Wt/L1.1

How to format and plan a formal letter or email for English functional skills.
Word document / template.

Editor’s note
Two very useful editable Word documents – one for a letter, one for an email.
[5/12/17] Minor edits to the formal letter template

I’m using this activity to give learners a writing frame for a piece of creative writing. I want them to really think about purpose of text when they are creating it, so they have to pick the format, style and tone of their work and plan it out.

A set of writing activity cards that are easily differentiated for groups of learners working at a range of levels. Main focus is purpose of text.

Editor’s note
Please share your ideas on suitable objects to use for this really creative task. If you are a registered contributor you can log in and leave a comment – otherwise email me using the Contact us link at the bottom of any page.

A couple of resources for planning a CV.

Firstly, I would check learners understand the term ‘Employability’ and, using the letters in the the word, ask learners to come up with ideas for the personal skills and qualities needed to get a job. For example – E – enthusiastic, energetic, M – motivated, multi-talented …etc. I would then move on to the PPT.

This is a simple activity to get learners used to the concept of writing instructive text. It can be used as an introduction to the topic of ‘Purpose of Text’ and is easily adaptable to different contextualised areas e.g. instructions on how to: hang a door; insert hair rollers; change a tyre; make a bouquet etc.

The activity allows for ease of differentiation between levels, based on your assessment of the output, and works well as a main activity for Entry Level learners, or a fun warm-up for Level 1/2 learners.

A first person autobiographical account of life in outback Australia.
Exercises include comprehension questions using when, where etc.
A revision of past tense verbs – regular and irregular.
A fill the gap using the correct verb tense.
A writing prompt for students to write about themselves – emphasising the use of conjunctions and short paragraphs.
A Wordsearch.
Includes a glossary of Australian words used in the text.

Useful one page hint / planning sheet for writing film reviews. Accompanied by planning / log sheets where learners can record their ideas about the events and characters.
With teaching ideas and full mapping to E3-L2 Functional English (writing).

Four completely different ideas to fire your students’ imaginations and put pens to paper.

Writing and ICT task sheet designed to get reluctant writers to put pen to paper. Ideal for teenagers or anyone with an interest in music/video. Mapped to Functional English / ICT.

Fantasy job lesson plan is a step by step detailed plan based on Jane Harbord’s popular Fantasy Job Project resource submitted in 2008 (see below). Gets students looking at job adverts and discussing what is required by employers. Great for general literacy classes or employment skills groups.