59 services primarily in their first language. This can limit exposure to their new country’s predominant language – and to organizations, activities and support services in the wider community that could benefit them. For Paul Carter, a Community Fair that required students to venture into the community, use their English language skills to make new contacts, and share their experience with other ESL learners was a great way to help his students move beyond the bubble. Context: For many good reasons, newcomers to Canada often gravitate towards communities where sizeable numbers of people from their home country already reside. Moving to a new country can be daunting. Settling in a community where people share their language, culture, and traditions offers newcomers much-needed comfort and support. The downside to seeking this familiarity is that newcomers may find themselves in a “bubble” where they communicate, work, socialize, and access services primarily in their first language. This can limit exposure to their new country’s predominant language – and to organizations, activities and support services in the wider community that could benefit them. For Paul Carter, a Community Fair that required students to venture into the community, use their English language skills to make new contacts, and share their experience with other ESL learners was a great way to help his students move beyond the bubble. In Paul’s Own Words The Community Fair exercise was probably the most successful task-based classroom project in which I was involved. The idea came from the Home and Community curriculum unit outlined in the LINC 5-8 activity books used in the mid 2010’s. The unit offered an opportunity get students out of the classroom and into the community, then bring what they had learned back to the school to share with other students. The assignment I developed would take approximately three weeks to complete. To show what I had in mind, I created an example based on a community organization I knew – the Swim Club at the local community center. I prepared a sample information sheet, set up a mock exhibit table, and demonstrated the kind of language that students would use to tell classmates about the organization they would eventually choose. The sample information sheet was placed on the Avenue learning management system for access as needed. In previous units, we had worked on topics such as online research, presentation skills, and writing correspondence, so we were able to recycle that learning. I was confident that the class would be able to apply skills from past lessons to the new assignment. The exercise began with a couple of preparation classes in which students paired up, identified a community group or business they would like to represent, did some online research, sent a letter or email to the organization explaining what they wanted to do, then made arrangements to meet faceto-face with one or more representatives of the organization. For the most part, learners chose their own partners. However, in a few cases, I paired a student who needed technical help with someone who was tech-savvy, or a shy student with someone who was outgoing, kind, and giving. Initially, there were a couple of students who didn’t see the value in the exercise. I took them aside to talk about the value of getting involved in the community, learning and applying new communications skills, then reaping the rewards of being more connected with the community and more confident in communicating with new contacts. The enthusiasm of fellow students for the assignment was also persuasive. CC-BY-NC-SA 2025 New Language Solutions Avenue Instructor Standards for Technology-Enhanced Language Learning, version 1.2
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