REAL-WORLD TASKS: COMPETENCIES

ANXIETY LESSON PLANCLB Level 1

Theme: Mental HealthTime required: 2-3 hours

Understanding anxiety / Feelings about adjusting to life in Canada

REAL-WORLD TASKS: • Recognize and name a common emotion in a way that service providers in Canada can understand

• Start to understand some different facial cues on paper

• Apply one or more concrete actions that can help lessen anxiety

COMPETENCIES:

Listening

• Getting things done

• Comprehending information

• Interacting with others

Speaking

• Getting things done

• Interacting with others

Reading

• Comprehending information

LANGUAGE FOCUS:• Grammar: present tense; -ing words (feeling, living, trying); frequency words (sometimes); why

• Vocabulary: happy, anxious, anxiety, feel, learn, like, try, difficult, help

• Pronunciation: anxious, anxiety

• Pragmatic elements: building empathy; problem-solving; spelling practice

MATERIALS:• Warm-up 1: Emoji cards

• Warm-up 2: Scenario pictures

• Picture Story: Part 1 (each sentence of audio script illustrated)

• Worksheet A

• Worksheet B

• Picture Story: Part 2 (each sentence of audio script illustrated)

• Worksheet C

• Worksheet D

• Part 3: Personal reflection

• Sample dialogue for assessment

NOTE: The actions suggested in Part 2 purposely do not include generic instructions to ‘relax’ or ‘calm down.’ Although relaxation skills are helpful for overall well-being when practised often, telling someone who is anxious in the moment to ‘just relax’ is usually not very helpful. The behaviours listed instead include two social support options, two dealing with physical well-being, one generic one about asking for help (which could include professional support or practical support like asking the bus driver a question), and one to encourage perseverance and discourage avoidance of anxious situations.

2 ANXIETY LESSON PLAN | CLB LEVEL 1

CMHA BC, 2018

CONTEXTEveryone feels anxious at times. Anxiety is a normal reaction during major life events like moving to a new country. While some anxiety is normal, it can become overwhelming if it isn’t managed in healthy ways. Problems with anxiety are the most common kind of mental health problem.

This lesson frames anxiety as a normal response, one of many feelings students may experience, and encourages healthy coping skills and help-seeking when needed. Students are not obligated to share their own experiences or feelings. Instead, they are introduced to several different coping tools, and they are free to try different strategies on their own.

Learning to put words to feelings is invaluable, especially if students want to seek help—they need to know how to articulate the problem in the language of help providers in Canada. Teaching those words helps students understand that their experiences are normal and empowers them to do something about anxiety problems.

WARNINGS AND REFERRALSTalking about anxiety may be triggering for some students. While this lesson focuses on normalizing and managing expected anxiety related to living in a new country, it may be difficult for students who already feel overwhelmed or experience a more serious anxiety problem. If a student indicates that they are in distress or experiencing a lot of problems with anxiety, you can encourage that student to [in British Columbia]:

• Call the BC-wide Mental Health Support line at 310-6789 (no area code). Available in over 140 languages—students can say what language they need and crisis line volunteers will try to provide an interpreter.

• Call 1-800-784-2433 (1-800-SUICIDE). Available in over 140 languages—students can say what language they need and crisis line volunteers will try to provide an interpreter.

• Talk to their settlement worker.

• If you know an appropriate local service provider, like a newcomer support organization, you could also offer the phone number and encourage students to connect with them.

• Talk to a doctor (family doctor or walk-in clinic).

ANXIETY LESSON PLAN | CLB LEVEL 1 3

CMHA BC, 2018

SUGGESTED APPROACH

WARM-UP 1: RECOGNIZING DIFFERENT FACIAL CUES

Materials: Emoji cards

10 common face emojis are printed large on a piece of paper and cut into squares.

Steps:

• Squares are handed out to each table.

• Students are asked to sort the emojis into two groups: the ones that are happy from the ones that are not happy(one kind of ‘not happy’ is “anxious”).

WARM-UP 2: SPEAKING PRACTICE

Students practice saying “anxious,” “anxiety,” and “happy.”

The instructor introduces pictures of common situations that could cause anxious feelings or more happy feelings (a rickety bridge, being late, a cozy nap, a puppy). The students say aloud “anxious” or “happy” to each picture. There will be ‘popular’ answers but no absolutely ‘right’ answers. The class may notice that not everyone answers the same way. For example, a dog may make one person happy but another person anxious. Not everyone is made anxious or happy by the same things. [Photos will be provided for download to project on a screen. For some simple illustrations see page following emojis in the Appendix section]

PART ONE: FEELINGS ABOUT LIVING IN CANADA

Feeling words: happy, anxious

Teachers will need to pre-teach “likes,” “live,” “learn,” “new,” “difficult,” “feel.”

[See Story: Part 1 illustrations in the Appendix section]

Picture/audio Story: Part 1

[See Story: Part 1 illustrations in the Appendix section. For audio, instructor can read script or use audio file provided]

Jay likes living in Canada.

Jay has new friends.

Jay likes learning English.


CMHA BC, 2018

Jay feels happy living in Canada.

Jay misses his home.

It is difficult to learn some new things.

It is difficult to take the bus. Jay makes mistakes.

Jay feels anxious sometimes.

