|
Professional Development for Teachers and Supporters of Adult Literacy, Numeracy and ESOL |
General |
 |
Interactive on-line adult
literacy literacy tutoring/coaching course has 9 separate web quests
(teaching adult reading, adult writing, study skills, numeracy, etc.)
where you follow a series of web links to investigate different teaching
ideas and strategies. Some of the links appear to be dead but there is
much useful background material to be found.
|
 |
Life Long Learning UK
is the body responsible for the
professional development of all those working in work-based learning;
higher education; further education; community learning; and libraries,
archives and information services. Links to many useful policy documents
such as this
70 page PDF booklet: 'Addressing language, literacy and numeracy
needs in education and training: Defining the minimum core of teachers’
knowledge, understanding and personal skill. A guide for initial teacher
education programmes'. |
 |
The
Skills for Life Improvement Program has dozens of online PowerPoint
resources for trainers and
managers. If you are trying to encourage a 'whole-organisation' approach
to SfL and a professional SfL workforce then this is the site for you.
Plus lots of info on embedding basic skills. Plus
modules and
teaching resources for delivering levels 2, 3 and 4 Literacy,
numeracy, preEntry and ESOL. |
 |
Skills for Life: Adult Literacy Resources' a talk (and related web
site) given by me to PGCE students (post 16) at Oxford Brookes University as
part of a 'Basic Skills Theme Day'. The day was designed to meet the
FENTO requirements to address Skills for Life during teacher training.
Includes: a downloadable PowerPoint (with notes and hand out) on
background and history of the Skills for Life strategy, the development
of commercial and free literacy resources, and pointers for creating
high quality printed resources; an online mystery web hunt (to
familiarise students with free online resources) with fill-in worksheet; useful links and much more. Note: web hunt answers can be
found by clicking small animated icon at bottom left of the web page or
by going to this link. |
 |
Skills for Life Network
provides up to the minute information on all areas of Skills for Life
development both locally and nationally. Regular newsletters are sent
out to members who also have access to useful resources and a
knowledgebase. Most resources are simply links to other sites but there
are about a dozen downloadable items including a very useful 20 hour
spelling course for E2 upwards. |
Resources for those studying or delivering the
Level 2 Certificate in Adult learner
Support |
 |
Literacy Connections
has
useful
information for volunteer tutors (and others) about the terms used
in literacy / reading teaching such as guided reading, paired
reading, visualisation, etc. Lots of other good stuff too.
|
 |
City
and Guilds have detailed info on the Level 2 certificate in learner
support (now replaced with the new
Level 2 Award in Literacy, Language, Numeracy and ICT Awareness)
such as the
Scheme handbook
and interesting
examiner's reports on the externally assessed 'Working in the sector'
assignment. |
 |
Skills
for Life Quality Initiative (see above) has modules
for delivery
of Literacy 2.1: Developing and achieving good communication skills in
support work,
and 2.2: Progression to planning and teaching. Numeracy 2.1:
Language and numeracy, and 2.2: Dyslexia, dyscalculia and numeracy. ESOL
2.1: Refugee awareness for frontline workers: who are the refugees? and
2.2: Refugee awareness for frontline workers: Skills for Life strategy.
PreENTRY: Supporting learners and the Pre-entry curriculum framework,
Knowing about your learners, and Identifying and supporting progress and
achievement. |
 |
The
Link up project was set up to train volunteers in 20 deprived areas.
The project has now finished but an excellent CD full of comprehensive
teaching resources, session plans, activities, OHTs, fact sheets etc. is
still available for free by emailing DfES publications.
Details here. Fully covers all three modules: working in sector; supporting learners; and the ESOL, Literacy and numeracy subject areas. |
Resources for those studying or delivering the Certificates in Professional
Practice (levels 3 and 4) |
 |
North West Skills for Life
Professional Development Project has
masses of resources for those delivering Level 3 and 4 literacy,
ESOL, numeracy and embedded SfL. You need to register before you can
access the materials but this is free. Many thanks to Maricristin Sealey
(City of Bristol College) for suggesting this link (note
- closed over summer -07) |
 |
FENTO_Subject_Specifications for level 3 and 4 certificates in
supporting / teaching adult literacy and numeracy now available on
the Read Write Plus
site as web pages / Word documents. |
 |
Lifelong Learning site replaces
the old FENTO site and has all the
subject specification at level 3 and 4 plus useful guidance for
those delivering these qualifications.
