Detailed Sample Task: Stage II
CLB 6 - Speaking Giving Instructions
Employment Readiness
Real-World Task
Give a friend instructions on how to apply for a volunteer position at a community centre for newcomer support.
Planning Context
Helpful Knowledge:
- Some knowledge of community centre and settlement organization programs.
- Some knowledge about the benefits of volunteering and the importance placed on volunteer work in Canadian society.
Context:
- In Canada, community centres are a resource for everyone. These centres provide many different types of programming and support for people of all ages. Volunteering at a community centre can provide an opportunity to gain Canadian work experience, learn about community resources, practice language and make friends.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Sample Vocabulary:
- sign up
- apply/ submit
- volunteer
- give back
- personal information
- employment history / job history / work history
- prior experience/ previous experience
- skills
- abilities
- references
- background check
- orientation
- settlement
Sample Grammar:
- Modals of necessity for discussing skills or volunteer job prerequisites, such as abilities, knowledge, experience or language level.
- Imperatives.
- Signposts for sequencing instructions.
- Questions/ tag questions to confirm understanding.
Knowledge and Strategies
Textual and Functional Knowledge:
- Ability to use sequenced steps and understand requirements.
- Application form genre and format.
- Categories of information on an application form.
- Use questions to confirm understanding.
Sociolinguistic Knowledge:
- Appropriate levels of formality for informal conversations.
Activities and Tasks
Sample Skill-Building Activities:
- Read an article or watch a video about the value of volunteering and its importance to the community.
- Elicit types of volunteer opportunities available in your community and or learners’ own experiences as volunteers.
- Listen to conversations of people talking about different types of volunteering opportunities.
- Elicit ways to find volunteer positions.
- Search a volunteer website for different types of volunteer work using keywords.
- Examine a sample volunteer posting for application steps.
- Identify sequence of steps and practice sequence phrasing and vocabulary.
- Listen to samples of other types of sequenced instructions and identify order; confirm comprehension with questions and tag questions.
- Review volunteer application forms or submissions, as well as the categories of required information.
- Role-play giving sequenced instructions on applying for volunteer work based on sample volunteer listings.
Sample Skill-Using Tasks:
- Role-play giving and receiving instructions on how to apply for a volunteer position.
- Role-play giving a friend instructions on how to apply for a specific volunteer position at a community or recreation centre.
Sample Assessment Tasks:
- Give a friend instructions on how to apply for a volunteer position at a community centre for newcomer support.
Teaching Considerations
Cultural Considerations:
- Volunteering in Canada is a way to contribute to your community and make a positive impact. People volunteer for many reasons, but giving back to your community and gaining valuable experience are two key reasons. The skills and abilities you gain, as well as a Canadian reference, make volunteering a practical way to gain valuable experience to add to your resume. Volunteering may not be as commonplace in other cultures/ countries as it is in Canada. Discussing volunteering in Canada, the benefits of volunteering and the importance placed on volunteer work in Canadian society will help learners understand how and why to pursue this activity.
Digital Literacy Strategies:
Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline digital knowledge and skills.
Learners may need to:
- Have keyboarding and typing skills.
- Locate, navigate and use websites.
- Use familiar apps and web pages.
- Scan online resources to find information.
Instructors can:
- Introduce websites that are relevant to the task(s).
- Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites.
- Teach reading strategies, such as skimming and scanning, to find information on websites.
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 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.
- 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.
Trauma-informed Strategies:
Possible Trauma Triggers:
- Many activities in a school environment, such as assessments, answering questions from an instructor or someone in authority, public speaking and interacting with strangers, can be triggers for trauma.
Strategies:
- Learners have the right to choose if, when and what they share about themselves.
- Make space for learners to feel safe and recover from the experience of sharing their experiences.
- Giving learners the knowledge, skills and language to access resources can be empowering.
Resources
Outings, Guest Speaker Suggestions, Extension Activities:
- Take a tour of a local community center or settlement organization to learn about resources, programs and facilities for newcomers.
- Search volunteer postings for your community and look for short- and long-term opportunities.
- Call a community organization and ask questions to get information about possible volunteer opportunities.
- Role-play giving instructions on everyday workplace tasks.
- Role-play giving instructions on completing everyday forms, such as program registration, school registration and so on.
- Fill out an application or a form for a job or volunteer position.
Realia:
- Local community centre websites, brochures and or flyers
- Local volunteer websites
- Volunteer Canada
Units and Modules:
- Avenue Course Builder: Select CLB 4, 5 and 6 for units related to volunteering and applications (adapt for the CLB level you teach).
- CLB 5 Pathways to Employment: Applying for Jobs
- CLB 4 Knowing the Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship
- Tutela.ca
Lessons and Activities:
(Adapt for the CLB level you teach).
- Ellii.com Volunteering
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.
