Contextual Resources
Select learning level(s) and subject area(s) in the boxes below to find resources to suit. Then click on the title of a resource you are interested in to see full details of that resource, including file downloads, “more like this”, “see also” and comments from other users.
Literacy: General literacy / English, Functional English - reading, Functional English - writing
Context: Politics & News items
Level: L2
Resource type: Revision material, Worksheet or assignment, Writing prompts
A Level 2 Functional Skills English pack based on the troubles in London and other parts of England in the summer of 2011.
Reading and writing activities are included, alongside answers.
Discussions across a range of subjects may stem from this work in order to inform Speaking and Listening skills practice.
Fully mapped to the Functional English criteria.
Literacy: Functional English - reading, Rs/E3.1, Rt/E3.1
Free tags: Shrove Tuesday
Context: Catering Food Nutrition
Level: E3, L1
Resource type: Worksheet or assignment
A topical resource to revise features of instructional texts and imperative verbs.
Fully mapped to Functional English and ideal for mixed ability groups.
Numeracy: Functional Maths
Literacy: Functional English - reading
ICT: Finding and selecting information
General: Generic resources for literacy, numeracy and beyond
Free tags: Diamond Jubilee
Context: Art Film Media Music TV, Leisure Travel Tourism
Resource type: Investigation or project
Level: E3, L1
A topical investigation that can be used as a group or individual task. Learners imagine they have won tickets in the ballot and must plan their trip to Buckingham Palace.
Ideal for E3-L1 Functional maths, English and ICT but could be easily adapted for higher or lower levels.
Numeracy: Functional Maths - measures, shape, money, Functional Maths - number, N1/L1.7, N1/L2.3
Context: Catering Food Nutrition
Level: L1, L2
Resource type: Worksheet or assignment
Resources I designed as a mini project for Functional Skills maths. Also for L1/L2 Adult Numeracy
Editor’s notes:
Includes several recipes including a delicious sounding Spanish flan (some questions involving doubling and halving might also suit Entry Level students), mixing paint, proportion (wages) and some challenging L2 scale map questions. Fully mapped to the Functional Maths criteria.
Numeracy: General numeracy / maths, Functional Maths - measures, shape, money
Context: Catering Food Nutrition, Voluntary & Charity
Level: L1, L2
Resource type: Investigation or project, Worksheet or assignment
Inspired by Judith White’s autumn apple cake resource (ratios, converting measures, formulae, etc.) this series of open ended tasks focuses on the importance of showing working out and explaining/justifying their conclusions. It also helps students get used to the idea that some maths questions do not have just one “correct” answer.
The theme is baking several cakes for a charity event and making a profit.
You will need Judith’s original recipe (see below) to complete some of the tasks.
Literacy: Rs/E1.1, Rt/E1.1
Pre-entry: General pre-Entry
ESOL: ESOL Rs/E1.1a, ESOL Rt/E1.1a
Context: Independent living
Resource type: Cloze exercise, Reading comprehension, Writing frame, Writing prompts
Level: M8, E1
This is a lower-level version of ‘My Busy Day’ Housework by Laurence Fletcher (see below) for a basic literacy for ESOL class. Also suitable for M8-E1 literacy.
Reading comprehension, simplified cloze and sentence exercises.
Numeracy: Functional Maths - data handling, HD1/E2.4, HD1/E3.3, HD1/E3.4
Context: Catering Food Nutrition
Level: E2, E3, L1
Resource type: Hands-on / practical activity, Investigation or project, Worksheet or assignment
A Functional Maths and numeracy task sheet written for a mixed group of entry level learners to collect, represent and analyse data on favourite biscuits. The topic is introduced with a news article about Britain’s favourite biscuits. Learners must create a tally chart/frequency table, a pictogram and a bar chart. Pre-drawn grids and squared paper is included.
I used this task with a mixed group of learners with a range of learning difficulties, in an FE college setting.
Literacy: Wt/E3.1, Wt/E3.4, Functional English - writing
Context: Animal care & Equine, Employment skills & Public services
Level: E3
Resource type: Assessment material, Worksheet or assignment
A writing task / practice paper written for an E3 booster writing group of 16-18 year olds.
You want a Saturday job in a pet shop and write a letter to the manager about possible vacancies.
Fully mapped to the E2 and E3 Functional Skills English writing criteria, it also includes a one page tutor marking sheet. Modelled loosely on practice papers from the major awarding bodies but note that the marking scheme / points system is my invention and is not weighted exactly as it should be for formal assessment.
Literacy: Rt/E1.1
ESOL: ESOL Rt/E1.1a, ESOL Rt/E1.1b
Free tags: Australia, Equality and Diversity
Context: Catering Food Nutrition
Level: E1
Resource type: Reading comprehension, Worksheet or assignment
A short reading text for beginners, followed by fill the gap sentences. Two sheets – one for British students and one for Australian students.
Literacy: General literacy / English, Functional English - reading, Functional English - writing
ICT: Finding and selecting information
ESOL: General ESOL
Context: Leisure Travel Tourism
Resource type: Investigation or project, Worksheet or assignment
Level: L1
A short project for L1 Functional Skills or ESOL, wherein students research aspects of a foreign holiday destination and produce a piece of persuasive advertising based upon findings.