This is the 2nd lesson in the Private Peaceful series and it is to be taught with Chapeter 2: ‘Twenty To Eleven’. It centres on the character of Big Joe. It could be taught as one lesson or as a short series of lessons. It consists of a comprehension exercise, a writing plan, a writing task about Big Joe and an extension activity.

This is a Functional Skills revision test for Entry Level 3 - English writing. It is best given to students when teaching Romeo + Juliet before the characters go to the Capulet Ball. We at Engage Education create Functional Skills and Entry Level resources to be taught with GCSE recommended literature. This makes lessons more differentiated. This series is especially popular in Special Needs schools.

This is a whole unit of work that is to be used with the novel ‘Night Of Warriors’. This is a wrestling novel available on Amazon and it is popular with boys who like wrestling. It is mostly used for catch-up literacy or for teaching in literacy hours with small groups or for independent reading. The novel is easy to read, but it has a higher interest age and engages pupils who like wrestling. This unit of work consists of 10 lessons which follow the novel. The lessons are varied and include comprehension exercises, written imaginative responses and discussions asking for pupils’ opinions.

This resource has two Functional Skills writing tasks. One is for Entry Level 3 and the other for Level 1. These tasks were designed to be used when teaching Romeo + Juliet, but can fit any romantic play/novel/poem. They can also be used as a stand alone resource or as an exam revision activity. We at Engage Education create Functional Skills and Entry Level resources to be taught with GCSE recommended literature.

This resource consists of a revision exercise for a Functional Skills Entry Level 2 assessment. It is for staff use, providing a topic for a discussion and a checklist to assess whether pupils have passed the test or not. Although this assessment follows the theme of Bonfire Night, it can easily be edited for any topic and used multiple times. There are two pages for this resource, one for teachers to assess multiple pupils and one for assessing one pupil which can be placed in this pupil’s file. Please look at our other Functional Skills Bonfire Nights/Guy Fawkes resources ranging from Entry Level 1 to Level 1 and including reading, writing and speaking and listening activities.

This resource consists of a revision exercise for a Functional Skills Entry Level 3 assessment. It is for staff use, providing a topic for a discussion and a checklist to assess whether pupils have passed the test or not. Although this assessment follows the theme of Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes, it can easily be edited for any topic and used multiple times. There are two pages for this resource, one for teachers to assess multiple pupils and one for assessing one pupil which can be placed in this pupil’s file. Please look at our other Functional Skills Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes resources ranging from Entry Level 1 to Level 1 and including reading, writing and speaking and listening activities

This resource consists of a literary text about life in the trenches and a soldier charging into no man’s land. The soldier has clearly lost his mind and appears to welcome death. However, during the charge his desire to live returns and this is reflected in the way the text is written. There are 4 different types of reading questions/activities for this text. The first asks the pupils to find five things mentioned in the text that show that life was hard for soldiers in the trenches. The second asks pupils to explain what part of the narrator the writer wants the reader to think was left in no man’s land when he first charged there (his mind). This is a 5 point question. The third activity gives the pupils a passage from the text and asks them to find 4 literary techniques used by the writer and to give an example of these techniques that they find in the passage. 8 points are offered for this activity, 1 for each literary technique and 1 for correct examples of these techniques found in the passage. The final question is for 10 points. It states, “The writer successfully changes both the atmosphere of the text and the main character’s mind-set in this passage.” It then asks the pupil how much they agree with this statement. They are to refer to the language used in the text and the literary techniques used by the writer in their answer.

This resource is designed to be used with Chapter 6 of the novel Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. This chapter is titled ‘Nearly Five To One’. The main event of this chapter is the disappearance of Big Joe. This resource contains a powerpoint presentation that is used to recap on the novel’s previous chapters, to check the pupils’ comprehension of this chapter and to generate a discussion on how the pupils think the characters have developed in the story so far, and/or how their opinion of them has changed. This resource also includes some worksheets. These contain a lesson(s) plan, 2 activities and some extension work. The first activity asks pupils to write about how they think the characters have developed in the story so far, and/or how their opinion of them has changed . The second is a functional skills task which asks pupils to write an advertisement for a newspaper asking people to help search for Big Joe. The extension asks pupils to complete a table for 5 characters from the story by adding as many suitable adjectives as they can t describe them. They are asked to use a thesaurus to do this. This resource should take at least two lessons to complete, but it could be used for more depending on how much time you allow for the discussions. The extension work could also be used as a whole class activity or as homework. Please look at our other Private Peaceful lessons in this series.

This is an Entry Level 3 Functional Skills reading activity consisting of two texts with questions. The first text gives advice on buying Christmas presents for the one you love. It gives tips on how to do this successfully and what you should not do. This text could also be used to generate a class discussion. The second text gives advice on decorating your home at Christmas. The texts and questions are used to help the pupils improve their Functional Skills reading while at the same time being engaged with the themes that they deal with.

