Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

A mini-workscheme and accompanying worksheets for use with the Quick Read (Chiller Livewire) book Crazy Jack by Brandon Robshaw.
Develops skills in reading, comprehension, discussion, word and text identification and writing.

Editor’s note
March 2016 minor edit to title – no other changes

This integrated set of worksheet tasks develops speaking, listening & communication; reading and writing skills in relation to a topic of individual interest to the learner and also encourages independent research and planning.

This is a simple activity to get learners used to the concept of writing instructive text. It can be used as an introduction to the topic of ‘Purpose of Text’ and is easily adaptable to different contextualised areas e.g. instructions on how to: hang a door; insert hair rollers; change a tyre; make a bouquet etc.

The activity allows for ease of differentiation between levels, based on your assessment of the output, and works well as a main activity for Entry Level learners, or a fun warm-up for Level 1/2 learners.

This is an exercise designed to have learners find particular information in a table. They then have to enter some information on circuit details forms – they also have to use an atlas or similar to identify the correct national flag for each circuit.

This is a popular resource for all-male classes where they already may have an interest in Formula One. It can make a great classroom display as well. As an extension, they have “plotted” the circuits on a blank world map, which helps for general knowledge/geography.

This resource arose from a conversation with a learner who had lost their debit card a number of times in the cash machine because they couldn’t read the screen fast enough.

I used it by discussing each of the screens with learners and then having them work through the reading text and the accompanying exercises. Even better, if you have access to the internet, you can show different images of ATM screens and discuss them.

Simplified texts and DARTS activities with follow up writing tasks at E1 and E2.
Based on material from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website http://hmd.org.uk/
Prior to completing the reading and writing tasks the class listened to a podcast of a survivor talking about their experiences.The material from both the listening activity (http://hmd.org.uk/resources/podcasts/i-was-there)

Here are a set of worksheets for use with learners based around fire safety. The vocabulary included are types of fire extinguisher and types of fire. The first sheet is a wordsearch, the second features anagrams, and the third sheet is a blank learning check to see how much learners remember.

I thought people would be interested in this resource. I have used it a lot, particularly with Entry students, to get them used to using a dictionary and to practise the different types of words. It also helps them practise alphabetical order.

This is used to practise writing sentences in a format that is similar to those used for E2 Functional Skills writing assessments.
It includes a checklist for sentences and a reminder to use conjuntions. I use it after teaching the basics of sentences and conjunctions in order to give an opportunity to practise for the writing assessment. Three different tasks (note, email, complaint) plus a blank for your own task ideas.

A set of reading and writing activities to accompany Readwell Road book 2A Will the Shop Shut?. You will also need need to download book 2A (scroll down to See also)

Readwell Road adult reading scheme books have been a great hit since they first appeared on skillsworkshop in 2010. Site contributor Linda has now gone on and independently published the complete set of 48 books. Linda has recently produced sets of photocopiable activity books to accompany all the stories in Steps 1 and 2.