100 hours per year – 4 periods per week (PWT)
This subject is centered in the connection between the student’s needs as a worker and as a part of the community. Its goal is to develop the student’s literacy competencies that respond to the realities of diverse situations he will face.
English courses have to be adapted to the student’s needs in his future workplace and in day to day life. Students should continue their learnings and should develop the three competencies simultaneously, and to increase the chances of success and making the learnings relevant to the student, it should be done with the goal of setting the learnings in real life context.
For example, to help student :
- develop writing ability ;
- fill forms, take notes, write a short message, write lists,
- write a resume, an email to a company, fill a funding application, etc.
- develop reading ability ;
- find important information on a poster, read safety rules, read instruction,
- research information on internet, etc.
- understand government forms (SIN application, health-card, birth certificate replacement etc.)
- develop speaking ability ;
- phone an organization or a supplier to ask for information,
- announce an event on the school intercom or on the local radio,
- ask questions and give information, etc.
- develop listening ability ;
- do task according to oral instruction,
- understand news on tv or radio, etc.
* Remember that you can combine different teachings and subjects. For example, reading the instruction manual for a greenhouse kit can target both ESL and Science learning targets.
You can contact your education consultant if you have more question.
Ministry’s competencies
Competency 1: Uses language/talk to communicate and to learn
- Produces spoken texts for a known, familiar audience in specific contexts
- Interacts with peers and teacher in specific learning contexts
- Explores the social practices of the classroom and community
Competency 2: Reads and listens to written, spoken and media texts
- Integrates reading profile, stance and strategies to make sense of a text in a specific context
- Uses a response process when reading, listening to and viewing texts
- Constructs own view of the world by reading, viewing and listening to texts
Competency 3: Produces written, spoken and media texts
- Collaborates with peers to produce texts
- Follows a production process in order to communicate for specific purposes with a specified audience
- Explores the relationship between producer, text and audience in specific contexts
Learning targets
At the end of the program, the students will
- be able to communicate in specific contexts,
- interacts with peers and teacher in collaborative talk groups and inquiry-based learning,
- use strategies to make sense of what s/he is reading and applies information s/he has read in different situations,
- produces a range of self-selected and assigned texts for different purposes, including to record and communicate information, as well as for personal reason.
Evaluation criteria
Competency 1 : The student uses language to communicate and learn by
- engaging in a process of collaborative inquiry,
- organizing information for a specific audience,
- self-evaluating his development.
Competency 2 : The student reads and listen to written, spoken and media texts by
- selecting appropriate reading strategies,
- discussing to clarify and understand different meanings,
- constructing meaning based on the reader-text connection.
Competency 3 : The student produces written, spoken and media texts by
- producing texts for specific purposes
- adapting his production process and strategies to the context
- collaborating with peers in various production situation
Program content
The goal of this second language program is to develop a confident learner who uses language effectively in order to communicate with others and to learn.
Learning language and using language to learn involve engaging in activities that speak to the issues, themes and experiences that mark adolescence. Students develop competency by working with language from the perspective of both a reader/viewer, and a producer and by examining the way relevant spoken, written and media texts convey meaning(s) and message(s) to readers.
The program content for the 3 competencies is presented in the Ministry’s documents below. They present examples for the development of the competencies.