Comments and suggestions from site users. 2007-08

If you would like to contribute to this page please email Maggie.

Feedback, good links, comments, criticism are welcome. Thanks!

Board last updated 22/05/08
Previous years' comments 03-04 05-06
Read about this site.

KEY

Numeracy

Literacy / ESOL

preEntry

General

Previous years' comments 03-04 05-06
Read about this site.

If you would like to contribute to this page please email Maggie.

Feedback, good links, comments, criticism are welcome. Thanks!

"Improving Eidetic Memory" numeracy resource

Hi Maggie

I saw this resource and downloaded it for a Learning for Life class whose members might benefit and also created a version based on the idea for pre-Entry level learners dealing with smaller groups of numbers.

It's an excellent resource and I can report that the learners have enjoyed using it very much. The Smiley Game, as we have called it, is going to be a regular feature in each session!

I'd like to add that it's also worked very well used slightly differently - for learners who have difficulty with one-to-one correspondence. We have used it on the Smartboard with the learners actually touching the smiley faces and counting. Again, it was perceived as an enjoyable activity but the improvement was quite marked as we progressed through the slides, even in one brief session.

My thanks to the contributor of the resource, and to all involved in the maintenance of your excellent site.

Louise Davies Jones (Burton College)

Eidetic memory PPT available here

Hello

I just thought I'd drop you a line to say 'thank-you' for providing this amazing site.

I'm the one and only Basic Skills Tutor working with 6th formers in a very large school. Most of my pupils are extremely disaffected and have varying needs of SEN, so they can be both extremely challenging and also fantastically rewarding.

The site is invaluable and I use a lot of the resources in varying ways. Hopefully one day I will come up with something original that would be useful to others. Until then thanks again and please don't go anywhere!

Nancy Burn

Basic Skills Tutor

Kenton College, Newcastle upon Tyne

I trialled your beautiful word maps in my ESOL Numeracy class. They were (politely) interested but as you suggest, how directly useful they are, I'm not sure.

They tie in with my frequent mantra 'oh, that comes from the Greek' etc, as if that might be helpful to ESOL Adult Numeracy students struggling to learn new concepts in a foreign language, who aren’t necessarily too bothered where the disparate bits of English come from!

What I do think would be useful would be a chart of the numeracy prefixes - kilo, milli, centi, deca, etc - to pull together all the words needed in measures and shapes. Perhaps a second page for the 'minor royals' of hexa, hepta, etc

Many thanks,

Helen Baldwin, Worcester Sixth Form College

Number 1 and Number 2 word maps here and teaching ideas sheet for using Word Maps here. If anyone has used the maps successfully I'd love to hear from you!

Maggie,

I am a Skills for Life Tutor at Ludlow College. I am working on a project to develop on-line teaching resources for our students who cannot attend regular classes. We are using Moodle to bring together existing on-line resources and present them as self-contained packages to our learners. Are there any copyright issues if we present links to your superb website via these Moodle packages?

I would also like to say that I use Skillsworkshop all the time, for inspiration and ideas for my Numeracy classes as well as for worksheets etc. It is a tremendous resource and, along with Maths4Life, is enhancing the way I teach considerably.

Ruth Riley, Ludlow College

Hi Ruth

No there are no copyright issues so long as you are not putting resources on another site or selling them for profit. Good luck with the Moodle project and, if anyone at Ludlow has resources they would like to share – you know where to send them!

Maggie

Please see About this site for more details about copyright and contributing resources.

 15/03/2008 Re: Spring Newsletter

Hi Maggie

Thank you for your wonderful Spring Newsletter jam-packed with brilliant ideas and suggestions as usual. Due to your dedication and hard work the web site has grown tremendously during the last 7 years - what a fantastic achievement!

I have now retired unfortunately. I would have liked to go on for a few more years but my arthritis, plus a few other health problems (sadly associated with age!) had other ideas and so I retired just about a year ago. However I still do one evening a week voluntary work at the Youth Education Service in Bristol which I really enjoy and I think keeps me sane as I haven't taken to retirement too well. I am still using your resources and I am so pleased to see all the new resources recently added.

My eldest granddaughter, currently revising for SATs in May, had wanted some help with maths problem solving and I have just spotted some items in the newsletter which might help her. After all, even at 11 years old I think it's much better if you can see a point to maths and how important it is in daily life!

Well Maggie, sorry to ramble on I think I'd best leave you in peace now. Once again thank you and all the contributors so much for providing so many wonderful resources.

Kind regards

Best wishes

Yvonne

YES Clifton, Bristol

Hi Maggie

I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it was to discover your site and all the wonderful resources which were actually FREE!!

I am a retired tutor doing some voluntary work for a Charity in Manchester city centre. I run a 'Numeracy and Literacy' group and started from scratch. I knew very little about Adult education although I did some training many years ago. I didn't even know about the DfES Skills for Life material! So you can see I had a lot to learn.

