Real-World Task
Write 2-3 highly familiar words to complete a very simple, short guided message to a friend about what you can do at the park like walk, tennis or picnic.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Straight lines and curves
- Letter formation
- Writing on a line
Context:
- There are lots of fun things you can do in a public park.
- Public parks are available for everyone to use.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- park
- walk
- picnic
- play
- friend
- Soccer and/or other sports or leisure activities appropriate for a park setting
Sample Grammar:
- Spaces between words
- Simple present with I
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Each word plays a role in the sentence.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- We can write messages to friends to communicate.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Put large, easy-to-understand pictures of a park on the board. Ask learners: What is this? Who has been to a park? What do you do there?
- Using clear photographs and actions, elicit vocabulary from learners: walk, eat, tennis.
- Show learners photographs of picnics and teach the word picnic.
- Use TPR with clear photographs or actions to practice vocabulary words.
- Using air writing, a sand tray, or pencils, practice making letters with straight lines and curves: p, a, r, n.
- Using air writing, a sand tray, or pencils, practice making letters with curves: s, o, c
- Copy vocabulary words below the word, illustrated with clear pictures.
- Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
- Read a very simple story about going to a park.
- Copy a short sentence about going to a park, e.g. I play tennis, and practice finger spacing (placing a finger between words to ensure good spacing).
- If possible, go to a park and elicit a LEA (Language Experience Approach) story from the learners. Do various reading activities with this story, such as choral reading, echo reading, and matching a vocabulary card to a word in the story.
- Practice the dialogue: What do you do in the park? I walk/play tennis/picnic.
- Read a very simple message to a friend about visiting the park.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Copy 2-3 highly familiar vocabulary words beneath pictures.
- Write 2-3 highly familiar vocabulary words to complete a very simple, short message (same as assessment task).
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Write 2-3 highly familiar words to complete a very simple, short guided message to a friend about what you can do at the park like walk, tennis or picnic.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Teach learners that there is an expectation that people in a park will not litter and will pick up after their dogs.
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.
- Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages.
- 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.
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.
- Teach learners that public parks are inclusive and available for everyone to use.
Trauma-informed Strategies:
Possible Trauma Triggers:
- Learners who have experienced trauma may not feel safe in public spaces, especially in parks where there are trees or bushes that people can hide in. Make sure learners know they are welcome in parks but also recognize that they might not feel safe. Discuss strategies for feeling safer in parks, such as not going alone or after dark.
- 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:
- Visit a park. Host a games day and invite other classes to attend.
- Take photographs of your visit to the park, including photographs of learners with their permission, and make a book about the experience.
Realia:
- Tennis/ soccer ball, picnic blanket, flowers, or other items typical of a park visit
Units and Modules:
- Tutela (CCLB): The Weather: CLB 1L/2L (Not the right level but can be adapted)
- Tutela (OCDSB): Physical Activity: CLB 1L-3L (Not the right level but can be adapted)
Lessons and Activities:
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Dressing for Summer: CLB FL/1L
- Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB FL
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
- A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.
Multimedia:
- Unite for Literacy: The City Park
- Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Community
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.
