ESOL Ww/E3.1a Apply spelling knowledge to a wide range of common & special-interest words

Ww/E3.1a Apply knowledge of spelling to a wide range of common words and special-interest vocabulary
i) Develop knowledge of personalised special-interest vocabulary.
(ii) Develop range of lexis and collocations for contexts needed in various aspects of learners' lives
iii) Develop awareness of the complexity of the sound-symbol relationship in English spelling, e.g. words with silent letters knife, lamb
(iv) Understand that some words are spelt the same but said differently (homograph), e.g. read (present) read (past)
(v) Understand that some words sound the same but are spelt differently (homophones), e.g. red, read
(vi) Develop knowledge of common spelling patterns, e.g. walk, talk, could, would, silent e and, where appropriate to the learner, develop knowledge of rules that may help them analyse regularities
(vii) Understand how word families are built up through addition of prefixes and suffixes, e.g. suffixes for adjectives and adverbs (-er, -est, -ful/ly), and for nouns (-ment, -ability, -ness, -er); prefixes: un-, dis-, re-, ir-

Source: Adult ESOL Core Curriculum (DfES, 2001) 

Reading activities to practise reading skills and prepare for exams. The first activity is 3 reading texts and exam style questions focussing on purpose, tone, features and other skills. The second activity asks students to select the correct word practising spelling, grammar and vocabulary skills. All activities are along the theme of hobbies and free time activities. Help to prepare for Entry 3 reading exams.

Editor's notes

Level
Entry Level 3
Level 1
English
FE E3.9 Identify, understand & extract main points & ideas in/from texts
FE E3.10 Identify different purposes of straightforward texts
FE E3.11 Use strategies to find meaning of words e.g. dictionary, context, word types
FE E3.12 Understand organisational features & use them to locate relevant information
FE L1.9 Identify & understand the main points, ideas & details
FE L2.19 Identify different styles of writing & writer’s voice
ESOL
ESOL Rw/E3.3a Use a dictionary to find the meaning of unfamiliar words
ESOL Rw/E3.5a Use variety of reading strategies to read/understand unfamiliar words
ESOL Rs/E3.1b Use knowledge of syntax and grammar to work out meaning
ESOL Rt/E3.2a Distinguish between different purposes of texts at this level
ESOL Rt/E3.5a Locate organisational features, such as contents, index, menus
ESOL Rt/E3.6a Skim read key textual features (title, heading and illustrations) for different purposes
ESOL Rt/E3.7a Scan different parts of texts to locate information
ESOL Rt/E3.8a Read every word to obtain specific information
ESOL Rt/L1.2a Know how language and other textual features are used to achieve different purposes
ESOL Ww/E3.1a Apply spelling knowledge to a wide range of common & special-interest words
ESOL Ww/E3.1b Apply knowledge of strategies to aid with spelling
Context
Leisure, Hobbies, Travel & Tourism

Entry 3 activity to reinforce the importance of good attendance and punctuality in college. First activity asks students to choose and circle the correct word and further activities practise spelling, grammar, vocabulary and punctuation at Entry 3 level. 

Editor's notes

A brilliant idea and excellent practice for ESOL students - especially at the start of the academic year. 

Level
Entry Level 3
Level 1
English
Use knowledge of punctuation and capitalisation
ESOL
General ESOL
ESOL Rs/E3.2a Recognise function of CLs, full stops, commas, question- exclamation- and speech marks, bullet points /numbering
ESOL Rs/L1.2a Use punctuation to help understanding
ESOL Rs/E3.1b Use knowledge of syntax and grammar to work out meaning
ESOL Rs/L1.1a Use implicit & explicit grammatical knowledge to predict meaning & check for sense
ESOL Ww/E3.1a Apply spelling knowledge to a wide range of common & special-interest words
ESOL Ww/E3.1b Apply knowledge of strategies to aid with spelling
ESOL Ww/L1.1a Apply knowledge about vocabulary to aid accurate spelling
ESOL Ww/L1.1b Use strategies to aid accurate spelling
ESOL Rw/E3.5a Use variety of reading strategies to read/understand unfamiliar words
ESOL Rt/E3.1a Understand how meaning is built up in a variety texts of more than one paragraph
ESOL Rt/L1.5a Use skimming, scanning and detailed reading in different ways for different purposes
Context
Education and teaching

Update 24/2/22: written by Paula Fulton and Alexandra Bates, both of Essex ACL. 
A fun activity for ESOL learners which draws on the popularity of the online word guessing game, Wordle.

Editor's note

A complete mini-lesson for ESOL or Functional English! Introductory PPT and a detailed and very useful lesson plan. A great way to integrate spelling strategies with basic ICT skills. Includes discussion about the 26 letters but 44 phonemes of the English language. 

