Real-World Task
Copy 2 – 3 highly familiar words to complete a very simple message to a friend to say thank you for help with a job application like thank you, help, or friend.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Straight lines and curves
- Gripping a pencil
- Letter formation
- Personal pronouns: you, me
Context:
- It is common to say thank you after someone has helped you, either orally or through a written message.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- job
- thanks
- friend
- help
- write
- copy
Sample Grammar:
- Spaces between letters and words
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Each word in a sentence refers to one spoken word.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- It is polite to write a thank you message after someone has helped you.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Sing the alphabet song: Phonics Alphabet Song.
- Discuss as a class: What is a job? Do any of the learners have jobs? Did any of the learners have jobs before they came to Canada? How do you get a job? Does someone help you?
- Discuss as a class: What do you say when someone helps you? Elicit from learners words like thanks, help, and friend. Use pictures of people helping others to support the concepts.
- Use a gesture to refer to thanks, help, and friend (e.g. use the sign for thanks (hand coming away from the mouth), shake your own hands for help, and give yourself a hug for friend.) Use TPR (Total Physical Response) to practice the vocabulary. Call out a word and have learners respond with the correct gesture. After a few rounds, have a learner call out the words.
- Read a very simple instructor-made story about helping a friend: Ali is my friend. Ali helps me. Ali helps me get a job. Thanks, Ali! Read the story to learners several times, and then choral read and echo read the story.
- Put the words from the story on the board. Give each learner a card with a letter (use initial letters). Have them match their letter to a correct letter on the board.
- Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
- Practice making straight lines and curves using air writing, sand trays, or pencils.
- Practice tracing letters.
- Practice writing letters independently.
- Copy own name.
- Read a very simple, instructor-made thank you message to the class. Read it several times, and then choral read and echo read it. Have learners match a word and picture card to the correct word in the message: Thanks! You helped me! You are a good friend.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Copy your own name and the word thanks on a card to a friend.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Copy 2 – 3 highly familiar words to complete a very simple message to a friend to say thank you for help with a job application like thank you, help, or friend.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Learners may not be familiar with sending a written message to say thanks, and thank-you messages may not have much meaning to Foundation L learners. Try using greeting cards (e.g. from the dollar store) to say thank you to learners for various things to teach the idea that the words have meaning.
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.
- Complete formatted texts online, such as simple forms.
Instructors can:
- Dedicate time to improve digital literacy for learners.
- Make and/ or adapt digital materials.
- Introduce websites or apps that are relevant to the task(s).
- Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites or apps.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:
- When discussing jobs, include many jobs that are common for learners at this level to have, as well as jobs of people they may come into contact with, like cleaners, babysitters, gardeners, labourers, security guards, store clerks, teachers, doctors, or nurses.
- 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
- 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 nearby employment centre.
- Visit a job fair.
- Look at pictures of people doing different jobs. Have learners identify jobs they have done and would like to do.
- Bring in items associated with different jobs, like a doctor’s coat, a hammer, a spatula, and so on. Have learners role play different jobs.
- Have learners do different activities around the classroom for each other and the instructor. Practice saying “Thanks” or copying short, simple messages.
Realia:
- Items associated with different jobs: doctor’s coat, hammer, spatula, etc.
- Thank you cards
Units and Modules:
- Tutela (CCLB): Safety at Work: CLB 1L/2L (Not the right level but can be adapted)
- Tutela (CCLB): Greetings and Introductions: CLB 1L/2L (Not the right level but can be adapted)
Lessons and Activities:
- LINC 1 Classroom Activities: Job Application Forms (p. 295) (Not literacy or the right level but can be adapted)
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Reading Skills Stories
- The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Adults Learn to Print
- Tutela: Norquest LINC Phonics Curriculum: CLB FL
- Tutela: Foundation L-CLB 2L Phonics Curriculum
- A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.
Multimedia:
- Tutela: ESL Image Bank: People in Different Jobs
- YouTube: Phonics Alphabet Song
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.
