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)

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.  

This resource is based on the DfES ESOL Skills for Life recording 'Changes interview 1'. It gives exam practice questions (C&G style) in the first section and in the second section an activity to enable learners to tune in to the sounds of English. The first section can be completed in class and the second at home or the whole sheet can be given for homework. Listening development at home enables learners to listen as often as they wish and tune in until they hear the text more clearly.

This resource is based on the DfES ESOL Skills for Life recording 'Phoning about symptoms'. It gives exam practice questions (C&G style) in the first section and in the second section an activity to enable learners to tune in to the sounds of English. The first section can be completed in class and the second at home or the whole sheet can be given for homework. Listening development at home enables learners to listen as often as they wish and tune in until they hear the text more clearly.

Delightful reading and writing tasks based on a very short text originally written for a motorbike-loving learner who had difficulties decoding and distinguishing between long and short vowel sounds. Includes comprehension questions and spelling / punctuation tasks. Fully mapped to the reformed Entry 1 Functional English content. This includes detailed phonic breakdown of the reading text.

Here are few things on cooking verbs and recipes for E1-E2 ESOL and Entry Level 1 Functional English classes. Includes reading, spelling and saying the letters of the alphabet. Includes a recipe for pancakes but useful at any time of year.

Editor's notes

Fully mapped to the new Reformed Functional English content.

A set of Functional English tasks that underpin the revised Functional Skills English content, 2018 [1].  Resources will be released gradually (as they are written!) from Oct 21st until Nov 11th 2018. All tasks are based on one or more texts from a graduated set of seven, all focusing on the 2018 Armistice Centenary commemorations. Five sets of tasks, based on Texts A, B, C, D and E are now available.