Level
Entry Level 3
Level 1
English
FE E3.17 Spell correctly words designated for Entry Level 3
FE L1.21 Spell words used most often in work, study and daily life, including specialist words
ESOL
General ESOL
ESOL Ww/E3.1a Apply spelling knowledge to a wide range of common & special-interest words
ESOL Ww/E3.1b Apply knowledge of strategies to aid with spelling
ESOL Ww/L1.1a Apply knowledge about vocabulary to aid accurate spelling
ESOL Ww/L1.1b Use strategies to aid accurate spelling
ICT
Functional Skills ICT: Using ICT
Functional Skills ICT: Finding and selecting information
Functional Skills ICT: Developing, presenting and communicating information
Context
Leisure, Hobbies, Travel & Tourism

This is a resource for teaching compound words to mixed ability groups. There are five different word match activities and two help sheets.

I use the first two activities, sports and food, with E1-2 learners. Depending on their ability you can either give the learners both topics at once or give them one at a time to make the activity easier. For very low level students I’d give the learners one topic at a time and a help sheet.

Level
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 3
English
Rw/E3.5
AL Rw/E2.2 Recognise high frequency words & words with common spelling patterns
AL Ww/E3.2 Use phonic knowledge to help spelling
Ww/E2.2
ESOL
ESOL Ww/E3.1a Apply spelling knowledge to a wide range of common & special-interest words
ESOL Rw/E3.5a Use variety of reading strategies to read/understand unfamiliar words
Context
Sport and fitness
Catering Food Nutrition

Root word family cards are two sets of flash cards that can be used to visualise the concept of root words to entry level and L1 students.

The entry level cards contain a number of root words and their word families, with a picture representation of each word. The level one sheet contains a higher level of vocabulary and the pictures have been removed.

Lesson Ideas

Level
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 3
Level 1
English
Prefixes, suffixes & plurals
AL Ww/L1.1 Spell & use spelling strategies
Rw/L1.3
Rw/E3.1
AL Rw/E2.2 Recognise high frequency words & words with common spelling patterns
AL Ww/E3.2 Use phonic knowledge to help spelling
Ww/E2.2
ESOL
ESOL Ww/L1.1a Apply knowledge about vocabulary to aid accurate spelling
ESOL Ww/E3.1a Apply spelling knowledge to a wide range of common & special-interest words
ESOL Ww/E2.1b Use knowledge of sound–symbol relationships & phonological patterns when spelling
ESOL Rw/L1.3a Recognise and understand an increasing range of vocabulary
ESOL Rw/L1.1a Use reference material to find the meaning of unfamiliar words
ESOL Rw/E3.5a Use variety of reading strategies to read/understand unfamiliar words
ESOL Rw/E3.1a Recognise and understand relevant specialist key words
ESOL Rw/E2.3a Use context & range of phonic / graphic knowledge to decode words

Visual colour-coded resource, explaining the main plural spelling rules. Created for E2/E3 learners, but could also be useful for all visual learners working between E2-L2.

Includes: colour-coded fact sheet, blank table, worksheet and flash cards to cut out and laminate. Could be used for a number of different activities.

Level
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 3
Level 1
English
Prefixes, suffixes & plurals
AL Ww/L1.1 Spell & use spelling strategies
AL Ww/E3.2 Use phonic knowledge to help spelling
ESOL
ESOL Ww/L1.1b Use strategies to aid accurate spelling
ESOL Ww/L1.1a Apply knowledge about vocabulary to aid accurate spelling
ESOL Ww/E3.1a Apply spelling knowledge to a wide range of common & special-interest words
ESOL Ww/E2.1b Use knowledge of sound–symbol relationships & phonological patterns when spelling

A 12 piece follow me game where homophones must be matched to the correct sentence. A good mix of common and more unusual homophones such as preys/praise/prays and there/their/they’re. First used in a Motor Vehicles Functional English group but suitable for any L1-2 English / literacy group.

Guaranteed to create promote discussion as learners play the game (best laminated). As usual with Tarsia puzzles, you can choose to print a standard or large puzzle (select Output – large, i.e. 3 pieces per A4 sheet).

Level
Level 2
Level 1
Entry Level 3
English
Functional English - writing
AL Ww/L1.1 Spell & use spelling strategies
Homophones, homographs & confusables
ESOL
ESOL Ww/L1.1a Apply knowledge about vocabulary to aid accurate spelling
ESOL Ww/E3.1a Apply spelling knowledge to a wide range of common & special-interest words

Written for E3-L1 ESOL students but equally suitable for literacy students. Match the two parts together to complete the phrase.

Level
Level 1
Entry Level 3
English
AL Ww/L1.1 Spell & use spelling strategies
AL Ww/E3.1 Spell common words
ESOL
ESOL Ww/L1.1a Apply knowledge about vocabulary to aid accurate spelling
ESOL Ww/E3.1a Apply spelling knowledge to a wide range of common & special-interest words

A timed 2-minute speed test where learners must find and circle the correct spelling (4 options are provided for each spelling).

Level
Level 1
Entry Level 3
English
AL Ww/L1.1 Spell & use spelling strategies
AL Ww/E3.1 Spell common words
ESOL
ESOL Ww/L1.1a Apply knowledge about vocabulary to aid accurate spelling
ESOL Ww/E3.1a Apply spelling knowledge to a wide range of common & special-interest words