Cut and order word sort based on transport, money and grammar terms. Tasks and extension tasks on the same sheet. Scissors needed for separating the cards. Works best with students working in pairs.
Editor's notes
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best! With useful extension ideas. Laminate for repeated use. Also handy for Functional English alphabetical order work.
Level
Entry Level 1
Entry Level 2
English
FE E2.15 Use 1st & 2nd letters to sequence words alphabetically
ESOL
ESOL Sd/E1.1a Take part in social interaction
ESOL Rw/E1.1a Recognise a limited number of words, signs and symbols
ESOL Rw/E2.2a Recognise a range of familiar words
ESOL Rw/E2.5a Sequence words using basic alphabetical ordering skills
Basic vocabulary word sorts, the first being based on fruit, vegetables and drinks, and the second on places (e.g. town, city), food and animals. Tasks and extension tasks on the same sheet. Scissors needed for separating the cards. Works best with students working in pairs.
Editor's notes
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best! With useful extension ideas. Laminate for repeated use. Also handy for Functional English alphabetical order work
Level
Entry Level 1
Entry Level 2
English
FE E2.15 Use 1st & 2nd letters to sequence words alphabetically
ESOL
ESOL Sd/E1.1a Take part in social interaction
ESOL Rw/E1.1a Recognise a limited number of words, signs and symbols
ESOL Rw/E2.2a Recognise a range of familiar words
ESOL Rw/E2.5a Sequence words using basic alphabetical ordering skills
I put this together when I found so many of my learners trying to hone their employability skills did not know what a lot of the words on job descriptions meant.
Resource 1 (Definition matching cards: job skills and attributes): I laminated these and cut them up and they worked in pairs or threes to match them up.
There are two other linked resources, as below, to help students with getting to grips with the keywords used in Job Descriptions and Person Specifications.
Level
Entry Level 3
Level 1
Level 2
GCSE L1-5
T Levels - embedded maths or English
English
FE E3.11 Use strategies to find meaning of words e.g. dictionary, context, word types
FE L1.17 Read & understand a range of specialist words in context
FE L1.24 Use format, structure & language appropriate for audience & purpose
FE L2.25 Organise writing for different purposes using appropriate format & structure e.g. standard templates, paragraphs, bullet points, tables
ESOL
ESOL: Reading word focus - vocabulary, word recognition, phonics (Rw)
General
Generic resources for literacy, numeracy and beyond
This is a literacy resource based around a recent news story. There are a range of tasks relating to an anti-litter app called ‘littergram’ and legal challenges made to the use of its name, with the potential to extend tasks into other aspects of littering and how the litter problem might be resolved. A final extension task asks students to take their own photographs of local examples of litter as supporting evidence for a writing activity.
Level
Level 2
Level 1
English
Functional English - writing
Functional English - speaking, listening & communicating
Functional English reading
General literacy / English
ICT
Functional Skills ICT: Finding and selecting information
Little starter activity for E2 learners to use odds and evens in a common real life scenario. Could be cut and stick or learners just write in numbers, for a quicker activity.
Students regularly tell me they cannot read bus timetables and just wait for the next one to come along! This activity asks learners to find the most appropriate bus for my journey.
I print the timetables (pages 2-8) out enlarged to A3 and stick them to walls of my classroom.
Update (June 2016)
Answer sheet (and error report for one question) kindly provided by Ray Sheerin and Jay Hall, Aylesbury, Bucks, Adult Learning.
Level
Entry Level 3
Level 1
Maths
AN MSS1/L1.3 Calculate with and convert between units of time
AN MSS1/L1.2 Read & measure time and use timetables
Two differentiated functional English tasks that involves a number of reading and writing skills (with a bit of maths thrown in!). Learners can personalise this by using names of their own friends and family. For both versions you will need copies of the current Argos book or access to the web site.
Entry 2 version includes: using a catalogue or web site, writing a list & a gift tag, budgeting, writing a note. You will need one gift tag per learner.
Photos and pictures to match with accounts of real emergency situations. All in the present tense. All the accounts are true. Accounts can be cut in to strips and given to pairs of learners who can put them in to a sequence to tell a story. Leads to discussion on how we tell a story, and how we sequence sentences to make sense.
Lots of new, real life vocabulary to provoke discussion.
Some stories shorter and simpler than others to allow for differentiation in group.
Level
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 1
English
AL Rt/E2.1 Follow main points of short texts
AL Rt/E1.1 Read short familiar texts
Functional English reading
ESOL
ESOL Rt/E2.1a Use a range of strategies to trace & understand main events
A recap exercise where Functional English learners match the correct aspects of formal letter writing together and lay them out in letter format.
This could be printed out and laminated but I usually give my students a printout of the first pages and they cut out the text boxes and arrange them appropriately. I have included some red herrings such as incorrect text alignment and unsuitable salutations and closures.
I have included my suggestion of the correct layout on the third page.
Level
Level 2
Level 1
English
Functional English - writing
Functional English reading
General literacy / English
ICT
Functional Skills ICT: Developing, presenting and communicating information