Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

A short poem on the theme of jobs and careers.  Can be used as a reading and pronunciation exercise or may be extended to include a discussion around jobs, ambitions and qualifications.  Can also be used as a basis for written work.

Editor's notes

Super for many levels and situations - includes a list of suggested questions/prompts.

A short poem on the theme of food.  Can be used as a reading and pronunciation exercise or may be extended to include a discussion around food production and carbon footprint or the ethics of food choices. Could also be used as a basis for written work.

Editor's notes

I love this because it works on so many different levels!

Use alone or as a consolidation resource for learners after attempting  E2 Homophone Cloze Exercises’ and/or  E3 Homophone Cloze Exercises – Set 1’ . Covers 7 sets of homophones from the E2 and E3 spelling lists. There are also some follow-up exercises.

Written specifically for the new reformed English content which expects secure homophone skills at much lower levels than previously. Covers 6 of the 22 homophone spellings required at E3 using differentiated sets of cloze exercises. 7 sets each with 15 questions / sentences plus detailed teaching notes and an appendix listing all E1, E2 & E3 spellings.

Short sets of words for alphabetic sorting.   These can be used with literacy or ESOL learners.  I found they worked well at the beginning of each session while learners were still arriving into the class.  They work well as individual or pairs exercises.

The first set works best when each list is cut up and laminated as individual words in each group, so learners can sort them kinaesthetically.  

This is a spelling/phonetics resource that could be used as a starter, differentiated activity or filler. Learners colour in the squares where the words have an /f/ sound, these words are hidden with words that are ‘gh’ but aren’t pronounced /f/. When completed the grid shows a smiley face. There are a few trap words in here which can be used for dictionary or internet search practice.

A list of simple sentences, some of which are common sayings. They all contain a word which has more than one meaning. The list can be used to improve vocabulary, and also to show students the importance of context in understanding the meaning of a word. Could be used as a warm-up for a reading lesson.

Suitable for guided reading with Entry level learners in the run up to Christmas, this version of Dickens’s classic Christmas story (first published in 1843 and never out of print since) has been created using content downloaded from https://www.ego4u.com/en/read-on/literature/christmas-carol on 26th October 2016 and only slightly adapted for use as a paper resource.

Three sets of dominoes to use in warm-up and for letter and word recognition activities. The first set, for pre-Entry ESOL and Literacy learners with very low levels of letter and word recognition, matches lower case to capital letter versions, the second set is a set of “doubles”, which can be used alongside the first. The third set, for pre-Entry / Entry 1 ESOL learners, matches a category to an example. Each set has 17 dominoes, so 4 each for a group of 4 learners, plus one to start.

A text based around Ramadan to practise E3 -L1 English reading in detail / skimming & scanning for information.
There is also a related form filling exercise (E2-E3), dictionary work, and a discussion prompt (all levels)

The letter-writing task focuses on charity, so it could also tie in to employability qualifications if you are teaching community project modules or similar.

Editor’s note
With answers and curriculum mapping