Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

Supportive table mat designed for those re-sitting writing at L1 and L2.

Editor's note

Short, succinct and useful :) 

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)

An A5 handout resource that acts as scaffolding for learners during the writing process at L1 and L2. The handout includes a proof-reading checklist, handy hints and tips and quick reminders of the elements of writing they must remember to include to ensure success. 

Editor's note

Beautiful and incredibly useful. 

A visually appealing double-sided A4 handout to aid L1 and L2 learners in their revision of language features and organisational features they will need to know for Edexcel FS exams.

Editor's note

Just beautiful! And very useful for end of year consolidation and revision.

I put this together when I found so many of my learners trying to hone their employability skills did not know what a lot of the words on job descriptions meant. 

Resource 1 (Definition matching cards: job skills and attributes): I laminated these and cut them up and they worked in pairs or threes to match them up.

There are two other linked resources, as below, to help students with getting to grips with the keywords used in Job Descriptions and Person Specifications. 

Short sets of words for alphabetic sorting.   These can be used with literacy or ESOL learners.  I found they worked well at the beginning of each session while learners were still arriving into the class.  They work well as individual or pairs exercises.

The first set works best when each list is cut up and laminated as individual words in each group, so learners can sort them kinaesthetically.  

A reading comprehension exercise differentiated Entry Level 2 and Entry Level 3 Functional Skills English. 

Based on an article from Spring 2020 about finding wild plants in towns.  Designed for a mixed ability class so that everyone could be working on the same theme.  [An E1 version is also available]. Questions cover almost all E2 and E3 FS Reading criteria and allow for practice in sentence writing as well as comprehension.

A set of  Entry Level 1 Functional English tasks based on an article from Spring 2020 about finding wild plants in towns. Designed for a mixed ability class so that everyone could be working on the same theme. [An E2-3 version is also available]. Includes multiple choice comprehension questions; sentence writing, punctuation and alphabetical order questions; and speaking and listening activities.