General Resources

The need for deliberate teaching of phonemic awareness, and a means of doing this.
A research paper followed by a useful step by step method.

This is a fun, short warm up activity to energise learners at the start of the lesson. It asks students to make a decision on a question and either stand up or sit down depending on their views.

I use it with my Foundation learners, as I teach them maths at 9am in the morning and sometimes they need a short activity to engage them!

Two different versions are included. Some of the questions are not for the faint-hearted but all can be easily edited to suit your own learners.

Internet Searching is a gentle introduction for those new to the internet (suitable for all levels from E2 upwards) based on the BBC home page.

Questioning for understanding is a really useful help sheet that encourages learners to ask relevant questions (any topic, any level). Based on Kipling’s “What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who” with teaching ideas and useful links.

For a related resource using the same idea to investigate and write newspaper reports please see Ellie Walsh’s Looking at Newspapers (below).

A straightforward illustrated guide for beginners that can easily be adapted to suit your own institution. Ideal for many students including E2-E3 Skills for Life ICT.

A short but very useful PPT that is bound to stimulate much discussion about the different ways we communicate.

A very useful sheet (best used on-screen) providing online links to a range of mouse exercises where learners can learn about right and left clicking, double clicking, drag and drop, etc. Activities range form straightforward tutorials to ‘Dress the Eggplant’, Join the Dots and a bubble game. Many also provide very useful practice on reading instructions.

Provides step by step help to ICT / Lit / Num students plus useful practice in reading instructions.

Two great mindmaps for visual / picture thinkers. One shows you how to mindmap, the other summarises spelling strategies.