Adult Literacy, Functional English, and GCSE Resources

A set of tasks to practise reading and writing skills. Read about a student and his work and college life.

• Practise using conjunctions.
• Learn synonyms
• Practise using punctuation correctly.
• Write about your own experience of studying and working

Editor's notes

So practical and down to earth! Find out about Joseph's day to day college life and his busy job with Deliveroo. Also very useful for E2-E3 Functional Skills English students.

Reading and related activities focusing on a simplified version of a BBC news article reporting the results of the 2021 Australian Census. Ideal for practising reading strategies including:  relating images to text, using headings, skimming, scanning and using context to predict. My (Australian) students found it challenging but were engaged in the content. Lots of possible ways it could lead into other written and oral activities. Numbers and a graph involved so can also be used to revise numeracy concepts such as percentages and extracting information from graphs.

This scaffold has been designed to be used either as as a diary for use in class and / or as a way for students to record and reflect on their literacy/language experiences outside of the classroom.

Emojis are used to try to encourage them to consider and record their feelings.

Learner reflection sheet for learners of Functional Skills with prompts to think about next steps.

Editor's Note

An inspiring and friendly-looking 2 page document. Ideal for Functional Maths and English learners from E3 upwards. Very useful! 

SLC Discussion prep for FS Level L1/L2. To be used to prepare for the SLC Discussion. Aimed at people involved in or looking to work in the Construction Industry.

Editor's note

Really useful one page handout. Aimed at Functional English students studying/working in construction but much of the guidance is suitable for planning and preparing for any formal discussion.

These three simple resources are aimed for teaching the layout features and conventions of informal and formal letter writing.  There are three templates: 

A set of five texts about screen time, physical and sedentary activity, and sleep for Children under age 5. The texts can be used in various combinations for Functional Skills (FS) speaking, listening and communicating; reading and writing activities. Teachers can pick and choose their own texts and create related DARTs (directed activities related to text) and questions to suit. There will also be pre-prepared resources on skillsworkshop. See "See also" for links.

A challenging set of reading and writing (spelling and sentence structure only) tasks based on a WHO (World Health Organisation) report about sleep, screen and activity time for children under five.  This resource is not intended to emulate formal L1-2 summative assessment papers as it includes underpinning spelling and sentence structure tasks. In addition, some questions are deliberately challenging and beyond the Level 2 Functional English curriculum and, unlike formal assessment papers, questions are arranged by topic.