Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

Fourteen questions related to Remembrance Day (topics include WW1, WW2 ration books,  Korean War, war poetry, etc.). Use as a traditional paper-based quiz or an IT based investigation. Learners could work individually or in teams / small groups. One way of approaching the quiz would be to see what the class as a whole can answer from their general knowledge befor

I have had feedback from people using the Big Brother PDF discussion worksheet (see link below – under see also) but without any pictures! The fun part of the session (and for it to really work) is to show the students the people they have chosen: this generates plenty of discussion about prejudice and stereotyping. So, here are the 20 pictures to match to each description given in the earlier resource. (You should feel free to edit and adapt according to the demographics / prejudices / preconceptions of own students).

This is a literacy resource based around a recent news story. There are a range of tasks relating to an anti-litter app called ‘littergram’ and legal challenges made to the use of its name, with the potential to extend tasks into other aspects of littering and how the litter problem might be resolved. A final extension task asks students to take their own photographs of local examples of litter as supporting evidence for a writing activity.

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.

20 literacy and numeracy questions to warm up the new term! All based on the words HAPPY NEW YEAR (can easily be adapted for other festivals such a Diwali, New Year’s Eve or Ramadan). Covers vowels, consonants, number, ratios, simple substitution, range, mode and more!
Ideal for mixed ability groups (E1-L2). Also provides very good practice in reading instructions carefully.
For higher level groups it could be completed in teams as a speed test.

Some games to play with literacy or Functional English groups for revision.
Ideal for Entry 3-Level 2

Editor’s note
The students make the games, play them and then discuss them. A great combination!

This is a great session starter. Students will work on their sentence construction and vocabulary with a card game that allows them to experiment with word order and effective word choice. Students have to put the words into a sensible order, even if the subject of their film is far from sensible.

In this game, students compete to make the scariest film title, or to sabotage other people’s film titles. It is a light hearted and fun game. The film titles created can also become writing prompts.

This is great as a warm-up activity or a bit of end-of-term fun. It is suitable for a mixed ability group of numeracy learners, or indeed literacy or ESOL learners. This quiz tests learners’ knowledge of how old someone has to be in order to do certain things legally, e.g. be a blood donor. It can be used in small group or pair work (which worked well for me) as well as individually.

A recap exercise where Functional English learners match the correct aspects of formal letter writing together and lay them out in letter format.

This could be printed out and laminated but I usually give my students a printout of the first pages and they cut out the text boxes and arrange them appropriately. I have included some red herrings such as incorrect text alignment and unsuitable salutations and closures.

I have included my suggestion of the correct layout on the third page.

Students design a board game to demonstrate their learning. This can incorporate IT skills (Word template provided below) or can be done with paper, card and pens.

I originally did this with an E2E group and it proved popular. It’s an alternative to the “design a poster” task to review learning. The instructions are set out as a board game. it can be used for literacy, numeracy, ICT or ESOL.