This is a selection of literacy tasks, based on the Poppy Appeal 2016 and John McCrae’s poem ‘In Flanders Fields’, covering aspects of speaking and listening, reading and writing.
Editor’s note: covers all aspects of L1-2 Functional English – also suitable for GCSE.
Level
Level 1
Level 2
English
Functional English - writing
Functional English - speaking, listening & communicating
A Bonfire Night themed resource covering some aspects of literacy and numeracy.
The resource contains a basic reading comprehension about the History of Bonfire Night. This is followed by a numeracy activity where students have to buy fireworks for a display with a budget of £300. The final activity is a writing task and learners have to create a poster advertising the event.
I created this for an ILS (independent life skills) class but it could be used with Entry Functional Skills learners too.
A huge and extremely comprehensive pack of resources. Written for ESOL learners but many parts are also suitable for Functional English and/or Job Skills groups. Includes:
A reading comprehension activity, based on an extract from a Guardian article on the value of smart meters. Questions cover the following skills: reading for gist, skimming, scanning, identifying the use of a pronoun, vocabulary matching and inferring. Suitable for Entry 3 – Level 1. Could also be used as a starter activity at Level 2, prior to using the full text of the article for other activities.
A two sided A4 sheet that builds on the identification of verbs and the spelling rules for past tense verbs. This is followed by a simple knowledge check.
It is designed to be used as a whole group lesson starter. It is differentiated in the sense that more able learners will be expected to complete the more complex tasks.
Editor’s note
The vocabulary in the example sentences is aimed at Painting & Decorating students, but the resource is suitable for all.
Level
Entry Level 3
Level 1
Level 2
English
AL Apply strategies to spell correctly
Apply grammar
ESOL
ESOL Writing: word focus - spelling and handwriting (Ww)
ESOL: Writing sentence focus - punctuation and grammar (Ws)
General
Generic resources for literacy, numeracy and beyond
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.
Level
Level 2
Level 1
English
Functional English - writing
Wt/L2.2
Wt/L2.1
Adult Lit Wt/L1.2 Judge how much to write and the level of detail to include
Three sets of dominoes to use in warm-up and for letter and word recognition activities. The first set, for pre-Entry ESOL and Literacy learners with very low levels of letter and word recognition, matches lower case to capital letter versions, the second set is a set of “doubles”, which can be used alongside the first. The third set, for pre-Entry / Entry 1 ESOL learners, matches a category to an example. Each set has 17 dominoes, so 4 each for a group of 4 learners, plus one to start.
Level
M7
M8
Entry Level 1
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 3
English
Rw/E3.2
Rw/E2.1
AL Rw/E1.1 Have limited, meaningful sight vocabulary of words, signs, symbols
Functional English reading
Form filling
Pre-entry
pre-Entry Rw/M8.3 Recognise & read a growing no. of words signs symbols
ESOL
ESOL Rw/E3.2a Read & understand words / phrases commonly used on forms
ESOL Rw/E2.1a Recognise words on forms related to personal information
ESOL Rw/E1.1a Recognise a limited number of words, signs and symbols
An easy word search (downwards and across only – no diagonals of backward-spelt words). Ideal for consolidating a vocabulary lesson on things to bring to class. A first lesson warmer / homework / filler.
Level
M8
Entry Level 1
English
AL Rw/E1.1 Have limited, meaningful sight vocabulary of words, signs, symbols
Pre-entry
pre-Entry Rw/M8.1Recognise letters of the alphabet by shape, name, sound
pre-Entry Rw/M8.3 Recognise & read a growing no. of words signs symbols
ESOL
ESOL Rw/E1.3a Identify letters of alphabet in both upper & lower case
ESOL Rw/E1.2a Use basic sound-letter correspondence to sound out words
ESOL Rw/E1.1a Recognise a limited number of words, signs and symbols
These lesson activities are based on scenes from David Lean’s 1984 film, A Passage to India. Topics relating to culture, integration, separation, race, ethnicity, identity and humanity can easily be raised and discussed via the materials and the film scenes. There are many ways of using this original material and the suggestions are just activities that have worked with L2 and [even] L1 students.