Detailed Sample Task: Stage II
CLB 6 - Speaking Sharing Information
Canadian Workplace Culture
Real-World Task
Demonstrate initiative at work by making a suggestion during a staff meeting.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- General knowledge of workplace norms in Canada.
- General knowledge of staff meeting and/ or online meeting etiquette; familiarity with Robert’s Rules of Order.
- Awareness of how and when to politely interrupt or to indicate that you have a question.
Context:
- In the Canadian workplace, employers value employees demonstrating initiative. One way to demonstrate initiative is to share ideas or make suggestions. Workplace meetings can provide these opportunities.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- chair
- agenda
- minutes
- feedback
- input
- constructive feedback
- interrupt
- suggest
- show initiative
- could / might / may
Sample Grammar:
- Mitigators (softeners/ qualifiers).
- Use of modals of possibility for polite suggestions.
- Logical connectors for supporting suggestions with examples or reasons
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Recognize invitations to speak and/ or appropriate opportunities to make suggestions.
- Use of softeners to make polite suggestions.
- Recognize the importance of supporting suggestions with reasons and/ or examples.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- Awareness of the unspoken dos and don’ts of the Canadian workplace.
- Soft skills for the Canadian workplace and workplace meetings.
- Appropriate tone and body language when making suggestions that may or may not agree with others’ ideas in a meeting.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Elicit prior knowledge of language for or experience with making suggestions in different situations.
- Elicit examples of dos and don’ts in the Canadian workplace, particularly during meetings.
- Read examples of meeting etiquette, especially for informal internal meetings.
- Elicit examples of polite suggestions we give others in daily life and look at the language and sentence structure used.
- Review use of Mitigators to make suggestions polite.
- Role-play making polite suggestions using softeners.
- Elicit reasons to give suggestions and review how to connect reasons with suggestions using logical connectors.
- Role-play making polite suggestions supported with reasons.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Participate in a team meeting role-play and make a suggestion related to one of the meeting agenda items.
- Participate in a staff meeting role-play and make a suggestion related to the main topic of the meeting; support the suggestion with 2-3 reasons.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Demonstrate initiative at work by making a suggestion during a staff meeting.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- While taking initiative is usually valued in Canadian workplaces; it is not appreciated in all cultures. Compare approaches to initiative and workplace communication between the Canadian workplace and other workplace cultures.
- Discuss and compare approaches to making suggestions or giving feedback in Canada and other countries.
- Introduce the importance, purpose and use of mitigators in Canadian workplace communication.
Digital Literacy Strategies:
Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline knowledge and digital skills.
Learners may need to:
- Understand and use appropriate email and meeting etiquette.
- Use videoconferencing technology for online meetings.
Instructors can:
- Introduce websites that are relevant to the task(s).
- Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills.
- Use digital tools such as translation or pronunciation tools to support language learning and foster autonomous learning.
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.
- 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.
- Questioning can be triggering for learners who have experienced trauma; be careful with the tone of questions in any kind of meeting situation and make sure learners understand the purpose of the activities.
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:
- Create an agenda for a workplace meeting.
- Review Robert’s Rules of Order (or other similar meeting procedural guidelines).
- Write an email making suggestions or giving feedback on a workplace idea or business proposal.
- Role-play other scenarios for making suggestions in the workplace such as one-on-one meetings, feedback forms and so on.
Realia:
- Meeting agendas
- Use of online conferencing tools such as Zoom, BBB or TEAMS to host an online meeting
- Sample business proposals
Units and Modules:
- Avenue Course Builder: Select the theme Workplace Communication – General, and CLB 5 and 6 for units related to Canadian workplace culture (adapt for the CLB level you teach).
- CLB 5 Giving Feedback
- CLB 5+ Have Discussions
- CLB 5+ Make Requests and Suggestions
- CLB 5 Making Requests at work
- CLB 5+ Participating in Meetings
- CLB 5+ Participating in Online Meetings
Lessons and Activities:
Instructor Resources and References:
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.
