Detailed Sample Task: Stage I

CLB 2 - Reading
Comprehending Information

Health and Wellness

Real-World Task

Read a few, short sentences about foods and plants some local Indigenous Peoples use for healing.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Some basic vocabulary related to Indigenous Peoples in Canada, First Nations, Metis and Inuit.
Some basic knowledge of traditional and complementary medicines to support healing.

Context:

In Canada, Indigenous knowledge systems are traditional ways of knowing and understanding the world. These ideas come from many generations of Indigenous Peoples living closely with the land, animals, seasons, people, and spirits. They help guide how people take care of each other, how people live in balance with nature and how people learn and grow.

Many Indigenous people live closely with the land. They learn by watching and listening to Elders, and learning from the seasons, animals, and sky. Indigenous Peoples often use plants and foods from their local environment for health and healing. These practices are an important part of Indigenous cultural heritage.
Some people use traditional medicine from plants, food, or family knowledge. These medicines can help you feel better. If you are sick or hurt, you should also see a doctor or nurse. Traditional medicine can be used with modern medicine. A doctor can check your body, give tests, and make sure you get the best care.
This task reflects the intention to include all people in Canada in the themes. The language skills in this task could be applied to other contexts.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Adverbs of frequency and adjectives
for duration

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Beginning recognition of main ideas.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Beginning recognition of textual clues
to interpret the purposes of a text.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: Do you have any
home / traditional medicines that you use
to help with minor illnesses? What traditional cures does your family use? Have you used these traditional medicines recently? How well do they work? Have you heard of any traditional medicines from other cultures?
Listen to your instructor read the vocabulary words aloud. Hold up the matching image when you hear each word. Next listen to the list of vocabulary words again and this time hold up the correct word card. Now copy the list of vocabulary words into a vocabulary notebook or digital vocabulary word bank.
Incorporate phonics activities based on vocabulary words and other vocabulary related to the topic.
Listen to your instructor read a few short sentences about plants used in traditional medicines. Now read the transcript they read. Circle any vocabulary words you can find in the transcript. In pairs, take turns reading one sentence each from the transcript.
In small groups talk about one traditional medicine that you or someone in your family uses. Explain in simple terms what goes into the medicine and what it can help with. For example, hot water, lemon and honey or hot water, honey and ginger help with coughs.
Review a few simple phrases to describe frequency, such as “Drink the tea twice a day.” and to describe duration, “Drink the tea at bedtime for two days.” Discuss the difference between the meanings of the phrases and answer very simple true / false questions about the phrases.
Arrange simple sentences from jumbled word cards to give a simple instruction for taking a traditional medicine, such as “Drink the tea at bedtime.”
Look at a simple diagram of a plant used in Indigenous medicines. Copy the labels for the root, leaf, seed, berry and flower onto the diagram.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Read short sentences about Indigenous uses of sweetgrass for everyday life and find some basic details in the sentences by underlining any parts of plants mentioned in the text.
Read a few simple sentences about the yarrow plant and how Indigenous peoples use this plant as medicine. From a set of picture flashcards of different medical conditions, choose only the ones which
are mentioned in the text.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Read a few, short sentences about foods and plants some local Indigenous peoples use for healing. Identify a few key, concrete facts by answering simple true / false questions.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Recognize and teach learners that Canada is a diverse place and has people from many different cultures. Canadian culture includes the cultures of all people in Canada, including Indigenous Peoples.
In Canada, “Indigenous” means the first peoples who lived here before settlers came. However, Indigenous does not mean one identical group. There are many different Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Each one has its own language, culture, traditions, and teachings. Indigenous Peoples in the forest, mountains, prairies, or North have different foods, homes, stories and ceremonies. So we say there are many Indigenous Nations, not just one way of being Indigenous.

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.
Read information from a screen.
Scan online resources to find information.

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).

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:

It is optimal to ask an Indigenous person to share their Indigenous stories and knowledge; however, at CLB 2 this may present some challenges for learners. The communication for CLB 2 is expected to be spoken at a slow rate and short. The communication should use short phrases and simple sentences.
Ensure that the images and cultural representations of Indigenous Peoples are free from stereotypes and biases.
Raise learner awareness of the need for using appropriate language when discussing and addressing Indigenous peoples.
Use authentic Indigenous content, sources and materials whenever possible to support discussion and learning.

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.
Newcomers who come from Indigenous groups in their home countries may be triggered by considerations of the experiences of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Teaching an Indigenization theme will result in some difficult conversations and may revisit past trauma, oppression and discrimination your learners have experienced.

Strategies:

Give learners advance warning of this topic and be aware
that there may be learners who require support.
Acknowledge that you are learning too, and avoid speaking for Indigenous peoples.
Use resources and voices from Indigenous communities when possible (e.g., guest speakers, videos, or approved materials).
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 a local Indigenous cultural centre or museum to learn about aspects of Indigenous culture.
Do a herbal tea tasting in class
Visit a local botanical or native species garden in your community to look at the plants native to the area. Look out for any plants mentioned during class activities about traditional Indigenous plant medicines.
Go on a nature walk focussing on plants and trees in your area.
Create a class poster of some traditional medicines used by different cultures.

Realia:

Dried herbs or teas such as mint, chamomile and sage.
Photos of plants used in traditional medicines around the world.
Grocery store items made from plants such as honey, herbal tea and so on.

Units and Modules:

The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES: Canadian Indigenous Content

Lessons and Activities:

Multimedia:

CBC News: Medicine in your backyard: How Indigenous peoples have used medicinal plants
Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Health