History, culture, museums, libraries

Reading and related activities focusing on a simplified version of a BBC news article reporting the results of the 2021 Australian Census. Ideal for practising reading strategies including:  relating images to text, using headings, skimming, scanning and using context to predict. My (Australian) students found it challenging but were engaged in the content. Lots of possible ways it could lead into other written and oral activities. Numbers and a graph involved so can also be used to revise numeracy concepts such as percentages and extracting information from graphs.

Short set of slides about different poppies used for Remembrance Day, to be used as a discussion prompt covering the British Values of Mutual Respect and Tolerance, and Individual Liberty.

Editor's notes

Super discussion prompt for the time around Nov 11th. Includes information about red, white, purple and black poppies - along with a link to a thought-provoking video from Benjamin Zephaniah. For Functional English, ESOL and wider use.

This lesson is based around the story of Birkenhead resident Charlie Wright, who famously refused to leave his house when the local council decided to demolish the estate around it. Students have the opportunity to discuss themes of community, identity and change. Students watch a short documentary about Charlie from the BBC archives and answer comprehension questions. Charlie's story provides a context for a role play task whereby learners have to decide how best to regenerate Charlie's lost neighbourhood.

A reading, spelling and punctuation add-on Wordwall quiz for our popular Shrove Tuesday L1 reading assessment (Maggie Harnew, 2016). Select the correct answer(s) for each question. Uses a Pancake Day text from an online newspaper article. 12 quick questions covers purpose, source, main points and detail, comma use and vocabulary. Can be used independently of the original resource.

An interactive onscreen exercise, created in Wordwall, to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee whilst improving knowledge of advanced punctuation. Also makes a great discussion prompt. Written for Level 2 and beyond; also covers L1.18 (use  punctuation to aid understanding) but will be challenging for most L1 learners.

https://wordwall.net/resource/28470020/functional-skills-english/queens-accession-letter-of-feb-5

Short simplified text about Accession Day 2022 when the Queen marks 70 years as monarch and also remembers the death of her father, King George). Differentiated reading questions are followed by writing tasks (alphabetical order (2 levels), punctuation, regular plurals and a final composition questions (2 levels).

Editor's note

As this resource has a short shelf life there will be no separate answer/mapping sheet but all questions are mapped and have suggested marks.

An interactive add-on exercise, created in Wordwall, for our  St Dwynwen's Day E3-L1 reading resource. Sort each sentence into the correct group (simple, compound or complex). All sentences are taken form or are adapted from the original resource.

25/1/2022 15:55 updated: ambiguity removed from Q12 (purpose of commas) & answer sheet now available

St Dwynwen's Day is celebrated every year on January 25 and is often referred to as the "Welsh St Valentine's Day".  Learn more about the history of Dwynwen whilst consolidating many aspects of Functional English reading including: purpose, style, identifying meaning, vocabulary and dictionary work, organisational features, main points and detail, and using punctuation to aid understanding. 

Editor's note

Topical form filling practice. Encourage your learners to enter the Platinum Pudding Competition to celebrate the Queen's 70th year on the throne. In addition to requiring personal information, it also provide practice writing compound sentences. Adapted and simplified from the official form on the Fortnum and Mason web site.

Editor's note

Look out for more Platinum Jubilee resources in the near future. 

Why are names important? What can we learn from them?

Slides for L1 and L2 English learners to find out more about the importance of names while building their English skills. (For example: vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation, research, discussion and a mini writing task).

Editor's notes

Ideal as an ice breaker at the start of the year - although the wealth of material, discussion points and links mean it could easily fill an entire lesson! Topics covered include: