Reading comprehension

One or more texts accompanied by questions and/or other activities

Series of L2 tasks based on an article from the BBC News website written after England left the World Cup 2010 competition.
This is a complicated text. The exercises include a comprehension, identifying spelling mistakes and a vocabulary task. There is also a short writing task.

Level
Level 2
English
Adult Literacy: writing composition (Wt)
Rt/L2.4 Read an argument and identify the points of view
Rt/L2.3 Identify the main points and specific detail
Rt/L2.1 Trace and understand the main events of continuous descriptive, explanatory and persuasive texts
AL Recognise and understand a range of words
Context
Sport and fitness
News, Politics & Government items

The third book of Step 4 stories in the wonderful Readwell Road reading scheme for adults. All stories are written for adults and reflect real-life situations.

This story is aimed at Entry 3 readers and continues the story of Jim and Nan people introduced in Steps 1 to 3 (for Entry 1 and 2 readers) – see below for links to these stories.

In this story Jim and Nan finally get the help they need in their garden – but all is not what it seems!

Level
Entry Level 3
English
Ws/E3.4
Ws/E3.3
Rt/E3.8
Rt/E3.7
AL Rt/E3.1 Understand longer texts
Rs/E3.3
Fiction
General literacy / English
Adult Literacy: Reading

A comprehension exercise in response to the earthquake and consequent tsunami in Japan. To be used along with research tasks or discussion.

Introduce the lesson with a discussion about the events surrounding the earthquake and some BBC footage.

The students need to be given the information without the questions to encourage them to read fully – this is not a scanning exercise. Then, when they have finished reading they can answer the questions, either in short on the sheet or in full on separate paper – differentiate accordingly.

Level
Level 1
Entry Level 3
English
Functional English - writing
Rw/L2.1
Rw/L1.3
Rt/L1.3
AL Rt/L1.1 Understand continuous texts
Functional English reading
Context
News, Politics & Government items

A comprehension exercise based on an amusing newspaper article of the same name. Questions cover purpose of text, vocabulary, punctuation and summarising.

Level
Level 2
Level 1
English
Rt/L2.8
AL Rt/L1.1 Understand continuous texts
General literacy / English

A recently designed resource that I wanted to share with my fellow skillsworkshop users. I wanted something to use with my learners as a spelling lesson. I have tried to involve various activities to help motivate and keep interest whilst learning spellings.

Resource includes a cloze exercise, comprehension questions, homophones and plurals, and a final crossword to check skills.

Level
Level 1
Entry Level 3
English
Prefixes, suffixes & plurals
AL Ww/L1.1 Spell & use spelling strategies
AL Rt/L1.1 Understand continuous texts
AL Rt/E3.1 Understand longer texts
AL Ww/E3.2 Use phonic knowledge to help spelling
Homophones, homographs & confusables
Context
History, culture, museums, libraries
Catering Food Nutrition

A set of comprehension questions, together with vocabulary exercises, anagrams and a writing prompt.
Useful for those working towards Level 2 Certificate in Adult Literacy and anyone with an interest in word origins and English linguistics.
All based on an article from the BBC News website www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10776581
See below for links to other Level 2 exercises.

Level
Level 2
English
Word origins
AL Rt/L1.1 Understand continuous texts
Rt/L2.3 Identify the main points and specific detail
Rt/L2.4 Read an argument and identify the points of view
AL Rw/L2.3 Vocabulary (language features, synonyms, formality)
Wt/L2.2
Context
History, culture, museums, libraries

A literacy resource for learners to find words containing long A sounds made by different digraphs. This resource was written as a pairs activity although it can equally be an individual one. There are four pieces of texts each using words containing predominantly one particular digraph – ai, ey, ay, or eigh. Learners can then search for other long A sounds formed from different clusters within the same text. Peer marking and plenary extend the learning.

Level
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 3
English
Rs/E2.2 Use sentence structure to decipher and predict meaning
AL Rt/E3.1 Understand longer texts
Rw/E3.5
Rw/E2.3
Rw/E3.3

A multi-functional resource for Literacy or Numeracy. Sample TV listings by day, programme, start and end times, channel and genre. Use for alphabetic or numeric sorting, skimming and scanning exercises, literacy social sight vocabulary for days of the week, numeracy exercises for calculating time, etc. This resource contains some sample exercise questions to use which can be developed further according to need. I laminated the sheets and then cut up into days so lower level learners can move the elements around. Higher level learners can work from the whole page sheets as well.

Level
Entry Level 1
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 3
Level 1
English
Rt/E2.3
Rt/E3.7
Rw/E3.4
AL Rw/E1.1 Have limited, meaningful sight vocabulary of words, signs, symbols
Maths
AN MSS1/E3.3
AN MSS1/L1.2 Read & measure time and use timetables
AN MSS1/L1.3 Calculate with and convert between units of time
General
Generic resources for literacy, numeracy and beyond
Context
Art Film Media Music Radio TV

A reading activity based on a topical news story that is bound to prompt class discussion! Includes comprehension and vocabulary questions.

Level
Level 1
English
Adult literacy: reading comprehension (Rt)
Adult Literacy: Reading at word level (phonics & vocabulary)
Context
Sport and fitness

A varied set of tasks based on two popular Quick Read titles: Chickenfeed by Minette Walters
and Murder in Catcher’s Wood by Paul Horsman (in the Sun Book of Short Stories). Includes comprehension questions, paragraphing, punctuation and writing ideas. Wonderful for encouraging the reading of fiction.
More Quick Read resources at:
http://www.readingagency.org.uk/adults/quickreads/

Level
Level 2
Level 1
Entry Level 3
English
Fiction
General literacy / English
Adult Literacy: Reading