Detailed Sample Task: Stage I

CLB 2 -Speaking
Interacting with Others

Canada

Real-World Task

Open a conversation with a classmate and respond to their closing holiday goodwill expression (Have a good Christmas holiday! / Thanks! You, too.)

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Some basic vocabulary related to meeting new people, such as Hello, Hi, How are you? and so on.
Some basic knowledge of some Canadian holidays throughout the year.

Context:

In Canada, Canadians often start with friendly greetings and short check-ins. Usually, these are social, not literal — a polite “How are you?” doesn’t always need a detailed answer. A simple “Good, thanks. How are you?” is appropriate.
Small talk shows friendliness and openness, and likely do not lead to deep or long discussions. Canadians value personal space and politeness, so questions stay light and non-personal. Smiling and neutral eye contact are important social signals.
Closings as well, are social and holidays aside, can be simple: “Nice talking to you”, “See you soon”, “Have a nice weekend”, “Enjoy your evening” and so on.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

phrases related to conversation openers and closers (such as, Hello, Have a great day!)
phrases to show interest in small talk (such as, Me, too! That’s nice! Yes, it is.)
phrases related to holidays such as Christmas, New Year, Thanksgiving, and so on (such as, Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!) and responses, (such as You, too!)

Sample Grammar:

Basic word order of phrases and questions related to casual conversations.
Adequate pronunciation to convey basic messages

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Convey intended purpose of an utterance through intonation and body language.
Use common expressions for specific purposes.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Culturally appropriate non-verbal communication strategies.
Culturally appropriate strategies to convey politeness and respect.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: Do you enjoy meeting new people? How do you start conversations with a new classmate or neighbour? Do you find conversations with strangers / new people difficult? What parts of these conversations do you find hard? What are some phrases we can use every time we chat to a classmate or neighbour ? How can we respond to a person who starts a casual small talk conversation with us? Start a word bank of known phrases on the board.
Discuss as a class: What holidays do you celebrate? What holidays are celebrated in Canada? What do people say to others during the holidays when they are talking to them? After you have a casual conversation with someone, how can you close the conversation? Elicit common closings such as “Good-bye”, “See you”, “Have a great weekend / day / evening” and so on. What can you say during holiday seasons? Create a classroom chart to use for this module and revisit the chart throughout the year and practice holiday-based greetings / closings as the season arrives.
Discuss how to respond to expressions
of goodwill such as “Have a nice holiday”,”Happy Nowruz”, “Have a nice weekend”, “Take care” and so on. Some phrases can be answered with a simple “Thank you”, while others it might be more appropriate to answer “Thank you. You too.”
Create a mini word bank for small talk phrases, including opening and closing the conversation. Add a specific section for vocabulary words related to the holiday greetings. Use this word bank for other activities later on.
Read a simple greeting between neighbours which has some key vocabulary list words missing. Using the word bank, complete the dialogue and compare the completed text with a partner. Practice reading the dialogue aloud with your partner.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Listen to a short instructor-created audio with two neighbours meeting in mid-December. Answer three simple true / false questions about the audio. Discuss as a class appropriate body language during introductions such as smiling, nodding and making eye contact. Practice using friendly body language in a simple role play with a classmate.
Using a transcript of the dialogue, practice as a class, modelling the instructor for pronunciation, intonation and fluency. Practice in pairs and perform role plays for the class using different words from the word box.
Review the word order of phrases in greetings and closings of conversations such as “How are you today?” or “ Have a nice Christmas!”and fill in the missing verbs in simple sentences on a handout or digital document.
Practice making complete sentences for introductions by organizing word cards into simple sentences, and read the completed sentences aloud with a friend. Copy these sentences into a notebook or digital document. Read the sentences aloud with a partner.
Listen to an audio of several conversations numbered from 1-5, for example. On a worksheet with several options for each conversation, identify details about the conversation such as names, opening phrase, closing phrase and so on.
In class, have pairs of learners make recordings of themselves having a brief conversation. Have the pairs review for clarity, pronunciation, intonation and fluency.
Create a set of three cards each with one statement you would make to start up a casual conversation with a neighbour with an opening, such as Good Morning, How are you today?, Hi there, Happy Holidays! And so on. Practice reading and saying the introduction and then introduce yourself to three people in the class. Each time you do your introduction try to speak a little faster and use your cards a little less each time.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Role play opening a conversation with
a neighbour and respond to their closing expression (Have a good weekend! / Thanks. You, too.)

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Role play opening a conversation with a classmate and respond to their closing holiday goodwill expression (Have a good Christmas holiday! / Thanks. You, too.)

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

In Canada, “Merry Christmas” or “Have a good Christmas” is often used as a friendly seasonal greeting, not necessarily a religious statement. While Christmas has Christian origins, many Canadians celebrate it as a cultural holiday focused on family, food, rest, and giving.
People commonly say “Have a good Christmas!” in workplaces, schools, and stores as a polite end-of-year wish, similar to “Enjoy your holidays!” Canadians may use neutral or inclusive versions, such as “Happy Holidays!” / “Have a great holiday season!” and so on.

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.
Read information from a 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:

Recognize and teach learners that Canada is a diverse place and has people from many different cultures. Canadian celebrations represent the different cultures of the different people in Canada.
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.

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.
Refugee learners may not have had a choice in leaving their countries and coming to Canada; recognize that some learners may have mixed feelings about being in Canada. Allow learners to have their own opinions and feelings about Canada.

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:

Visit another LINC class and introduce yourself and a friend to five pairs of learners from that class. Listen as they introduce themselves.
Create posters / infographics with as many phrases useful for holiday greetings as possible and share the posters with another class.
Visit a local library to see displays on winter holidays including Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, and so on. Learners can see how different holidays are represented and learn inclusive vocabulary like celebrate, tradition, family, lights, food.

Realia:

Calendars to record different holidays throughout the year
Greeting cards
Flyers / webpages for community events

Units and Modules:

Lessons and Activities:

Multimedia:

YouTube: Learn Canadian English – Greetings, Introductions, and Goodbyes
Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Community