General Resources

A reading comprehension and writing activity based on a Cadbury’s Easter Brand Fact Sheet. Ideal for Level 1 Functional English.

Editor’s note
Fully mapped with answer sheet and S&L idea.

Tips and four tasks designed to help Level 2 Functional English learners think about how they can identify BIAS in texts.

More and more vocational teachers are being asked to prepare learners for Functional Skills exams.

This resource is designed to give advice on format, style and layout; appropriate content and paragraphing which would accompany any awarding organizations exam. My college used Edexcel . Can be used for Level 1 and Level 2.

Editor’s note
This resource is ideal for all but will be especially helpful to non-specialist English teachers. Incredibly useful!

This is a news article about the sinking of the Costa Concordia. It is focused on an account of the situation as reported by the local mayor.
The article is accompanied by questions about what might be inferred from the account, what might be the mayor’s opinion and whether or not the account is biased. The questions have been used with adults studying for Edexcel Functional Skills at Level 2.

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.

A 12-question test, designed for an Adult Numeracy class consisting largely of ESOL speakers.
Covers the terms “import” and “export”, since these often crop up in exams. Also mean, mode, median and range, and the meanings of “discount”, “under”, “approximately”, “difference” and “enlarged”. A little fraction revision, too: students have to identify 1/3 as “one-third”.

Page 1: 8 maths questions relating to olympic torch
Page 2: Picture quiz: who is carrying the torch?
Page 3: Picture quiz: famous UK landmarks.
Page 4: UK cities – anagrams
Page 5: Answers

• Quizzes on pages 2 and 3 make good ice breakers and can also be used for SL&C discussion prompts.

PPT slides with common errors.
Originally designed for a GCSE class, it can also be used with L1/L2 learners.

Editor’s note: covers a range of common errors found at E3-L2. Easily adapted to suit your students’ levels and/or to
include real mistakes from your students’ work.

This was designed to be used with a group of dyslexic learners but would be applicable for any learners with spelling difficulties.

I have used this by separating the group into small groups or pairs and then giving each group a different strategy to try with one of the words from the word list (two are provided – one for E2-E3, one for L1-2) or a word of their own that they want to spell.

Learners must choose the next manager of the England football team. Using the task sheet to guide them, they must research, collate and present information for five candidates and then make the final choice.

There is scope for plenty of lively discussion around the choices made and also about what the manager’s job entails.

A Power Point presentation is included as an example, but can also be printed out to use in some of the additional activities described.