Detailed Sample Task: Stage I

CLB 1 - Reading
Comprehending Information

Canada

Real-World Task

Find the name of a province or territory and its capital city in an instructor-made or adapted travel brochure.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Vocabulary related to Canada such as area city names, name of your own province
Knowledge of differences between lowercase and uppercase letters

Context:

In Canada, there are ten provinces and three territories. Each province has a capital city where the government for the province is.
Each province has its own culture and history.
There are travel brochures for most places in Canada to share information about the area such as things to do, places to eat and so on.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Canada
name of own province / territory and a few other nearby provinces / territories (e.g. British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba or New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador)
name of own community / town / city and a few other nearby communities, towns, or cities in your province or territory
live in
The capital city is

Sample Grammar:

Simple present: I live in…
uppercase letters for names and place names

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Sentences are made up of words.
You can often find names in a sentence / text by identifying uppercase letters.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Identifying where you live can help you connect with people who live in the same place.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Look at a large map of Canada. Elicit from learners which province / territory you live in and find it on the map. Learn the names of the provinces / territories to either side or nearby. Look at a more detailed map of your own province. Locate your own town / city on the map. Elicit learners’ knowledge of the capital city of the province. Find the capital city on the map.
Practice a short dialogue: Where do you live? I live in… The dialogue should include the province, local community and capital city of the province. Learners practice the dialogue in pairs and then switch to a new partner and practice the dialogue several times. Each pair then presents their dialogue to the whole class.
Copy the names of the provinces onto a blank map of Canada.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Practice matching uppercase and lowercase letters. Complete gap fill sentences where the first letter of different words are missing. The missing letters are a mix of upper and lowercase letters and learners work in groups to check their answers. Copy these sentences into a notebook.
Match the names of learner’s own province / territory and 2-3 other nearby provinces / territories to standard abbreviations where appropriate, e.g. A.B., P.E.I., N.W.T.
Work with learners to read a short message from a friend saying where they live. Write the message on the board. Use your own city / community name, e.g. Hi. I live in Moose Jaw. Practice different reading approaches, such as choral reading and echo reading. Give learners large sticky notes with words from the sentence and have them match their sticky note to the correct word.
Have learners interview learners from another class: Where do you live? I live in…
Read a very simple story about five people in Canada that follows the repeated format: ”This is Mohammed. Mohammed lives in Alberta. This is Maria. Maria lives in New Brunswick.” As best as possible, use your community and province / territory.
Look at some travel brochures, hopefully with some pictures and identify the place names. Discuss as a class: What is interesting about the community where you live? What about your country of origin?

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Read a list of three familiar cities / towns supported by clear, familiar photographs. Circle the name of your community / town.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Find the name of a province or territory
and its capital city in an instructor made
or adapted travel brochure.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Canada is a multicultural country, and Canadian culture includes the cultures of all the people who live in Canada. There are also regional cultures for different areas of Canada, such as the prairies or Atlantic Canada.

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 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 Canada is an inclusive, multicultural country.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Learners who have come to Canada as refugees may have fled a dangerous situation rather than specifically choosing Canada as a new home and may have ambivalent feelings about Canada.
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:

Recognize that some learners may have mixed feelings about being in Canada.
Allow learners to have their own opinions and feelings about Canada.
Teach learners that Canada is an inclusive, multicultural country, and that all people have equal rights in Canada.
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:

Colour a map of Canada.
Work with a partner to put together a very simple jigsaw puzzle of Canada.
If possible, visit a landmark in your community, such as a legislative building or monument.
Create a class poster of your province / territory and mark the capital and other communities.
Create a brochure for your local area. Write the place names and add pictures of some local interests.

Realia:

Maps
Provincial / territorial flags

Units and Modules:

Tutela: CLB 1 Module Plan – Canadian Culture
Tutela: CLB 1 Understanding Canada’s Peoples Module

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela (RODS): My Canada Book
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia: