Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

Cut and order word sort based on transport, money and grammar terms.  Tasks and extension tasks on the same sheet. Scissors needed for separating the cards. Works best with students working in pairs.

Editor's notes

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best! With useful extension ideas. Laminate for repeated use. Also handy for Functional English alphabetical order work.

Basic vocabulary word sorts, the first being based on fruit, vegetables and drinks, and the second on places (e.g. town, city), food and animals. Tasks and extension tasks on the same sheet. Scissors needed for separating the cards. Works best with students working in pairs.

Editor's notes

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best! With useful extension ideas. Laminate for repeated use. Also handy for Functional English alphabetical order work

A set of 48 DARTs (directed activities relating to text) that can be stuck onto lolly sticks or used as is to encourage learners of all levels to interact with texts. The sticks are probably best used with realia such as: posters, local leaflets, booklets, instructions, recipes, newspaper/magazine cuttings, business cards, etc. but the resource includes a list of suitable Skillsworkshop texts. 

Most of the sticks are based on the Subject content functional skills (SCFS): English (DfE, February 2018)

This is a basic editable word wheel which you can print, cut out and attach together with a brass paper fastener.
Learners can concentrate on one word at a time. Word wheels can be used for building vocabulary, spelling practice and much more. Suitable for all levels of Functional Skills and ESOL.
Instructions and ideas are included within the PPT. For example:
Stretchy:

• Write positive or negative words in the table
• Look up words that are unfamiliar

Stretchier:

An interactive presentation to explain the meaning of nouns, verbs and adjectives and an accompanying hands-on activity to sort words into nouns, verbs and adjectives. This is good to use early in a course as it is fun and gets learners working in groups,

Two differentiated functional English tasks that involves a number of reading and writing skills (with a bit of maths thrown in!). Learners can personalise this by using names of their own friends and family. For both versions you will need copies of the current Argos book or access to the web site.

Entry 2 version includes: using a catalogue or web site, writing a list & a gift tag, budgeting, writing a note. You will need one gift tag per learner.

A recap game to practise applying knowledge of when to use capital letters. Learners supply names, dates, places and objects to create a mis-matched story.

It could also be used as an icebreaker.

This carousel of Jubilee tasks was hurriedly put together for a group of 10 E1-E3 Functional Maths and English 16-19 year old learners who had just (very successfully!) finished all their Edexcel Functional Skills assessments.

After a year of hard work from my students, the emphasis was on celebration and fun. However, learning objectives included: measuring, counting, writing an email, spelling, 2D shapes, estimating, rounding and working with money. Rough lesson outline also included.

This was designed to be used with a group of dyslexic learners but would be applicable for any learners with spelling difficulties.

I have used this by separating the group into small groups or pairs and then giving each group a different strategy to try with one of the words from the word list (two are provided – one for E2-E3, one for L1-2) or a word of their own that they want to spell.

This is an adapted and expanded version of Jodie Travis’ ‘Hired or Fired’ resource which is of course based on the popular TV show “The apprentice”. I used Jodie’s resource last year with a really big group, getting them to create a poster to ‘sell’ Manchester. I added some more ‘Apprenticey’ bits in, such as getting them to pitch their ideas at the front of the class after they’d made the posters, and it worked really well.