Functional English reading

A set of six linked, differentiated texts about Halloween, with associated writing assessments.
Two texts for each Entry Level: an email, a party invitation, a recipe, instructions for a Halloween game, a contents page, and a newspaper article. Writing tasks include an informal note, an email, form filling, a formal letter and a report for a village newsletter.

A Level 1 reading task based on a BBC news article about problems with London’s Victorian sewers.
It focuses on text types, reading for gist and detail, vocab building and personal responses.

Editor’s note
With Functional Skills mapping.

Literacy – aimed at Level 1-2 and links to imaginative writing at GCSE.
Quirky fun starter – find your pirate name. This can be done on mobile phones if there are no PCs.
Comprehension tasks.
After finding the King’s shilling, write descriptive letter home.

A topical summer solstice resource. A bit of reading comprehension based on a general article about the solstice which includes some embedded maths. This is followed by another short article with further comprehension questions and two associated writing tasks: one at L1/L2 and one at E3 (the latter a bit wacky!).

This teaching and assessment resource combines reading comprehension and a letter writing task based on an advert for a volunteer role as a Customer Service Assistant for a charity shop.

In Task 1, students read the job advert and answer questions to check their understanding. In Task 2, they make notes about their personal skills and qualities, then draft and write a letter to apply for the volunteer role. An additional, extension task is provided for students who either work at a faster pace or at a higher level, and involves writing a personal statement for a college course.

A short, contextual news article with associated comprehension and two writing tasks (a Facebook message and a formal letter).

Editor’s note
With answers and detailed curriculum mapping.

4 Oct 2017. Updated information on source material added

A reading activity on legal age limits in different parts of the UK. Includes: education, voting, driving, marriage and work. Based on materials at: http://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/learners/uk-life/be-safe-uk/what…

This resource has a range of activities to help students learn useful expressions/ language to make a complaint.
It is useful in building confidence in making complaints in person and on the telephone.

Editor’s note
Includes sample dialogue with questions (can also be used as a reading comprehension), matching cards, sammple scenarios, curriculum mapping and teaching notes.

This resource is a writing task which asks the learners to use relevant literary devices (languages features) to compose a ‘For Sale’ ad for a house.

Prior to commencing the task, the learners are made aware of the following devices using a card match activity:

• Flattery
• Opinion
• Hyperbole
• Personal Pronouns
• Imperative Command
• Triples
• Emotive Language
• Statistics and Figures
• Rhetorical Questions
• Repetition

A reading comprehension based on information taken from the Red Nose Day website.
Created for a group of mixed ability E2-L1 students.