Specifications for ESOL also available. If you are interested in
becoming a Skills for Life teacher you should read the
FAQ. |
 |
Move On
is not only an excellent source of practice exams (see
below) but also has good
Study Skills resources for teachers delivering the Level 3
Literacy/Numeracy Subject Support Certificate.
Includes
handouts and PowerPoints on study skills and learning styles.
|
 |
Skills
for Life Quality Initiative (see above) has many
many modules (particularly at level 4) for delivery
of Literacy, Numeracy. ESOL and PreEntry at levels 3 and 4. |
 |
DfES
Standards Site Professional Development section has useful
resources. Try this
presentation about sentence structure (simple, compound, complex) as
a starter. |
|
Level 3 Numeracy |
 |
ACER (Association of Colleges in
the Eastern Region) have masses of
fantastic L3 numeracy training materials (overview. notes and
activities for 23 sessions) and useful information. |
|
Level 4 Numeracy |
 |
ALM (Adults Learning
Mathematics) has its newsletter / magazines available online. The June
2005 version has an overview of the new adult numeracy strategy in Ireland.
Its journals also now available, the
first
one (56 page PDF) includes 'A New View of Mathematics Will Help Mathematics Teachers'
and 'Growth of Mathematical Understanding in Workplace Training'. |
 |
Literacies is the
online magazine of the Movement for Canadian Literacy. The
Spring 2005 edition focuses on reflective numeracy practice and has
several fascinating articles including
Making Math Concrete (and Iron, and Plastic...), Can Numeracy and
Technology Work Together?
Beyond WorkSheets: Making Math Meaningful, and Working with Student
Resistance to Math Tools. |
 |
London Adult
Numeracy Professional Development Centre the leading UK organisation
for the development and enhancement of numeracy teaching and learning
(post 16). Plus some very useful downloadable
resources for
teaching and Level 4 numeracy training. |
 |
See the Maths4Life site in our DfES section for
research in teaching and learning numeracy |
 |
NRDC National Research and
Development Centre for adult numeracy and literacy has
resources that
arose from a 20 month researcher-practitioner project on
teaching
measures. Web quest, handouts about the history of measurement,
fascinating transcripts of interviews with learners about how they use
measures,
free images of measures and people measuring, scheme of work,
worksheets including some great
measure
questions for discussion (huge 4MB DOC file) and a wonderful 'Do you
measure up?' quiz that will defy even the most numerate practitioner! |
|
Level 3 Literacy |
 |
ACER (Association of Colleges in
the Eastern Region) have masses of
fantastic L3 literacy training materials (overview. tutor notes,
handouts and activities for 26 sessions) and useful information. |
 |
Apostrophe protection
society not only gives you rules for using apostrophes but also
provides dozens of real-life pictures showing examples of misuse. Great
for teaching. Thanks to Ruth Wood at Pro-Training, Colwick, Nottingham
for recommending this link. |
 |
Blue Book of
Grammar and Punctuation is ideal for reference. Plus useful online
tests to check your learning (try the mastery
grammar quiz for a challenge). Thanks
to Ruth Wood
at Pro-Training, Colwick, Nottingham
for recommending this link. |
 |
Hypergrammar is an electronic version of the grammar course offered
at the University of Ottawa. Recommended by Ruth Wood. |
 |
The
Standards Site: Grammatical knowledge for teachers has some very
useful step by step activities you can work through to improve your own
grammatical knowledge. |
 |
The Tongue Tied Untied (Guide
to grammar, punctuation and style) is an online book which includes
printable exercises so that you can check your learning as you progress.
