Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

A resource based on a current (Jan 2016) Huffington Post news report about a piece of homework that was sent home for a child to learn which contained incorrect spellings.
Learners are to identify and correct the errors, write a full explanation of their thoughts on the matter and write an appropriate email to the head teacher.

Editor’s note
A wonderful, real-life and very functional task!

A reading comprehension based on the BBC website’s coverage of celebrations around the world.

A resource designed to be used with Abigail Illife’s excellent Plural Spelling rules resource [ see ‘See also’ below].

Learners can practise their proofreading skills and apply the spelling rules. Give learners the first sheet and ask them to highlight the mistakes. As well as spelling mistakes there are capital letters and the US spelling of centre.

A L1/2 Functional English Card match activity. Serves as a tactile supplement/plenary to identifying the contrasts in the tone of language used in factual, opinionated and biased statements.

A L1/L2 Functional English card match resource. Serves as a tactile supplement/plenary for the recognition of text and layout features assessed at Level 1/2. Colour coded to aid learners in organising the columns, this resource allows learners to place the layout feature next to its descriptor and layout effect.

A simplified reading comprehension based on the origins of Halloween with accompanying questions.
Two versions: one for E2 – low E3, another for high E3 – L1.

A movable PowerPoint that can be used as a starter, revision, recap, group activity, etc. Covering ALL FOUR purposes: INFORMATIVE, INSTRUCTIVE, PERSUASIVE and DESCRIPTIVE. Can be used in conjunction with the ‘comparison table’ which contains the same information in the simple and quick reference table (see my other resources).

Reading comprehension based on a BBC website report of New Year round the world. The first part requires specific answers (i.e. Shanghai rather than China) to require learners to think about their answers rather than copy out general lumps of text. The second part asks higher level, more analytical questions.
I am using as an introductory topic to New Year sessions.

Editor’s note
A simplified E2 version of this resource is now available – scroll down to See also.

Editor’s note
Updated Sept 17. Errors corrected and minor layout changes.

A handout and exercise sheets for using direct and reported speech. Gives several example of each and the exercises work by switching the same message between direct and reported speech.

I have used this as a speaking/listing exercise as well as writing for grammar/punctuation. Target group is really L1 /L2 but can work well with high E3 too.

A railway safety PowerPoint to be used as a discussion on why we need to stay safe around railway lines. Can be used as a speaking and listening tool to form discussion points or as a reading comprehension.