Contextual Resources

An activity to introduce the past simple form by reading about Christmas. Read about Christmas in the present and past tense then identify regular and irregular and past simple verbs. Introduces students to past tense and also familiarises them with British Christmas traditions.

Editor's note

Wonderful! I love the simplicity yet usefulness of this resource.

Role play prompts for higher beginners (could be amended for E1). 

Volunteering for a green space community charity.

Editor's note

Another great set of role play prompts from Jenny. Visit her page to find further sets.

Reading paper for L2 on The Cost of Living Crisis. Current topic and uses L2 reading exam paper format from Edexcel, Pearson. 

Editor's notes

Another fabulous and very relevant practice exam from Steph! Written Edexcel-style but very useful practice or revision for any awarding organisation. The mark sheet (also in Edexcel style) will be available shortly (for resource contributors only). Please visit  Answer sheets for more information and to check when it is available.

A set of tasks to practise reading and writing skills. Read about a student and his work and college life.

• Practise using conjunctions.
• Learn synonyms
• Practise using punctuation correctly.
• Write about your own experience of studying and working

Editor's notes

So practical and down to earth! Find out about Joseph's day to day college life and his busy job with Deliveroo. Also very useful for E2-E3 Functional Skills English students.

A huge set of resources for E1-E2 reading, writing and SLC.

Can be used as revision, the core of two or more lessons (the writing tasks would make a good lesson on their own - there are four tasks, two for each level) or for assessment. Optional marks and detailed mapping is provided and many, but not all, questions are exam-style. 

This exercise can be used in several different ways.  The cost of living crisis has hit everyone and this one pot pasta dish can save on gas/electric by making everything in one pan.  The main idea is to cost the ingredients as it is, but then think of alternatives to the original recipe. Then if you double the recipe up, how much are you saving by buying 500g of mince?  How much are you saving by buying a 4 pack tin of tomatoes?  Look at the different prices of dried pasta.  Look at how much frozen mince is.  This is about converting g - kg too.

A short workbook I created to 'test the maths water' before teaching maths to a group of adult and young ESOL learners. It covers almost everything in the Entry Level 1 curriculum with exam style tasks/ questions  linked to C&G Functional Skills Maths assessments.

I usually use it with groups as a gentle introduction to the idea of maths and it forms a good diagnostic for the things they need to learn. It also lets me see how motivated they are to study maths!

Editor's notes

An Australian version (i.e. uses A$, Australian vocabulary and minimum wage details, etc.) of the popular Stash the Cash written by Andy Morrell in 2010. In addition to currency changes this version also includes an extra version of the calculations table and other changes. For example,  the table on page 3 has extra columns to make the mathematical operations explicit and to allow students to practise writing mathematical “sentences”.

Additional DARTs (directed activities related to text) developed to be used with the My Busy Day/Housework  E1/2 reading text written by Laurence Fletcher in 2010 and further adaptations by Nafisah Graham-Brown in 2012.

Editor's notes

 Three delightful E1 worksheets with a focus on sentence structure (rearranging sentences and splitting sentences up into individual words).

A short poem on the theme of jobs and careers.  Can be used as a reading and pronunciation exercise or may be extended to include a discussion around jobs, ambitions and qualifications.  Can also be used as a basis for written work.

Editor's notes

Super for many levels and situations - includes a list of suggested questions/prompts.