Thanks to Ruth Wood at Pro-Training, Colwick, Nottingham who recommends
this link for the text analysis assignment. |
Level 4 Literacy - Module I:
Understanding and describing language |
 |
Andrew McIntyre
is a lecturer in linguistics at University of Leipzig. He has written
several useful papers covering
English morphology that I found really helpful when writing my
essay. There is also a fascinating particle verb list and much more. |
 |
Ask Oxford (Oxford Dictionaries)
is a goldmine of information. Try
How spelling got to be so diffcult, and
Better writing
has great sections on grammar and spelling tips, letter writing and much
more. |
 |
Buncha Roots
leads to two separate pages, each with immense tables of Greek \ Latin
roots - affixes along with definitions and examples. |
 |
Centre for Research in Computational
Linguistics (Bangkok) has some interesting papers such as this PDF
from Douglas Inglis:
Cognitive
Grammar and Lexicography. |
 |
Christian Uffmann at University of Siegen has his entire
Introduction to Lingusitics course online, including very useful
handouts on phonology, syntax, morphology and phonetics. |
 |
13/04/08 Dictionary
of English Words derived from Latin and Greek Sources is an
incredible source of information and a must if you are interested in
Greek and Latin roots and affixes. Too much to summarise here - you must
explore it for yourself! |
 |
Encyclopaedia of
Linguistics has only a few entries available online but one happens
to be a good article about
function words. |
 |
Fun with Words has lists of
heteronyms (in the UK we call them
Fun With Words:
Heteronyms),
contronyms
(e.g. clip - to fasten, to detach),
negative words with
no positives (e.g. inept, gormless, dismayed, ungainly) and many
more. |
 |
George Boeree has some great
language pages:
English phonemic
spelling, introduction to morphology and much more. |
 |
Greek
and Latin roots is one of a series of useful reference pages from a
tutor at Michigan State Uni. Also covers vocabulary, homonyms, easily
confused words, etc. |
 |
IPA
(international phonetic alphabet) fonts (serif, sans serif and fixed
width) available for free download from University College London Dept
of Phonetics and
Linguistics. (I used the Sophia font when preparing a presentation
about a phonemic text analysis). |
 |
Julia Hirschberg (Columbia
State Uni) is a specialist in computational linguistics. Two of her
course outlines are available online, along with a host of resources
such as this great PowerPoint (under her 'courses' information) on Lexical Semantics (rather technical towards the end,
but includes useful slides on polysemy, homophones, homographs and
ambiguity). |
 |
Language museum has fascinating word lists. I frequently use
homographs (words that are spelt the same but pronounced
differently) as reference when teaching.
Homophones,
function
words and minimal
pairs (words whose pronunciation differs at only one segment, such
as sheep - ship or lice - rice) also feature. Note: site takes ages
to load - be patient! |
 |
Steve Bett has a huge
Linguistics site, although parts (such as the home page) seem to be
missing. I have used the
Dewey Spelling Frequency page (fascinating),
Origins of the Alphabet and this discussion about the
number of phonemes in the English Language. |
 |
Macmillan
English Dictionary has lots of useful and fascinating information
such as this list of the
40 most popular new words of 2005. Also check out their classroom
tips for
improving dictionary skills,
glossary of dictionary terms (there's also a texting glossary) and
the wonderful 'Don't
forget your vest and pants' about differences between British and
American English. |
 |
More
Words is great for solving crosswords and other word games (use *
for any number of missing letters, a hyphen for one missing letter). It
is also very useful if yo uare looking for words that follow particular
spelling or phonics patterns. |
 |
08/05/08 Phonics
on the web covers all basic (analytic) phonics rules and is a useful
reference source. Covers blends, digraphs, syllable rules, and much more
- also spelling rules such as plurals and compound words |
 |
13/04/08 The
Phrontistery is a
fascinating site specialising in lost, forgotten and rare words. Plus
interesting essays, etymology pages, lists of numerical prefixes, 2 and
3 letter Scrabble words. A huge selection of 'glossaries' include 269
words for different fabrics, 168 rare colour terms, measurements,
phobias and much much more! |
 |
RhymeZone dictionary and
thesaurus is great for preparing phonics, spelling and vocabulary
worksheets or lists. Type in a any word and receive a list of synonyms,
antonyms, rhyming words, words with matching consonants, homophones,
etc. There's also a 'Reverse
Dictionary' where you can type a definition and get a word! You can
even search for 'kid-safe' pictures! |
 |
Strictly
British is a site for US Harry Potter readers who might not know the
meaning of words such as: barmy, comprehensive school, codswallop,
toerag, nosh and nicking (hundreds are listed) but it also provides a
fascinating insight into British vocabulary. |
 |
Take our Word for It
(from the Institute
for Etymological Research and Education)
is a no nonsense friendly yet informative etymology site,
updated bi-weekly. The 'Theory'
page has a great overview of Etymology and where words come from. Also
check out the archive and the lists of roots and prefixes. |
 |
The Trouble with English Orthography plus discussion about
alternatives! Good reading. |
 |
 THRASS UK (Teaching
Handwriting Reading And Spelling Skills) have just released an
excellent new version (4) of their THRASS
Phoneme Machine. Now available for free download from a new
dedicated site at
http://www.phonememachine.com/. The programme uses
moving human lips and the International Phonetic Alphabet to teach
learners of all ages and abilities to read and spell in English. It
is also very useful for students of linguistics, phonics, etc. |
 |
UCL (University College London) has
a prestigious Department
of Linguistics and Phonetics with many resources, fonts and web
tutorials. For example, take a look at their archived
English pronunciation tips of the day (with audio). |
 |
University of Oregon Yamada Language
Centre more phonetic
fonts inc. fonts for Macs. |
 |
Word Detective
fascinating background and histories for hundreds of words and terms.
