Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

The need for deliberate teaching of phonemic awareness, and a means of doing this.
A research paper followed by a useful step by step method.

Find out and record everyone’s favorites from a diverse list of foods. Use as an icebreaker in any Entry Level literacy, numeracy, Functional Skills or ESOL lesson.

Also ties in well with lessons on diversity, healthy eating, collecting data, making / taking simple surveys, tallies, counting, asking questions, etc.

Mapped to Functional Maths and SfL adult numeracy, Functional English (speaking, listening and communication) and SfL adult literacy.

A starter activity for age 16+ . Guaranteed to engage and enthuse learners from Entry Level 1 to Level 2. Students should make a note of each of the new words and then decide which one (out of 9) has not been added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
It can prompt discussions on the words and learners can give their opinion on what they may mean.

A set of posters / cards / checklists designed to prompt discussion, check learning and keep a record of student progression. Designed for Entry Level Functional Maths and English learners in an FE setting but suitable for all levels and subjects.
This resource was inspired by discussion on the NCETM (National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics) site about “understanding versus doing” and I would like to thank the forum members for their ideas and feedback.

My Entry Level SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) Marking Sheet is a simple tick sheet that can be used by students to check each other’s work for spelling and grammar errors. Helpful for encouraging groups of learners to ‘peer assess’ and also reinforces what to look for when proofreading work.

The sheet is a simplified version of the spelling and grammar skills covered in the Entry Functional Skills English Standards. It includes space for comments and also indicates which skills relate to each of the Entry levels via straightforward indices.

How ‘flash’ presentation of social sight vocabulary proved to be motivating. The technique is described and some thoughts about why it seems to have such positive effects on several different levels are offered, and feedback sought.

A student friendly resource. Uses the Functional Skills English Skills Standards / Coverage and Range information to keep track of students’ progress.

Three separate 3-page documents to track success in reading, writing, and speaking – listening – communication.

Looking at Newspapers is a wonderful example of creative differentiated teaching across all levels (E1-L2). A detailed lesson description, resources and introductory PPT are included. The lesson uses Kipling’s “What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who” to help students analyse newspaper reports and interview other students, or their teacher, to create their own reports.

Supercars (including the President’s Cadillac, and an Aston Martin with an ejector seat) consists of two detailed, differentiated E1-E2 2.5 hr lesson plans complete with resources.
Includes reading and writing sentences (matching cars to scenarios), alphabet, spelling/phonics, discussion and much more.

A great Entry Level ice-breaker or warm-up activity. Students must circulate and question other class members in order to complete the bingo grid. Also provides a good lead in to sentence work. Covers many speaking and listening elements (asking and answering questions, giving personal information, etc.).