Contextual Resources

A trip to the cinema is an interactive narrative that follows family as they select a film to see (skimming and scanning), catch the bus (buying a ticket), ask for directions to the cinema, buy cinema tickets and snacks!
Provides prompts, dialogue scripts, maps and other ideas for speaking and listening work. Ideal for revision or recapping after student have covered buying things, giving directions, asking for information, etc.
Please read the notes area on slide 1 of this PPT for teaching ideas, curriculum links, etc.

Buying a ticket provides prompts, dialogue scripts and other ideas for speaking and listening work, along with reading practice (obtaining information from texts). Covers football, cinema, bus and train tickets.
Originally used with the DfES ESOL E1 Skills for Life materials (Unit 4 – Local Transport, page 11 – Buying a ticket) but can be used alone. http://rwp.excellencegateway.org.uk/readwriteplus/Learning_Materials_ES…

Buildings provides group spelling and vocabulary practice along with ideas for speaking practice. Look at the picture, then type the spelling into the box (ideal with a cordless keyboard) before checking the correct spelling with a mouse click.
Examples include castle, palace, windmill, Big Ben, bungalow and more.
Originally used with the DfES ESOL E1 Skills for Life materials (Unit 7 – Homes) but can be used alone. Please read the notes area on slide 1 of this PPT for teaching ideas, curriculum links, etc.

Problems in the home PPT provides group spelling and vocabulary practice along with ideas for speaking practice. Look at the pictures, discuss what the people do (electricians, gas engineers, plumbers, etc.) and the problems they fix. Then type the correct spelling into the box (ideal with a cordless keyboard) before checking the correct spelling with a mouse click. Finish with some skimming and scanning practice using related information from the Yellow Pages.

Buying clothes provides group vocabulary work along with many ideas for speaking practice. Please read the notes area on slide 1 of the PPT for teaching ideas, curriculum links, etc.
Covers buying a t-shirt (can be used with separate dialogue/clothes cards available below as PDF file), laundry symbols, UK shoe and clothes sizes, fabric patterns.

Problem Page is a great way to encourage paired reading, writing and discussion skills. Students discuss a typical problem from a tabloid newspaper page and then, in pairs, work on different problems and how they would solve them. For Entry 3, L1/2 ESOL and Literacy.

Yesterday’s World text (about an attraction in Sussex) and related phonics activities based on the two sounds of the digraph /th/. Includes word sorting, cloze, crossword.

Originally written for a mixed level Literacy and ESOL group.

Two resources based on ‘Little Britain’: aimed at teenage students but can be adapted for other groups. The introductory PPT cleverly introduces the idea of formality/informality by looking at dress codes, ‘chavs’ and Vicky Pollard from Little Britain! Then moves on to give good examples of formal/informal language and slang.
The accompanying PDF file includes: matching slang to more formal language, writing definitions of slang that you use, listening activities using the Little Britain Audio CD.