Calling 811 in Alberta

Learn the basic vocabulary related to calling the 811 health advice number

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by ESL Directions

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Lesson plan overview

Task	To understand when to call 811 and to learn the basic vocabulary needed to call this help number.
CLB level	CLB Stage I (CLB 1-3)
Delivery method	Online
Class size	10-15 students (vary the number of activities according to your class size)
Estimated time	1.5 to 3 hours (depending on whether you complete all parts of the lesson)
CLB Skills and Competencies	*Speaking:* Interacting with others Sharing information *Listening:* Interacting with others Comprehending information *Reading:* Comprehending information
Language focus	Learn the vocabulary needed to understand this topic. Complete the optional “Part B: Building Sentences” activities below to help your students move from understanding vocabulary to using that vocabulary to produce simple sentences. Use the appropriate grammar structures and vocabulary to respond personally to the reflection questions. (Encourage students to respond in full sentences.)
Cultural focus	Students understand more about the Alberta (and Canadian) health care system and where 811 fits into this system.
Specific task learning objectives	Students will learn basic vocabulary related to calling 811 in Alberta. Students will understand when to call 811 in Alberta (and when to visit a family doctor or emergency room).
ESL Directions original video (🎥) and audio (🔊) activities?	This lesson includes original video (🎥) and audio (🔊) activities.
Resource attribution	ESL Directions original resources are marked below with an asterisk (*). Feel free to use these, but please give credit to ESL Directions.

Part A: Vocabulary acquisition and practice
This is a self-contained, complete lesson plan (about 1.5 hours) focused on vocabulary.

Part B: Building sentences
Part B takes your students further by giving them some tools to build simple sentences (using the vocabulary they learned in Part A).

Use Part B (about 1.5 hours) if you want to focus on:

Sentence production.

Specific lesson-related grammar points. Note: Every lesson also includes similar practice exercises for subjects, verbs, and objects — the basic building blocks of most English sentences.

Part C: Reflection Questions
These topic-related discussion questions work at the end of either part A or B.

Lesson plan

Part A: Vocabulary acquisition and practice

Warm-up: Introducing the topic and defining our terms

Today, we’re going to learn some of the vocabulary you need to call 811.

Why do you call 811?
Have you ever called 811? How did it go?
What is the difference between 811 and 911?
When do you go to a hospital emergency room?

Skill-building activities

Vocabulary flashcards*
Alberta Health Link 811* 🎥

Listen to the vocabulary again* 🔊 (Ask students to pay attention to the pronunciation, spelling, and meaning of the words.)

Skill-using tasks

Assessment/review tasks

Part B: Building sentences

Find a list of all of the grammar-based activities on this website.

Introducing the topic

In this part of the lesson, we’re going to work on creating short sentences from the vocabulary we learned in Part A.

To help us, we’ll focus on:

“Can you?” questions and answers.
Subject, verb, and object word order.

Skill-building and skill-using activities

“Can you?” questions and answers

Quick guide: Forming “can you?” questions and answers*
Practice answering “can you?” questions with short and full answers*
“Can you?” questions and answers explainer* (A more detailed explanation that you can teach in class or send home with your students.)

Word order in English sentences

Today, we’ll look at three important parts of English sentences.

What is a subject?
What is a verb?
What is an object?

Let’s practice!

Quick definitions: Subjects, verbs, and objects*
Unjumble the sentences*
Create sentences in subject/verb/object order*
Subject/verb/object explainer* (A more detailed explanation that you can teach in class or send home with your students.)

Assessment/review activities

Calling 811 in Alberta: Sonia’s story*🎥 (Watch a story using the lesson vocabulary and grammar points.)

Calling 811 in Alberta: Reading passage and comprehension questions* 🔊 (Read the story, and identify the grammar points.)

Part C: Reflection questions

What are three words or phrases that you learned today?
Show students the 811 website.
What is the phone number to call for health advice in Alberta?
Who can you speak to when you call 811?
What kind of problems can you ask about when you call 811?
Is 811 free to use?
Can you choose which language you want to speak when you call?
Can you call 811 if you have a family member who needs health advice?
When is the 811 line open?
Does everyone here have a family doctor? How do you find a family doctor?
When do you call 911?
Has anyone here gone to a hospital emergency room? How did that go?

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HEALTH YOUTUBE PLAYLIST

Click on the small right arrow at the top of this video to watch the videos or go to the YouTube Health Playlist.

HEALTH WORDWALL ACTIVITIES

Wordwall is a very useful interactive lesson-creation site. If you sign up for a free Wordwall account, you will be able to see our “Health” folder, which includes ESL Directions activities that you can add to your lessons.