Hands-on / practical activity

Cooking , contructing, measuring and other kinaesthetic activities.

Cut and order word sort based on transport, money and grammar terms.  Tasks and extension tasks on the same sheet. Scissors needed for separating the cards. Works best with students working in pairs.

Editor's notes

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best! With useful extension ideas. Laminate for repeated use. Also handy for Functional English alphabetical order work.

Level
Entry Level 1
Entry Level 2
English
FE E2.15 Use 1st & 2nd letters to sequence words alphabetically
ESOL
ESOL Sd/E1.1a Take part in social interaction
ESOL Rw/E1.1a Recognise a limited number of words, signs and symbols
ESOL Rw/E2.2a Recognise a range of familiar words
ESOL Rw/E2.5a Sequence words using basic alphabetical ordering skills
Context
Motor vehicles & Transport

Basic vocabulary word sorts, the first being based on fruit, vegetables and drinks, and the second on places (e.g. town, city), food and animals. Tasks and extension tasks on the same sheet. Scissors needed for separating the cards. Works best with students working in pairs.

Editor's notes

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best! With useful extension ideas. Laminate for repeated use. Also handy for Functional English alphabetical order work

Level
Entry Level 1
Entry Level 2
English
FE E2.15 Use 1st & 2nd letters to sequence words alphabetically
ESOL
ESOL Sd/E1.1a Take part in social interaction
ESOL Rw/E1.1a Recognise a limited number of words, signs and symbols
ESOL Rw/E2.2a Recognise a range of familiar words
ESOL Rw/E2.5a Sequence words using basic alphabetical ordering skills
Context
Catering Food Nutrition
Animals, animal care, farming & equine

A set of 48 DARTs (directed activities relating to text) that can be stuck onto lolly sticks or used as is to encourage learners of all levels to interact with texts. The sticks are probably best used with realia such as: posters, local leaflets, booklets, instructions, recipes, newspaper/magazine cuttings, business cards, etc. but the resource includes a list of suitable Skillsworkshop texts. 

Most of the sticks are based on the Subject content functional skills (SCFS): English (DfE, February 2018)

Level
Entry Level 1
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 3
Level 1
Level 2
English
Functional English reading
Functional English - writing

I put this together when I found so many of my learners trying to hone their employability skills did not know what a lot of the words on job descriptions meant. 

Resource 1 (Definition matching cards: job skills and attributes): I laminated these and cut them up and they worked in pairs or threes to match them up.

There are two other linked resources, as below, to help students with getting to grips with the keywords used in Job Descriptions and Person Specifications. 

Level
Entry Level 3
Level 1
Level 2
GCSE L1-5
T Levels - embedded maths or English
English
FE E3.11 Use strategies to find meaning of words e.g. dictionary, context, word types
FE L1.17 Read & understand a range of specialist words in context
FE L1.24 Use format, structure & language appropriate for audience & purpose
FE L2.25 Organise writing for different purposes using appropriate format & structure e.g. standard templates, paragraphs, bullet points, tables
ESOL
ESOL: Reading word focus - vocabulary, word recognition, phonics (Rw)
General
Generic resources for literacy, numeracy and beyond
Context
Employment skills & Public services
Health, Social care, Early years

This is a basic editable word wheel which you can print, cut out and attach together with a brass paper fastener.
Learners can concentrate on one word at a time. Word wheels can be used for building vocabulary, spelling practice and much more. Suitable for all levels of Functional Skills and ESOL.
Instructions and ideas are included within the PPT. For example:
Stretchy:

  • Write positive or negative words in the table
  • Look up words that are unfamiliar

Stretchier:

Level
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 3
Level 1
Level 2
English
FE READING and understanding words
FE WRITING Spelling
FE WRITING Sentence structure and paragraphs
AL Apply strategies to spell correctly
AL Recognise and understand a range of words
ESOL
ESOL Writing: word focus - spelling and handwriting (Ww)
ESOL: Reading word focus - vocabulary, word recognition, phonics (Rw)
General
Generic resources for literacy, numeracy and beyond

This is an Excel file with a basic odd/even activity. I took inspiration from Jean Thomas’ “Reveal the hidden shapes!” activity from 2005.

With this activity, the tutor can design a picture (or one learner can design a picture for another learner) and it produces a printable sheet. The learner then shades all the odd numbers on the sheet in one colour, and all the even numbers in a different colour – revealing a picture or a message.

There are no macros, so cross-compatibility with Excel shouldn’t be a problem.

Level
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 3
Maths
FM Context free underpinning
FM E2.3 Recognise & sequence odd & even numbers up to 100
AN N1/E3.1 place value <1000, odd / even, count in 10s /100s
AN N1/E2.2 Read, write, order & compare numbers to 100; odd even nos.
AN N1/E2.1 Count reliably to 100, count on in 2s and 10s

This is a literacy resource based around a recent news story. There are a range of tasks relating to an anti-litter app called ‘littergram’ and legal challenges made to the use of its name, with the potential to extend tasks into other aspects of littering and how the litter problem might be resolved. A final extension task asks students to take their own photographs of local examples of litter as supporting evidence for a writing activity.

Level
Level 2
Level 1
English
Functional English - writing
Functional English - speaking, listening & communicating
Functional English reading
General literacy / English
ICT
Functional Skills ICT: Finding and selecting information
Context
News, Politics & Government items
Electrical, Electronics & Technology

An interactive presentation to explain the meaning of nouns, verbs and adjectives and an accompanying hands-on activity to sort words into nouns, verbs and adjectives. This is good to use early in a course as it is fun and gets learners working in groups,

Level
Level 2
Level 1
Entry Level 3
Entry Level 2
English
Use knowledge of grammar
Apply grammar

A fun, sweet counting activity. Learners will learn basic counting skills and number recognition from one to nine. In addition, they will learn colour matching.
Print onto A4 and laminate – you will also need a packet of M & M sweets.

Level
M8
Pre-entry
pre-Entry N1/M8.3 Count reliably up to 5 items, & with inconsistencies, up to 10 items
pre-Entry N1/M8.4 Compare two given numbers of objects in groups of up to five, commnicating which is more/less
pre-Entry N1/M8.5 recognise, use, record & know value of numerals 0-10
pre-Entry N1/M8.6 Relate numbers to collections of objects reliably to five, & with support to 10

Students regularly tell me they cannot read bus timetables and just wait for the next one to come along! This activity asks learners to find the most appropriate bus for my journey.
I print the timetables (pages 2-8) out enlarged to A3 and stick them to walls of my classroom.

Update (June 2016)
Answer sheet (and error report for one question) kindly provided by Ray Sheerin and Jay Hall, Aylesbury, Bucks, Adult Learning.

Level
Entry Level 3
Level 1
Maths
AN MSS1/L1.3 Calculate with and convert between units of time
AN MSS1/L1.2 Read & measure time and use timetables
AN MSS1/E3.3
Functional Maths - measures, shape & space
Context
Leisure, Hobbies, Travel & Tourism