Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

Students fill in the blanks using the words given, and then they can use them in their own sentences. Very common words that I notice my students have trouble with.

This is a news article about the death of Whitney Houston followed by a series of questions which ask the reader to decide whether statements in the artice are true, false or inferred.

I have used it with several groups of adult learners who were working towards Edexcel level 2 Functional Skills. They really enjoyed discussiong the article. I did make an answer sheet but I changed it so many times in the light of discussion with different groups that I decided it was best to let them make up their own minds.

Brief descriptions of the main parts of a sentence to help understand the vocabulary of grammar.

Editor’s note
A very useful handout for students at several levels.

These resources were created to support learners in developing knowledge of spelling rules.

Handout 1 can be used to support learners who struggle with spelling words with an interior /ks/ sound, such as access and excess.

Handout 2 can be used to support learners who struggle with spelling words that start with PER and PRE.

A worksheet designed to draw together all the features which identify different types of documents or texts such as emails, webpages, letters and leaflets.

I designed this a recap and to create a revision document for my learners doing Functional Skills English at Levels 1 & 2.

A useful game I created to help my students understand and recognise different types of documents. It is particularly useful as a plenary. I first used it several years ago in an observed lesson, and the game was highly complimented!

Editor’s note
With extensive instructions, differentiation ideas and full Functional English mapping.

Based on an hilarious Comics Relief YouTube clip. A great way to get students to look at conversations in speaking and listening or to look at humour, irony and sarcasm.

You can vary the questions or just use them as a discussion prompt. I have found it works well with lower level learners and with higher ones as well. Even students who don’t like the shows or the people will have some comments

A classic anonymous poem that has the correct spelling but the wrong words.

Read the poem aloud to your students before they have sight of it. Then give them page 1 of the work sheet.

Many of these common spellings used to crop up regularly in the former Level 1 literacy tests. They will also be useful for Level 1 and Level 2 Functional Skills students.

They have been categorised to make learning more manageable for learners, but some spellings will fit into more than one group.

Seven proof reading exercises that can be used as warm ups or as a main teaching focus. Each text includes spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Two of the exercises also include paragraphing practice.