General Resources

Reading, discussion and writing tasks exploring fake ads and online shopping scams on sites such as Facebook and Google. Discussion points to encourage learner engagement and two tasks to develop ideas through their writing.

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.

A set of Entry 1 and Entry 2 English tasks that focus on two short texts about the alphabetical list of winter storm names released by the Met Office. The first Functional English resource I have written based on the revised Functional Skills English content (2018) which will be used by awarding organisations from September 2019 [1]. 

An analysis of an Entry Level 3 (E3) Functional Skills reading text about Walter Tull, contributed by  Laura Bell (2018) - see right for the link to Laura's resource.

This resource helps learners hear rhymes and recognise corresponding letters/digraphs, rimes and onsets etc. Take simple limericks and poems and get your learners to put them together.

I created my own limericks to match work we had been doing on long vowel sounds (it is not that difficult to do once you get started). Well-known poems and nursery rhymes also proved particularly popular as many knew them already by heart from childhood and some were doing them now with their children.

Students design a board game to demonstrate their learning. This can incorporate IT skills (Word template provided below) or can be done with paper, card and pens.

I originally did this with an E2E group and it proved popular. It’s an alternative to the “design a poster” task to review learning. The instructions are set out as a board game. it can be used for literacy, numeracy, ICT or ESOL.

An outstanding set of resources. Developed to prompt discussion on knife crime with parents and children in a family learning setting, they are equally suitable in an FE setting – prompting discussion between students and tutors. The materials can be used to focus on knife crime but are also useful as part of wider discussion about criminal behaviour.

The resources include

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.

An E1 kinaesthetic resource for 2-4 players – also ideal for dyslexic learners at higher levels.