Contextual Resources

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 topical resource to revise features of instructional texts and imperative verbs.
Fully mapped to Functional English and ideal for mixed ability groups.

A topical investigation that can be used as a group or individual task. Learners imagine they have won tickets in the ballot and must plan their trip to Buckingham Palace.
Ideal for E3-L1 Functional maths, English and ICT but could be easily adapted for higher or lower levels.

Resources I designed as a mini project for Functional Skills maths. Also for L1/L2 Adult Numeracy

Editor’s notes:
Includes several recipes including a delicious sounding Spanish flan (some questions involving doubling and halving might also suit Entry Level students), mixing paint, proportion (wages) and some challenging L2 scale map questions. Fully mapped to the Functional Maths criteria.

Inspired by Judith White’s autumn apple cake resource (ratios, converting measures, formulae, etc.) this series of open ended tasks focuses on the importance of showing working out and explaining/justifying their conclusions. It also helps students get used to the idea that some maths questions do not have just one “correct” answer.

The theme is baking several cakes for a charity event and making a profit.
You will need Judith’s original recipe (see below) to complete some of the tasks. Fully mapped to the Functional Maths criteria.

This is a lower-level version of ‘My Busy Day’ Housework by Laurence Fletcher (see below) for a basic literacy for ESOL class. Also suitable for M8-E1 literacy.
Reading comprehension, simplified cloze and sentence exercises.

A Functional Maths and numeracy task sheet written for a mixed group of entry level learners to collect, represent and analyse data on favourite biscuits. The topic is introduced with a news article about Britain’s favourite biscuits. Learners must create a tally chart/frequency table, a pictogram and a bar chart. Pre-drawn grids and squared paper is included.

A writing task / practice paper written for an E3 booster writing group of 16-18 year olds.

You want a Saturday job in a pet shop and write a letter to the manager about possible vacancies.

A short reading text for beginners, followed by fill the gap sentences. Two sheets – one for British students and one for Australian students.

A short project for L1 Functional Skills or ESOL, wherein students research aspects of a foreign holiday destination and produce a piece of persuasive advertising based upon findings.