Huge archive. |
 |
Word
Play is
a wonderful hot pot of information about words. If you ever wondered
about the origin of the prefix - para you must read this fascinating
para-ble! Other gems include un-rhyming words,
triple-quadruple homonyms,
contranyms (Janus words) and much more. Addictive! |
 |
Word Sources has
masses of info on Greek and Latin word origins.
Latin-Greek-English Cross Reference Search - type in any word to
receive a list of related roots and affixes |
 |
World Wide Words is
amazing site about 'International English from a British Point of View'.
Histories of words and phrases, weird words and topical words. Warning!
You could spend hours on this site. |
 |
Writing for business and pleasure has
some fascinating background information on spelling
compound words.
Numerous other columns
include: apostrophes, 5 elements of style, email dos and don'ts,
thank you letters. |
Level 4 Literacy - Module II: Professional teaching practice |
 |
Carl's Corner
already has a big mention on our
printable worksheet links but must also be put here because of its
wonderful - but sometimes difficult to find - teaching ideas. Don't let
the teddy bears put you off many ideas are great for adults too. Visit
Teacher trail,
or Spell Space to find Spell Well PDF with 22 pages of ideas.
Literacy Lane
and Writers Way
have masses of good stuff including comprehension aides, writing
frames and graphic organisers.
Struggler Street for masses of ideas and readings tips - how to
help with reversals, comprehension, inference, word attack skills and
much more. |
 |
The
Chalkface Project is a large
provider of materials to UK secondary schools and colleges. One of their
free samples
(click on Basic Literacy Skills for 16+), which they will email you a
link for, is a useful 12 page document that includes teaching tips,
Dolch sight words and more. Many other samples are available for
spelling, writing, etc. |
 |
The original
Dolch list of 220 high frequency words compiled in 1936, plus links
to later versions and adaptations. |
 |
Dr
B's lessons and resources has a great
scaffolding resource for writing a five paragraph essay. Suitable
for Level 2 students |
 |
The
Five Paragraph Essay is a complete site about planning and writing
with separate sections covering the distinct formats of expository,
narrative and persuasive essays. |
 |
08/05/08 Halton
Borough Council has some really well designed, highly
structured writing frames (although how I originally found them from
the home page is now beyond me!) - inc. reports, explanations, stories
and discussion - plus guidance notes on teaching a new text-type. |
 |
LITE (Literacy, Information and
technology in Education) has some good background info on teaching
reading and
comprehension strategies. |
 |
Literacy Matters has a
good page of info (and further links) on
text
structure (Genre theory). |
 |
Irish National Adult Literacy Agency
have an excellent free
writing and design booklet (PDF) to help make your documents more
accessible. Notes on good layout, fonts, signposting, plain English,
active voice and much more. For details of the many downloadable student
resources from this site refer to the entry on our
printable resources page. |
 |
Mrs McGowan's class page
has very useful
reference list of words listed in groups such as consonant blends,
short vowels, long vowels. Great for teaching Entry 1 and 2 phonics. |
 |
NIACE
National
Institute of
Adult
Continuing
Education
has
a great series of
resources for teaching writing from the 'Write
where you are' campaign. Try the
Pass it on (PDF) under
Tasters for ideas on creating a shared text (E2-L2) and the
sentence game PDF under
Starting Points. |
 |
Phonics and the Whole Word / Language Controversies 1948-1998
interesting paper on the phonics versus whole word recognition argument,
from Jennifer Monaghan |
 |
Springfield
public school district has a very good
writing workshop that includes an
expository writing genre study in 15 lessons (narratives and
persuasive writing also covered). The
reading workshop has excellent coverage of comprehension strategies
inc
inference and explains the difference between shared and
guided reading.
