Detailed Sample Task: Stage I

CLB 2 - Reading
Interacting with Others

Banking and Numeracy

Real-World Task

Read a short, personal message from a friend or classmate telling you about a common scam.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Basic understanding of scams.
Familiarity with sending and receiving messages (can be digital such as texts or using apps or paper-based such as notes).

Context:

Many scams are targeted at newcomers to Canada. Raise awareness of very common scams and provide strategies to help learners protect themselves against them. Learners at low proficiency levels are very vulnerable to scams.
People may be ashamed to admit they have been scammed, but it’s important to share information about scams.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Basic words and expressions about scams.
Imperatives in affirmative and negative commands (Delete the message;  don’t click on the link).
Simple Present to describe a scam (A message is from Canada Post; it includes a weblink).

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

How to identify a personal message (text).
Parts of a message.
Background knowledge about common scams for comprehension.
Simple scanning strategies to find key words and details.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Using punctuation and/ or emojis to convey emphasis, tone and/ or importance.
Informal language used for messages amongst friends.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Use a simple picture story illustrating a scam to help learners understand the main concepts.
Using a short, simple instructor-made story on the topic, have learners listen as the instructor reads, following with their finger. Have learners repeat after the instructor to match intonation and fluency. Finally, have learners read the story as a group, and then individually.
Use pictures from the story to introduce and practice vocabulary about scams.
Give learners the option to share examples of scams they have heard about.
Learners read a sample message from a friend or classmate and identify its parts (greeting, body, closing). Demonstrate how to scan a message to find key words and important details. Learners practice scanning messages and answering questions.
Point out textual features that convey meaning such as punctuation marks, capital letters or emojis. Read a message and insert punctuation, caps or emojis in the correct place.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Read a message from a classmate about a fake message from Revenue Canada. Answer 5 to 7 short, simple questions.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Read a short personal message from a friend telling you about a common scam and answer 5 to 7 short, simple questions.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Scams come in many forms, such as emails, text messages, phone calls and social media and often target vulnerable individuals.
Help learners to identify common signs of a scam, such as requests for money or credit card information, use of threatening language and/ or asking to click on a link.
Teach learners about their rights and freedoms protected by the law and how to protect themselves and report scams.

Digital Literacy Strategies:

Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline knowledge and digital skills.

Learners may need to:

Send and receive text messages and messages on other texting apps.
Navigate and use online learning management systems (LMS) such as Avenue.
Recognize a phishing attempt of a scam message.

Instructors can:

Make and/ or adapt digital materials.
Use digital tools such as translation or pronunciation tools to support language learning and foster autonomous learning.
Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:

Instructors can:

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.
Help learners become familiar with standard government processes or authentic ways of sharing personal information with companies and institutions so that they are able to recognize a scam.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Learners who have been victimized by scams, may have feelings of shame, embarrassment, fear and/ or anger.

Strategies:

Recognize and respect learners’ right to choose if, when and what they share about themselves.
Incorporate teaching learners how to access information about scams, how to get help when scammed, and how to report fraud.
Do not stigmatize victims of fraud; convey compassion, and inform learners that many people are victims of fraud.

Resources

Outings, Guest Speaker Suggestions, Extension Activities:

Consider finding resources such as videos or information sources that are available in different languages or use translation software to translate information into learners’ first language.
Extend this task with related writing, reading and speaking activities.

Realia:

Authentic examples of text messages that are intended to scam people
Authentic examples of common current scams

Units and Modules:

Avenue Course Builder: Theme: Banking and Financial Services
Internet and Phone Scams, CLB 3  (adapt for the CLB level you teach)

Lessons and Activities:

Instructor Resources and References:

Government of Canada: Scams and Fraud
Government of Canada: Fraud Targeting Newcomers