English as a Second Language

English as a Second Language

In December 2018, MANSO began to gather together a group of EAL language curriculum developers who would not only have the language expertise to do this work, but who were passionate about reconciliation and Indigenous engagement and saw the importance of doing this work with newcomers to Manitoba.

In the process of creating an adaptation of the Indigenous Orientation Toolkit which had been already developed by Immigration Partnership Winnipeg. This adaptation created a further partnership with the Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations (MANSO), which has been working with the TRC –Treaty Relations Commission and partners on this project. This EAL/ESL was developed for classroom use for newcomers. The Land & Treaties EAL Curriculum designed to teach EAL/ESL learners and support students from foundation literacy to CLB 7/8 aligned to the Canadian Language Benchmarks (2012). The Land & Treaties module includes the requirements of Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA). It also contains content-based teaching materials that will be useful for informal language programs including conversation circles/ classes or one-on-one tutoring.

This curriculum intended to assist teachers in introducing newcomers to the foundational history of Indigenous nations and their historical and contemporary contributions to the development of Canada. The exploration centred on First Nations’ and Metis perspectives on land and Treaties. When combined with leadership, teaching, and self-exploration, the activities intended to support personal growth and solidarity, and help newcomers contribute to community reconciliation efforts.

The module split into four levels – Literacy, CLB 1-4, CLB 5 & 6, and CLB 7 & 8  intended to be used with newcomer adults in federal LINC programs as well as in conversation classes ,aligned according to the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) and Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA) National standards and is the first of several units to follow.