General Resources

A short workbook I created to 'test the maths water' before teaching maths to a group of adult and young ESOL learners. It covers almost everything in the Entry Level 1 curriculum with exam style tasks/ questions  linked to C&G Functional Skills Maths assessments.

I usually use it with groups as a gentle introduction to the idea of maths and it forms a good diagnostic for the things they need to learn. It also lets me see how motivated they are to study maths!

Editor's notes

Update 24/2/22: written by Sharon Roberts and Alexandra Bates, both of Essex ACL. 
This is a fun activity which encourages ESOL learners to engage with digital technology and transacting online. It provides opportunity to explore vocabulary related to shopping while also discussing the advantages of shopping for food online. It can be adapted to all levels and can be extended for a longer activity if required.

Editor's note

An ESOL lesson embedding numeracy, diversity and British values, centred on the Spring Equinox and three festivals which happen around / on this day - Purim, Holi and Shunbun No Hi. Learners collect unfamiliar words on a vocabulary sheet and ask and answer questions to elicit meaning / explanation. There is a powerpoint to introduce the topic, using acronyms eg 7DIAW  - Seven Days In A Week to elicit key words, and lead to an explanation of what the Vernal Equinox is and when it is.

Fun, multi-purpose speaking / reading / listening / writing / maths warm-up activity that can be used at any level and for any subject – particularly effective at Entry Level. Learners shake two dice to locate a word on a number matrix (good for maths:co-ordinates too!).
Five sample grids are provided – covering descriptions, homophones (2 grids), spellings and clothes – plus a blank grid so you can make your own. Includes full instructions and can also be used for numeracy.

A really interesting quick quiz – originally written to get e2e learners interested in numbers but makes an ideal warm up activity for any group (at any level).

A multi-functional resource for Literacy or Numeracy. Sample TV listings by day, programme, start and end times, channel and genre. Use for alphabetic or numeric sorting, skimming and scanning exercises, literacy social sight vocabulary for days of the week, numeracy exercises for calculating time, etc. This resource contains some sample exercise questions to use which can be developed further according to need. I laminated the sheets and then cut up into days so lower level learners can move the elements around. Higher level learners can work from the whole page sheets as well.

A great PPT quiz – the emphasis in on maths (questions on number of matches played, groups etc.) but it also includes general knowledge questions. All question can be easily adapted if they are too easy / difficult.

This ‘random number generator’ is an open ended resource that the author originally designed to use for mental maths (adding or taking away 10 from the displayed number). It was later used it as part of a ‘Question of Sport’ quiz (in the spelling round!): learners choose a picture and then spell the ‘random’ number that appears: 49, 32, 28, 46, 67, 55, 21, 74 and 13 (these be edited to suit and could also be linked to any set of numbered, pre-prepared quiz questions on any topic).

A set of 10 questions with optional picture clues and differentiation ideas. Makes a great end of term filler for all levels.

Entry level lottery activity that involves deciding how you are going to spend the money. Structured, with fill-in boxes for expenditure etc.
Written for learners on the autistic spectrum (who often find it particularly difficult to infer meaning that is not explicitly stated) but suitable for many literacy and/or numeracy students.