Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

A game of language feature bingo, with answers, for L1 and L2 learners.

Editor's notes

I love this! A simple idea perfectly executed (and easily adapted or added to).
Note that although this is a PPT resource you do not need PPT to use it in the classroom.

Why are names important? What can we learn from them?

Slides for L1 and L2 English learners to find out more about the importance of names while building their English skills. (For example: vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation, research, discussion and a mini writing task).

Editor's notes

Ideal as an ice breaker at the start of the year - although the wealth of material, discussion points and links mean it could easily fill an entire lesson! Topics covered include:

This activity can be used as an icebreaker or as resource when teaching about 3rd person agreement in the present tense.  

Learners ask 'Do you ..... ?' and use the answers in the box to complete the question however after the Tutor's monitoring they should realise that the answer form cannot be used for the question form.  

The questionnaire has 16 boxes but according to time and size of class, it can be reduced by folding the questionnaire so only 8 questions are used instead.  

4 Oct 2017. Updated information on source material added

A reading activity on legal age limits in different parts of the UK. Includes: education, voting, driving, marriage and work. Based on materials at: http://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/learners/uk-life/be-safe-uk/what…

Three sets of dominoes to use in warm-up and for letter and word recognition activities. The first set, for pre-Entry ESOL and Literacy learners with very low levels of letter and word recognition, matches lower case to capital letter versions, the second set is a set of “doubles”, which can be used alongside the first. The third set, for pre-Entry / Entry 1 ESOL learners, matches a category to an example. Each set has 17 dominoes, so 4 each for a group of 4 learners, plus one to start.

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 is a resource for mixed ability groups. It can act as an ice breaker and will help students ot think about word choice and context. It is useful in writing sessions.

This can be played by 4 or more players. If you have more than 8, you may want to print out the “things” cards twice.

This is a combination of speaking & listening, note taking & writing, that I have used successfully as an ice breaker with new groups. It involves learners talking to several people and finding out about their food likes & dislikes (plus allergies, religious considerations etc) before planning a menu for a dinner party. The menu must be acceptable to all the guests! Finally each learner produces their menu presented in a conventional style.

A mingling exercise to get students talking to one another. Great as an induction activity for new classes or for ESOL learners to practise speaking and listening.

This task was originally used for Functional Skills although it can be applied just as effectively to literacy sessions. The task aims to encourage learners to work in small groups to discuss what each phrase really means and therefore explore the different interpretations that other people have of them. Also makes a good ice breaker. Includes proverb cards, answer sheet and worksheet.