Worksheet A: How does Jay feel? Match the feeling to a statement

Circle a happy face or anxious face on the blank line for each part of the story. Then go back and write the word (“happy” or “anxious”) under the picture. [See Worksheet A in the Appendix section]

Worksheet B: Matching questions and answers

In pairs, one person asks the question and the second person answers the question. [See Worksheet B in the Appendix section]

PART TWO: DEALING WITH ANXIETY

Action words: phone a friend, talk to family, go for a walk, get enough sleep, ask for help

Teachers will need to pre-teach “settlement worker,” “everyone,” “help,” “trying,” and the difference between “anxiety”

Picture/Audio Story: Part 2

[See Story: Part 2 illustrations in the Appendix section. For audio, instructor can read script or use audio file provided.]

Anxiety is difficult.

Jay talks to his settlement worker.

Jay talks about feeling anxious.

EXAMPLES:

Question: Why is Jay happy? Answers: Jay likes living in Canada, Jay has new friends, Jay likes learning English.

Question: Why is Jay anxious? Answers: Jay misses home, it is difficult to learn some new things, it is difficult to take the bus, Jay makes mistakes.

ANXIETY LESSON PLAN | CLB LEVEL 1 5

CMHA BC, 2018

Everyone is anxious sometimes.

Jay learns things he can do.

Phone a friend

Talk to family

Go for a walk

Get more sleep

Ask for help

Keep trying

Worksheet C: Matching helping activities

Match a picture of the helping activity to the name of the activity.

[See Worksheet C in the Appendix section]

Worksheet D: Matching helping activities (pairs or groups)

Point to a picture and fill in the blank.

[See Worksheet D in the Appendix section]

EXAMPLE:

Jay can _____________ when he feels anxious.


CMHA BC, 2018

PART THREE: PERSONAL REFLECTION (OPTIONAL)

If appropriate for a class, instructors can choose to encourage the students to apply the feelings to their own lives. It is useful if the teacher starts the activity on themselves so that students can see that everyone can feel anxious sometimes.

Suggested activity:

• Students work in pairs or groups

• Students use the Emoji Cards from the Warm-up again

• Student 1 says: “How do you feel today?”

• Student 2 chooses one of the faces and says: “I feel anxious” OR “I feel happy” (depending on which kind of face they choose)

• Students take turns asking each other

SAMPLE ASSESSMENT DIALOGUE

The following dialogue could be used as the basis of an assessment. Audio file provided alongside this lesson plan for download.

Friend: Hi, how are you today?

Jay: Oh, I feel anxious.

Friend: Why?

Jay: I feel anxious taking the bus. Can you help?

Friend: Yes, I think so.

Jay: Thank you.

The Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division is proud to be affiliated with HeretoHelp. HeretoHelp is a project of the BC Partners for Mental Health and Addictions Information, a group of non-profit agencies providing good-quality information to help individuals and families maintain or improve their mental well-being. The BC Partners are funded by the Provincial Health Services Authority. For more information, visit www.heretohelp.bc.ca

FEEDBACK WANTED: If you decide to use this lesson plan, even if you adapt it, please let us know and give us your feedback. Your input will help us with future revisions and with the creation of more lesson plans related to mental health. Contact us at [email protected]

APPENDIXANXIETY LESSON PLAN

CLB Level 1

WAR

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WARM-UP 2: SPEAKING PRACTICE

PICTURE STORY: PART 1

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ANXIETY LESSON PLAN | CLB LEVEL 1 Appendix

Worksheet A: How does Jay feel? Match the feeling to a statement

Circle a happy face or anxious face on the blank line for each part of the story. Then go back and write the word (“happy” or “anxious”) under the picture.

Example: Jay feels:

__________________________________

1. Jay likes living in Canada. Jay feels

__________________________________

2. Jay has new friends. Jay feels

__________________________________

3. Jay likes learning English. Jay feels

__________________________________

4. Jay misses his home. Jay feels

__________________________________

happy


5. It is difficult to learn some new things. Jay feels

__________________________________

6. It is difficult to take the bus. Jay makes mistakes. Jay feels

__________________________________


Worksheet B: Matching questions and answers

In pairs, one person asks the question and the second person answers the question.

Examples:

Question: Why is Jay happy?

[Answers: Jay likes living in Canada, Jay has new friends, Jay likes learning English.]

Question: Why is Jay anxious?

[Answers: Jay misses home, it is difficult to learn some new things, it is difficult to take the bus, Jay makes mistakes.]


An

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y is

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Jay

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.


Jay

lear

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thin

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he

can

do

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Talk

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Get

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Ask

fo

r h

elp

.


Worksheet C: Matching helping activities

Match a picture of the helping activity to the name of the activity.

Phone a friend

Talk to family

Go for a walk

Get more sleep

Ask for help


Hello

Worksheet D: Matching helping activities (pairs or groups)

Point to a picture and fill in the blank.

Jay phones a friend.

Jay goes for a walk.

Jay likes learning English.

It is difficult to take the bus. Jay makes mistakes.

Jay misses his home.

Jay talks to his settlement worker.

Jay talks about feeling anxious.


Jay has new friends.

Jay feels happy living in Canada.


Jay gets more sleep.

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REAL-WORLD TASKS: COMPETENCIES