Functional Skills English – 10 Do Now Activities (Relevant to L1 Reading Exam)

These ten beautifully designed “Do Now” activities are designed to get your Functional Skills English lesson off to a great start. They have been written to be challenging (but not too hard!) for students approaching their L1 Reading exam and incorporate the skills needed to pass it! Each one consists of ten (sometimes 11) questions based around a short text.

They are perfect for lesson starters or ends. It should take up to ten minutes for students to answer the questions, with then answer time taking another five. This may sound like a lot of time, but as they are focused on getting the students through the exams (not “woolly” in any way, shape or form!) I have found that this time has been well spent and is reflected in both student confidence around the exams and their actual exam performance.

They cover two pages (so perfect for quick double-sided copying) plus there is a third page of the correct answers for teachers (you don’t want to be doing the Do Now yourself, do you!?).

These “Do Now” activities are designed for learners doing the Pearson Edexcel exam – but I am sure they can be used for other exam boards too. The texts take the form of flyers, short articles and online forums.

The questions consist of:

• Multiple choice – identifying the purpose of a text, language features and use of punctuation
• Short answers – identifying organisational features and their location in the text, using sub-headings, relacing single words with a synonym, explaining short quotes from the text
• True/False – some feature three, others just one – akin to multiple choice but a little more straightforward. A good confidence boost for weaker learners.

As well as covering the skills needed for the exams, the “Do Nows” are designed to allow students to become accustomed to the kind of questions they will get in the exams and how they are written.

In order to engage learners I have made these, where possible, about subjects that engage young people. Also incorporated are “value” based activities, such as British Values, which go some way to incorporate your institution’s (and the governments) policies about subjects that should be covered at school or college. The subjects of the “Do Nows” are as follows:

1. British Values
2. Bullying
3. History of Rap Music
4. Consent (very PG!)
5. Cricket
6. Drug Use
7. Future of Gaming
8. Hairdressing Course
9. Mental Health
10. Online Safety

The files are uploaded in their original PowerPoint format and as PDFs.

These have gone down very well where I work. I hope you enjoy using them too!