Detailed Sample Task: Stage II
CLB 5 - Listening Comprehending Information
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Real-World Task
Watch a news story on challenges and barriers for older workers looking for work.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- General knowledge or experience with Canadian workplace culture.
- Some knowledge of the process of applying for a job in Canada.
- Awareness of legal standards that govern Canadian workplaces.
- Common verified sources of news in your community.
Context:
- In Canada, older workers often face challenges when trying to re-enter the workforce, switch jobs or find a new job. Ageism and stereotypes around skills and abilities are often barriers for older workers, despite their prior knowledge and experience.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- older worker/ mature worker
- senior
- retirement
- downsized/ laid off
- workforce
- ageism/ ageist
- age discrimination
- bias
- barriers
- challenges
- benefits
- experience
- technology skills / digital literacy / computer skills
Sample Grammar:
- Simple present/ present continuous (to indicate this as an ongoing issue).
- Discourse markers (for cause and effect).
- Logical connectors (to connect supporting reasons or examples to facts or ideas).
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Recognize news and reporting genres.
- Knowledge of parts of a news story or interview.
- Recognize common signposts to indicate shifts in topic.
- Knowledge of how to describe a challenge or a barrier.
- Knowledge of how to identify differences between facts and opinions in a news story.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- Recognizing bias in media.
- Where and how to find safe sources of news in your community.
- Appropriate terms when referring to older workers or when speaking about age.
- Awareness of legal concepts and employment policies/ practices in Canada and the protections they provide from discrimination based on age.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Read and review statistics on population groups in Canada.
- Review different forms of discrimination related to populations, including ageism.
- Watch a short video explanation on ageism.
- Read an article on ageism and how it can be an issue in the Canadian workplace.
- Discuss news sources in the community and how to identify safe sources of news in your community.
- Discuss listening strategies for news stories and the parts of a news story.
- Listen to a short news story and identify the parts.
- Listen to excerpts of news stories to identify facts and opinions.
- Review common connectors that link examples or reasons to facts and opinions, or to cause and effect.
- Listen to excerpts of short news stories and match examples and reasons to the facts or opinions they support.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Watch a webinar or video clip on obstacles for workers 55+ trying to re-enter the workforce. Summarize the issues they face.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Watch a news story on challenges and barriers for older workers looking for work.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- The term “older workers” generally refers to individuals who are typically 55 years of age or older in the context of employment and the labour force. They sometimes face discrimination, or ageism, while seeking work. Discuss and compare approaches to aging, work and retirement in Canada and other countries to debunk stereotypes and to develop intercultural awareness.
- Discuss stereotypes and generalizations for different generations or other groups.
Digital Literacy Strategies:
Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline digital knowledge and skills.
Learners may need to:
- Effectively navigate job search websites.
- Create a professional online profile.
- Identify safe and reliable sources of information and news.
- Understand safe use of the internet and social media.
- Evaluate online research results.
- Interpret information from online sources, such as statistics, graphs or charts.
Instructors can:
- Use digital tools, such as translation or pronunciation tools, to support language learning and foster autonomous learning.
- Introduce websites that are relevant to the task(s).
- 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 older, 2SLGBTQIA+, Indigenous, Francophone and of other cultures, and people who have disabilities or who are neurodivergent.
- Recognize that learners with disabilities and learners who are neurodivergent may need accommodations in the workplace; when possible, help learners of all abilities understand their rights in the workplace.
- Recognize that some learners may have different views. You can be sensitive to their differing opinions, but all learners benefit from EDI, and all learners have the right to an inclusive and equitable learning environment.
- Teach that race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics and disability are all protected grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
- Raise learner awareness of the need for respecting and using preferred pronouns of co-workers when making requests or talking about them with others.
Trauma-informed Strategies:
Possible Trauma Triggers:
- Learners who have experienced trauma can be triggered by people in positions of authority; make sure learners understand their rights in the workplace and give strategies for making polite requests.
- Learners may have experienced age discrimination, racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny or gender-based violence. Discussions of ageism may be triggering: be aware that there may be learners who need help, but it may also provide some comfort and support.
Strategies:
- Give learners advance warning of discussions of this topic.
- Giving learners the knowledge, skills and language to access resources can be empowering.
Resources
Outings, Guest Speaker Suggestions, Extension Activities:
- Invite a specialist from an employment services agency as a guest speaker to talk about job search strategies for older workers.
- Read an article about tips for older workers using LinkedIn, such as: LinkedIn’s Ageism: Tips for Older Users to Boost Their Profiles.
- Read and infer information from infographics or charts about older workers from Statistics Canada.
Realia:
Units and Modules:
- Avenue Course Builder: Select the themes Canada and Employment, and CLB 4 and 5 for units related to age, population, news and employment (adapt for the CLB level you teach).
- CLB 3-4 Population
- CLB 5 Pathways to Employment: Fairness, Health and Safety at Work
- CLB 5+ Reading News and Feature Articles
- Tutela.ca Norquest College LINC Works: CLB 5 Job Search
- Tutela.ca Norquest College LINC Works: CLB 5 Application Forms
Lessons and Activities
(Adapt for the CLB level you teach)
Multimedia:
(Adapt for the CLB level you teach)
Instructor Resources and References:
- Forum of Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) Ministers Responsible for Seniors reports, such as: Older Workers: Exploring and Addressing the Stereotypes and A Discussion Guide on Ageism in Canada
- Forbes.com: The Benefits of Hiring Seniors
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.