|
 |
Teacher's
Toolbox is mostly pages of links but (if you can ignore the awful,
distracting background) has a very useful list of 20+
reading
strategies - each one leading to a more detailed explanation. These
include SQ3R, cloze procedures, open minded portraits, readers' theatre,
directed listening activities and many more. |
 |
Somers Central
School District has some fantastic reading resources and ideas. The
strategic
reading area has a section on
text structure where each type is accompanied by a suitable
downloadable
graphic organiser (writing frame / flow chart / bubbles) |
 |
Types of writing in the
information age
(Hong Kong University) has a great set of genre - purpose of text
resources that were developed as the result of a research project. the
resources aim to teach students how to distinguish between different
types of writing (genres) including digital forms such as email and ICQ
instant messaging. There are
8 great example texts
(email, lCQ text message, diary, story, etc.) with three related
resources ranging from simple matching (E2 upwards ) through to
rewriting and discussion. There are also very useful
accompanying
teaching notes for each text - reminding teachers of the key
features of each genre. |
 |
Utah Students at Risk has
many online resources including several
high frequency and 'sight' word lists including
Dolch lists and Fry's list of some fantastic reading resources and ideas. The
strategic
reading area has a section on
text structure where each type is accompanied by a suitable
downloadable
graphic organiser (writing frame / flow chart / bubbles) |
 |
Virtual Salt is a
fascinating site from Robert Harris, a retired English professor. There
are masses of teaching ideas such as these
Recommendations for
writing comments on student papers. Useful
reference page about
roots and prefixes along with many more pages including punctuation,
conjunctions, short stories, plagiarism and critical thinking. |
 |
08/05/08 David
Wray is Professor of Literacy Education at Warwick University. His
site contains many interesting links and some
useful
writing frames for E3-L2. |
Level 4 Literacy - Module III: Language in a Social Context |
|
NEW LITERACY STUDIES
and LITERACY AS A SOCIAL PRACTICE |
 |
David
Barton's paper (PDF) A social practice view of language, literacy
and numeracy makes interesting reading and provides useful
background material for the Module 3 Essay. |
 |
Changing Faces of Adult literacy, Numeracy and ESOL: a critical
history of policy and practice 1970 - 2000. The site is not yet complete
but if you want an overview of ABE in the last 6 decades take a look at
the
fantastic timelines. |
 |
Literacies is the
online magazine of the Movement for Canadian Literacy. If you have
difficulty understanding exactly what is meant by New Literacy Studies
read
The New Literacy Studies (Guy Ewing) from the
Spring 2003 edition (also available as a very readable
pdf newsletter). |

 |
Current Issues in
Comparative Education is an online journal from Columbia university.
Volume 5 no 2
May 2003 (Literacy, Education, and Development) includes an excellent
article from Brian Street (King's College London)
What's
"new" in New Literacy Studies (PDF).
NEW There is also an
interesting
response / critique (PDF) to this article (Joyce Kim)which discusses
limitations of NLS, such as transferability to pedagogical practice and
a lack of concrete suggestions for classroom practitioners. |
 |
Dept Linguistics and
English Language at Lancaster University is currently participating
in research into literacy practices particularly adult literacy).
Working papers are available on line including this PDF:
Moral Panics
about Literacy by David Barton 2000 (very useful for the Module 3
essay!) |
 |
Powerful
Literacies is a fascinating and very readable book (also available
from Amazon). Invaluable for Module 3 essay. |
 |
RaPAL (Research and
Practice in Adult Literacy) produce a bulletin three times a year. Well
worth the subscription fee and an excellent source of research,
critiques and practical ideas. If you believe that literacy is more than
a set of narrow skills (and don't think that the Adult Literacy
Curriculum is the 'be all and end all' of literacy teaching) then this
is the journal for you. |
 |
Communities
in Scotland for the
latest news in
adult literacy and numeracy, and community learning and
development in Scotland. Development and training, pathfinder
projects, learners zone, plus links to research and useful resources.
Take a look at the new
Adult Literacy and Numeracy Framework for Scotland (PDF) which,
unlike its English counterpart, is based on a social practices
/literacy in the community model. |
|
RESEARCH - VARIOUS (see also our
Research and Development section
below) |
 |
ESRC
(Economic and Social Research Council) Adult Basic Education Seminar
Series provides a fascinating set of papers, notes and reflections
from a series of six seminars held between 2002 and 2004.
Seminar 1 (Adult Basic Education as a Social Practice) is of
particular interest and was a great help to me when writing my module 3
essay! |
 |
Centre for Literacy
(University of Quebec) has an annotated bibliography
Adult Basic Education: Impact of Policy on Practice
(2004)
with useful summaries of core
readings such as
Adult Literacy, Learning Disabilities and Technology,
Adult literacy and Television, Seniors and Literacy, and
Math for learning; math for life. |
 |
NIACE (The National Institute of
Adult Continuing Education - England and Wales) has many useful
|