News, Politics & Government items

A Level 2 Functional Skills English pack based on the troubles in London and other parts of England in the summer of 2011.

Reading and writing activities are included, alongside answers.

Discussions across a range of subjects may stem from this work in order to inform Speaking and Listening skills practice.

Fully mapped to the Functional English criteria.

A set of exercises based on an article from the BBC News website.
The article concerns a survey conducted by iPhone. There is a comprehension exercise, an exercise involving the identification of spelling errors and a synonym exercise. The learner is also asked to write their views. Useful for those working towards the Level 2 Certificate in Adult Literacy.

An article from BBC News on-line.
There is a set of comprehension questions, a homophone exercise and an
anagrams puzzle. There is a short writing task.

E3 reading comprehension based on a short news article about the replacement of ASBOs with criminal behaviour orders.

Questions cover purpose and layout of text, general comprehension and vocabulary. Ideal for, and fully mapped to, E3 Functional English. Teaching tips also included.

An article based on an on-line BBC News story. There are comprehension questions, along with vocabulary and spelling tasks. The final task is short writing exercise based on the text.

Excellent set of reading comprehension, vocabulary (definitions, synonyms, antonyms), grammar (parts of speech) and writing tasks (write an article) on this emotive topic. Based on a BBC “On this day” article.
Also ideal for prompting a Level 1 or 2 Functional English discussion.

Listening activities are few and far between but this fabulous set is ideal for, and fully mapped, to Entry 1 and 2 Functional English learners.
Based on four everyday listening events

• An announcement in a station
• A notice in a waiting room
• A news report
• A telephone conversation

Each provides practice listening for gist and detail in short explanations. The ‘waiting room’ PDF also provides practice with listening to instructions.

Each document includes.

A very good and rather challenging set of Level 2 reading and writing tasks. Based on a topical and controversial news article about the UK benefits system, it also makes an prompt for discussion.
The reading questions are multiple choice as in the Level 2 Literacy test but they are followed by several challenging writing and summarising questions that would also be suitable for Functional Skills English.

This is a resource I developed, prior to the May 2011 referendum, to use as part of ‘language for expressing opinions’ at E3 Level. It’s quite basic but can be developed in different ways for classes of different levels. It is based the Victor the Vote Counter video available on YouTube or www.aboutmyvote.co.uk

A simulation of the AV and FPTP voting system first used in an Entry Level Functional Maths and English class on Referendum day May 5th 2011.

Students vote for their favourite chocolate and compare the results when using the two different systems.

Resource includes AV and FPTP ballot papers, ballot box labels and a polling station poster. Plus links to voting information videos and easy-read referendum information leaflets.