functional-skills

Great Questions List | StoryCorps

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:22:56 +0100

English, Social Studies and/or Functional (Key) Skills practitioners often encourage learners to interview a parent, grandparent, or community member as part of their communication skills learning. The Story Corps Great Questions List could provide learners with a framework of questions for those interviews.

The StoryCorps questions are suggestions for getting a good conversation going. Users are encouraged to use the ones they like and to come up with their own.

Categories include...

Great questions for anyone;
Friends and Colleagues;
Grandparents;
Raising Children;
Parents;
Growing Up;
School;
Love & Relationships;
Marriage & Partnerships;
Working;
Religion;
Serious Illness;
Family Heritage;
War; and
Remembering a loved one.

Visit http://storycorps.org/record-your-story/question-generator/list/ to take a look at the “Great Questions”.

Spelling help | Spelling tests | Spelling games

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:53:31 +0100

English spelling online course to help older students, teenage to adult, learn and improve their spelling.
This spelling course uses lists, games, tests to teach English spelling rules to help students and adults learn spelling.

Try the help, tests & games at http://www.spellzone.com/index.cfm.

Excellence Gateway Skills for Life

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 20:08:38 +0100

LSIS are pleased to announce that all the materials from the ReadWritePlus site, which has now been closed, have been moved to the Excellence Gateway.

LSIS have changed how the content is organised and presented so that it's easier for users to find what they are looking for.

The materials, if you have not looked at them in the past, will be of interest to a wide range of practitioners in all settings, including...

Skills for Life;

Functional Skills; and

Key Skills.

For more information, visit the Nationally developed Skills for Life resources on the Excellence Gateway at http://rwp.excellencegateway.org.uk/Home/.

MouseProgram

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:10:27 +0100

MouseProgram, created by Lawrence Goetz 2008-2010, is very much a website for beginners to learn how to "Use The Mouse"

Visitors to the MouseProgram website practice using the Mouse, including:

Moving the Mouse;

Left Clicking;

Right Clicking;

Double Clicking;

Dragging and Dropping;

There is also an introduction to the elements found on "Online Forms", including using the mouse with...

Radio Buttons;

Check Boxes; and

Drop Down Lists.

The bonus for many may well be the downloadable Windows "Mouse Practice Game" which, at the time of writing this I have not downloaded or tried out. Watch this space.

Visit http://www.mouseprogram.com/ to try out the various elements.

TelescopicText

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:55:04 +0100

TelescopicText is primarily a set of tools...

for creating expanding texts showing how a simple sentence can be elaborated to become rich in detail;

for helping functional skills/key skills learners develop more complex sentences

The tools can be found by...

visiting http://www.telescopictext.org/; and

clicking Write in the navigation at the top.

Clicking...

Texts, also in the navigation at the top, users will locate selected texts; and

Resources provides access to...
- help for using the website;
- news;
- updates;
- guides;
- support and
- Q&A.

Registering on the website allows users to save and publish texts. Everyone can create and save their own sentences. My first effort is at http://bit.ly/hIj4hK.

Money Smart World

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:20:38 +0100

MoneySmartWorld provides a wide range of...

money worksheets;

curriculum based lesson plans;

practical money management workbooks;

story books; and

informative articles

...specifically designed to help young people learn about money.

These resources are suitable for a wide range of ages.

Note: Many of the resources have a cost but, there are also lots of free resources to download, so take a look at http://www.moneysmartworld.com/!

Writing prompts

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 20:33:33 +0100

CanTeach writing prompts website is for the Functional Skills practitioners who likes to encourage daily writing but struggles to find good writing prompts that will both engage the creative and the critical thinking skills of their learners.

The CanTeach writing prompt web site's list of possible writing prompts are open-ended and built around inquiry .

Scroll down;

grab a prompt; and

get learners writing.

Once the learners have finished writing, functional skills practitioners could use the same prompt for debates/discussions/communications skills development.

Take a look at the online prompts at http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html.

Writing prompts

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 20:33:30 +0100

The CanTeach writing prompt web site's list of possible writing prompts are open-ended and built around inquiry .

Scroll down;

grab a prompt; and

get learners writing.

Once the learners have finished writing, functional skills practitioners could use the same prompt for debates/discussions/communications skills development.

Take a look at the online prompts at http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html.

Road to Grammar

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 15:29:41 +0100

Road to Grammar is a free resource featuring quizzes, games, and lessons for ESOL, ESL, EFL & Functional Skills learners.

Learners can work through...

a dozen practice activities;
five practice games; and
365 grammar quizzes - each quiz provides instant feedback and notes explaining why answers are correct or incorrect.

Road to Grammar also provides some downloadable resources for teachers offering...

discussion starters for English lessons;
lesson warm-up activities; and
some worksheets.

Find out more at http://www.roadtogrammar.com/.

ShutterCal

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 08:47:06 +0100

ShutterCal is a free, calendar-based photography project where users can document their life and improve their photography skills at the same time.

From my experience, the older you get the quicker time flies! Imagine capturing one moment of each day in a calendar and adding appropriate comments. Then, in the future, Picture scrolling through time and remembering what was important to you, each day, back then.

ShutterCal, which is free, provides a free calendar account, which users fill with the images of their life. It's that simple.

Over time the calendar fills up with the moments in their life and, in no time at all, users will have a simple and beautiful visual record of their days.

Now that is the aim of ShutterCal but, in Education, it isn't always the tool it is how it is used...

Functional (Key) Skills practitioners could use ShutterCal as an adult version of the old Junior School favourite "Show and Tell"

Simply...

upload a picture each day; and
write a few sentences about it.

A great way to practice reading and writing.

What about communication with real people?

Learners can be encouraged to...

look at other people's photographs; and
leave comments on the ones they like. They can do this by...
- going to the 'Explore' menu;
- looking for new photographs;
- clicking on an image that they find interesting;
- clicking on 'Comments' on the bottom right corner;
- adding a comment or question in the text field that will appear;
- clicking on submit (Once the comment/question has been added) - the owner of the image will get the comment/message;

Learners will need to be patient as it could take some time before they get a reply. Commenting or asking questions about ten images will increase the chance of getting a reply.

This type of exercise also provides an ideal opportunity to raise awareness of "safeguarding" and the risks of social networks. Initially I would suggest learners comment and leave messages on the practitioners Shutter Cal...

Practitioners can...

upload images;
add information and ask a question, which the learners could answer.

Take a look at this resource by visiting http://shuttercal.com/.

My initial effort, for evaluation purposes, is at http://shuttercal.com/calendar/aclJohn/ - I've also embedded the auto update widget, of my ShutterCal images on the home page of my website at http://www.acljohn.com/.

P.S. ShutterCal could also be used, by Learning Providers, for publicity, awareness raising, showcasing etc.