheet of paper and say or write the number.
Give learners a simple flag (e.g. an index card or sticky note taped to a popsicle stick) with a target sound, e.g. /r/. Read a short list of short, familiar words. Have learners raise their flag when they hear a word that starts with r. Only use r in the initial position at this point.
Using a worksheet, show learners different passwords and have them repeat chorally, then individually. Copy next to each other.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Listen to a very short password with 3-4 familiar letters and numbers to enter the letters and numbers in the field. Demonstrate understanding by writing the letters and numbers. (Same as assessment task. Vary the letters and numbers if assessment task is needed.)

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Listen to a very short password with 3-4 familiar letters and numbers to enter the letters and numbers in the field. Demonstrate understanding by writing the letters and numbers.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

The idea of privacy of passwords and personal information is different in different cultures. Some cultures have a greater expectation of sharing information with friends or family. Gently begin to teach the idea of a password as something that is private; however, recognize that FL learners may need assistance entering a password and are not yet ready for a truly private password.

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 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:

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:

Have learners read a short list of letters to a partner for the partner to write down.
Have learners look at a familiar word with a photograph and find the target letter in the word.

Realia:

Sand trays
Marker tops, pebbles, or other small objects
Magnetic letters or letter tiles

Units and Modules:

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB FL
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
Tutela (Archway): Personal Information: Numeric Focus: CLB 1L/2L
(Not the right level but can be adapted)
Tutela (Archway): Personal Information: Alphabetic Focus: CLB 1L/2L (Not the right level but can be adapted)
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia:

Youtube: Phonics Alphabet Song
Youtube: Alphabet Song