Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

A mingling exercise to get students talking to one another. Great as an induction activity for new classes or for ESOL learners to practise speaking and listening.

Page 1: 8 maths questions relating to olympic torch
Page 2: Picture quiz: who is carrying the torch?
Page 3: Picture quiz: famous UK landmarks.
Page 4: UK cities – anagrams
Page 5: Answers

• Quizzes on pages 2 and 3 make good ice breakers and can also be used for SL&C discussion prompts.

This task was originally used for Functional Skills although it can be applied just as effectively to literacy sessions. The task aims to encourage learners to work in small groups to discuss what each phrase really means and therefore explore the different interpretations that other people have of them. Also makes a good ice breaker. Includes proverb cards, answer sheet and worksheet.

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 wonderful kinaesthetic card matching game designed to help learners remember when to use capital letters.

The game comprises 52 picture cards (26 proper nouns, 26 common nouns) and [img_assist|nid=4758|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=100|height=58]26 double ended upper-lowercase dominoes. It not only reinforces knowledge of capital letters but also is a good speaking and listening activity. Learners often debate what or who the picture is and where it needs to go.

Students must circulate and question other class members in order to complete the bingo grid. Makes a great ice-breaker or warm-up activity. Also makes a good lead in to sentence work.
Aapted from Heidi Griffin’s original version (see below), this new version is differentiated for a slightly higher level learner group and includes sentences to be completed by the learner. Covers many speaking & listening elements (asking & answering questions, giving personal information, etc.).

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.).

A great set of ice breaker quizzes for all levels. 6 options. Can you write down a song for each letter of the alphabet? Or a food, film, TV programme, famous person, etc.
Students could be given a different quiz sheet each and be encouraged to wander round and ask other students to help fill the gaps. Alternatively students could work in teams – the first team to complete an entire sheet wins!