Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

A double lesson Power Point with Level 1 and Level 2 reading and writing questions. The lesson explores the controversy around violent music and the relationship between music and behaviour. You Tube links  add detail and context to the debate in an engaging and thought provoking way. Lesson 1 focuses on the Reading exam with Level 1 and Level 2 questions that can be displayed on the board to reduce printing. Texts A and B explore the two sides of Drill music and its influence on young people.

Updated Apr 19 2024 (corrections made to pages 1&3 of the main PDF and page 2 of "Your Budget")

This resources uses the Spring 2024 budget and makes it accessible for learners on L1 and L2 English courses. The resource gives them the budget break down and some comprehension questions based on L1 and L2 reading exams. 

Learners are then asked to design their own budget and think about why they would give money to certain areas outlined in the budget. 

March 23 2024 - please note this is a new upload with different contributor details to the earlier version of this resource. With sincere apologies to the correct contributor Claire. Discussion, reading and writing tasks for Level 1-2 Functional Skills English. Very topical as lots of people have tattoos now. 

Topic: Fitness and giving opinions on a Joe Wicks fitness app after watching a video clip.

Uses NCFE spec for task 1 in listening and speaking exam. Teacher created content following NCFE guidance documents. I hope it is accurate and welcome feedback in case this does not represent the criteria. 

Created for a student who needs a lot of support around speaking and listening. Can be adapted to much freer discussion with more cognitively able students. 

Editor's note

An extract from Phoenix by SF Said with AQA exam-style questions (Q1-Q4) for GCSE English Language Paper One. 

Editor's notes

Another fab set of GCSE reading question from Matthew Ruddle with, as usual, a marvellous choice of text. Each question includes useful hints making this resource ideal for revision, practice or private study / homework. 

Phoenix is SF Said's third book.  All three books have been awarded or shortlisted for various children's literature awards.

Read a speech about learning to swim. Then plan and write your own speech encouraging teens to have a positive body image and follow a healthy life style.

Editor's note

I'm so pleased to see this resource as we have very few (only one other - I think!) speech writing resources and this format can and does occur in writing assessment at Levels 1 and 2 Functional Skills English. 

Read adapted texts about the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree.  Tasks cover vocabulary and dictionary work, informal language, idioms and language work.

Editor's notes

Two page text from two BBC News articles that has been cleverly  adapted to focus on recognising and understanding typical features of informal text such as slang, contractions, idioms and hyperbole. Further questions cover general comprehension and inference.

There's also a question that can be used as a discussion prompt or a short writing task.

AQA Paper 2-style exam questions and non-fiction extracts. One extract is taken from Sinead O'Connor's memoir "Rememberings" (2021) and the other is from Stephen Hough's memoir "Enough: scenes from Childhood" (2023). In the real exam, Source B is always a 19th Century text, but here I've used another contemporary text, so that learners can more easily practice the exam skills of comparing two pieces of writing. In these extracts, both writers reflect upon the first time they encountered a piano.

Two add-on tasks for Susanne Jones's E3-L1 Hobbies and Free Time resource.

1. Plan and deliver a 3 minute presentation for a recruitment fair, encouraging attendees to sign up for a course at Hanley College.
2. Write an article about Hanley College for your local newspaper.

Editor's notes

For students struggling to learn the alphabet. It is an Alphabet Arc with further practice pages that have an increasing number of blanks to fill in. It is designed to be given out as one page at a time, to help in memorising it. I encourage my students to write out the alphabet on their exam paper, to avoid them making avoidable errors in the alphabetical order questions. 

Editor's note