Sourcing suitable material with the limited funds available has proved to be very difficult. I started to think that I would have to write my own and then I discovered your site. So far I have used several of the worksheets for our Entry 1 learners. I've written some worksheets myself as well, they are not up to your standards yet as my computer skills are rather limited but I'm learning new things every day so hopefully I will soon be able to send something back.

I want to send my thanks to you and all the contributors to your site - you are fantastic!

Jan Hughes

Dear Maggie

I am delighted with your site on the internet!

I teach at an MLD school where learners not only have learning difficulties but behaviour problems too. I often have to invent work to make it accessible to the students - and to alter and find many different ways of approaching the work. As you may imagine some of the students find great difficulty in learning and retaining information.

Your Adult Numeracy work is very helpful and I have certainly found various worksheets at the right level.

Thank you once again for all your work

Will Smith, Chesham.

May I thank the writers of Merry ChristMaths. It was perfect for my E3 ESOL Numeracy group (mostly Pakistani born) who have good basic arithmetic skills but find these kinds of puzzles baffling because of the language and the different approach.

May I also point other Numeracy teachers to the puzzles pages of http://nrich.maths.org.

Many many thanks for your good work.

Helen Baldwin, Worcester Sixth Form College

Who stole the world cup?

Hi Maggie,

Just to let you know I’ve used the above resources and they worked a treat. 

Thank you, Julie Dale (Regent College).

http://www.skillsworkshop.org/genlit/pickles.pdf
http://www.skillsworkshop.org/cloze/worldcup-quiz.htm

What a find, thank you for doing what the Government should be doing. I really appreciate it! Many many thanks

Clare How
Course Leader at Amersham and Wycombe College

Hi there,
Your skillsworkshop is a god send!
I am studying to be a tutor and it is the only useful website there is!! I am currently planning a scheme of work and a lesson plan. Thank you

Fiona

Hi Maggie,

I have been scouring the net for guidance on lesson planning using curriculum references – yours were a great help! It is so refreshing to find people that are willing to share knowledge, thank you so much.

I think it is great that teachers are prepared to work together (even as total strangers, but then I think we all have to be a bit strange to teach!) for the benefit of learners everywhere.

Regards,

Kate Hall

Project Development Officer

ContinYou.

I did John Thompson’s “Planning a trip” activity l1n1mss1journey.pdf today. It was the final session for two learners,   one who had only recently joined the group. They are working at different levels (E3 and L1) and have different learning preferences but worked really well together and both thoroughly enjoyed the activity. Thanks John!

Judith White,

Somerset Adult Learning and Leisure.

We've also had a good laugh with the lawn resource - it got everyone in a good mood!

I just said I was bored with all these Maths Facts, and now I was going to need their help with my overgrown lawn.  Then I told the Ss it was a tiny garden, and I didn’t think I could fit four people in it. Got four Ss to stand next to each other, and started off by estimating, measuring the span of one person, and multiplying that by four.  All while they were standing up!  Did the same for the length.

Note: Feeding the Lawn available here.

22/06/07 E-petition (closes 03 July 07)

Hi guys, Please forward to all of your contacts - it's so important that we all have a say!!!

Click the link below to sign the petition. (Deadline is July 3 2007)

Best wishes, Jenny (Park Lane College)

--------------------

Dear Colleagues,

The cuts that hit adult education last year look set to deepen from September. The budget for adult education in England for the academic year of 2006-07 has been cut by 4%. The government has estimated that this will mean a loss of around 500,000 more places on courses for adults.

There is now an opportunity for individuals to support a 10 Downing Street e-petition calling for public funding for adult learning. The petition has been submitted by Maire Daley of the UCU (University and College Union) which has also been prominent recently in the campaign to protect ESOL provision (English for Speakers of Other Languages).

The link leading to the petition is below. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/EducationRights/

20/05/07

I just had a fantastic investigation into Smarties with my L2 group.  Thank you!
Gaby (Adult Continuing Education Tutor, Milton Keynes)

Note: read Gaby's reflections on this lesson here.

15/05/07

Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to the site.  I am not in a position to do so at the moment, I am still a baby at Level 3!  But hey, thank you so much to the educated people and to you Maggie for setting up this facility.
Carol Murray X

09/02/07

Maggie

Many thanks for your excellent website.

I've just discovered it and already have made good use of the resources available, particularly the low ability E1-E3 worksheets. 

Keep up the good work.

Regards
Lesley Kiefir

14/01/07

11/01/07

Hi Maggie,

Just a note to say I think this website is brilliant. We have just been through an inspection and as part of one of my observed training sessions I gained some ideas from one of the teaching resources I saw on the Skillsworkshop: the Smarties Experiment.

Thanks again. Will it be possible for me to have access to printable resources?

Leecia Lewis (Training provider in Wolverhampton)

Note: all our resources can be printed. Find out how to obtain editable Word versions here.

06/01/07
 

Hello,

I would just like to thank you for this wonderful website. I am currently studying my PGCE in Literacy and have been overwhelmed at times but this website has saved my life!

Thank you so so much,
Kind regards,
Eimear Kelly