Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

This resource helps learners hear rhymes and recognise corresponding letters/digraphs, rimes and onsets etc. Take simple limericks and poems and get your learners to put them together.

I created my own limericks to match work we had been doing on long vowel sounds (it is not that difficult to do once you get started). Well-known poems and nursery rhymes also proved particularly popular as many knew them already by heart from childhood and some were doing them now with their children.

A practice paper written for Entry 3 Adult Literacy C&G exams at E3 but suitable for, and fully mapped to, Functional English.

All activities are based on a New Year’s Eve theme. The main text and related comprehension questions are about New Year’s Eve superstitions. Other activities include form filling, alphabetical order, dictionary work, planning and writing, and group discussion.

A fabulous City and Guilds style E3 literacy assignment that covers all aspects of E3 speaking and listening, reading and writing (see editor’s note below). Based on a trip to a seaside music festival, it makes a very appealing summer-time revision activity for music fans of any age.

A fabulous City and Guilds style E3 literacy assignment that covers all aspects of E3 speaking and listening, reading and writing (see Editor’s note below). Based on a real trip to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford it is written in a generic style and could be any local museum / art gallery.

The first set of Step 2 stories in the wonderful Readwell Road reading scheme for adults. All stories are written for adults and reflect real-life situations. These three Entry Level 1-2 texts continue the stories introduced in Step 1 books A-C (see below). Ron and Pam’s Post Office may be closed; the continuing saga of Peg at the pub and her man Sam; and poor old Jim, who lives in the bungalow at No. 1, and his bad back.
Also includes teaching ideas, discussion points and activities for one story.

The second set of Step 1 stories in the wonderful Readwell Road reading scheme for adults. All stories are written for adults and reflect real-life situations. These three Entry Level 1 stories introduce the people who live at No. 3. (Wil and Lal, second marriage, 3 kids between them), No. 5 (Helen & Adam, big house, one son who’s not allowed any pets) and No. 7 (Mick & Lin, both work as cooks but their jobs are in danger).
Also includes teaching ideas, discussion points and activities for one story.

The first three stories in the wonderful Readwell Road reading scheme for adults. These three Entry Level 1 stories introduce the people who live at the pub, the shop and at no. 1 (a bungalow).

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.

A really imaginative set of tasks based on written and audio versions of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky. Really encourages creativity and expression.

Questioning for understanding is a really useful help sheet that encourages learners to ask relevant questions (any topic, any level). Based on Kipling’s “What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who” with teaching ideas and useful links.

For a related resource using the same idea to investigate and write newspaper reports please see Ellie Walsh’s Looking at Newspapers (below).