This is an Entry Level 1 Functional Skills reading activity related to Christmas. It consists of 3 reading texts with comprehension questions. The first text gives advice on how to make Christmas dinner. The second text is an advertisement for Santa’s grotto. The final text is a kid’s demanding letter to Santa The texts and questions are used to help the students improve their Functional Skills reading. It can be used as a class whole lesson activity, homework and is ideal for exam revision.

This resource consists of three activities for Functional Skills Entry Level 1 speaking and listening. It is for staff use, providing a topic for a discussion and a checklist to assess whether pupils have passed the test or not. Although this assessment follows the theme of Christmas, it can easily be edited for any topic and used multiple times. There are two pages for each activity, one for teachers to assess multiple pupils and one for assessing one pupil which can be placed in this pupil’s file. The first speaking and listening activity asks students to discuss what they want for Christmas. The second activity asks them to discuss what they like and don’t like about Christmas dinner. The third is a discussion about which things related to Christmas are the most important. Please look at our other Functional Skills Christmas resources ranging from Entry Level 1 to Level 1 and including reading, writing and speaking and listening activities.

This is a Functional Skills English writing resource for Entry Level 3 and/or Level 1. It can be used for both levels as the tasks are suitable for either of them. The student's writing is differentiated by outcome, but Level 1 pupils should be told to write between 300 and 350 words for each task. It contains four different writing tasks. In the first task students are asked to write an advert to inform people about a charity Christmas dinner that they are hosting. In the second activity they write an informative text for pupils in a school about a celebration (Christmas). In the third activity students have to write to friends and family to ask them for sponsorship as they try to raise money for charity by doing a Santa Dash race. In the final activity they write a letter to a friend about an interesting Christmas party that they went to. Each writing task comes with a set of instructions for the student to follow. This resource improves pupils Functional Skills writing skills and prepares them for exams. It can be used as a series of stand alone activities to be performed in class, as extension activities or as homework.

This is a Functional Skills English writing resource for Entry Level 1. It contains four different writing tasks. In the first task students are asked to complete an online form for a Christmas tree that they wish to buy. In the second task they are to write an invitation for a Christmas party that they are hosting. In the third activity they write to a friend to ask them to join them for Christmas dinner. In the final activity students are asked to write an advert for a bike that they are selling so they can get some more money to buy Christmas presents. This resource improves pupils Functional Skills writing skills and prepares them for exams. It can be used as a series of stand alone activities to be performed in class, as extension activities or as homework.

This resource consists of two speaking and listening discussions for Functional Skills English Level 1. It is for staff use, providing a topic for a discussion and a checklist to assess the pupils progress. Although this assessment follows the theme of Christmas, it can easily be edited for any topic and used multiple times. There are two pages for each activity, one for teachers to assess multiple pupils and one for assessing one pupil which can be placed in this pupil’s file. The first discussion asks pupils to imagine that they are arranging a charity Christmas dinner. As a group they must discuss what food and drink to serve, what activities to put on, where to hold it and what charity to raise money for. The must make a final decision as a group to end the discussion. The second discussion poses the question, “Is Christmas too commercialised?” In a group, students must discuss this question and come to a group conclusion. This discussion is linked to our Christmas Functional Skills English Level 1 reading resource. Both discussion should last around 15 minutes, but it depends on the number of pupils involved. Please look at our other Functional Skills Christmas resources ranging from Entry Level 1 to Level 1 and including reading, writing and speaking and listening activities.

This presentation should be used to introduce the ‘My Spare Time’ - All About Me Unit of work. It is a kinesthetic activity that can lead to a class/group discussion.

This presentation goes with the reading activity in the All About Me: Unit 2 - The People In Your Life unit of work. It can be used to promote a class discussion about the different characters the pupils have read about in the lesson.

This resource consists of two Entry Level 2 Functional Skills writing activities related to Halloween. The first asks pupils to complete an application form, asking for permission to use a chosen venue for a Halloween party. The second asks them to write to a friend to invite them to a Halloween party. The tasks can be used as exam revision or as stand-alone activities during Halloween. Please check out our other Functional Skills English Halloween materials. This includes reading, writing and speaking + listening resources for ranging from Functional Skills Entry Level 1 to Level 1.

This resource is designed to be used with Chapter 7 of the novel Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. This chapter is titled ‘Twenty-Eight Minutes Past One’. The is the final chapter set in the home village as they Peaceful boys leave for war at the end of the chapter. It is also the final chapter in which Molly, Mother Peaceful and The Colonel play a central role so they are a focus of this lesson. This resource contains a powerpoint presentation that is used to complete a pre-reading discussion, to check the pupils’ comprehension of this chapter and to generate a discussion whether the pupils think Molly, Mother Peaceful and The Colonel are ‘good’ characters or not. As a teacher, you can decide if you want ‘good’ to mean good in terms of their morals or if you want it to mean effective as a character. This resource also includes some worksheets. These contain a lesson(s) plan, 3 activities and some extension work. The first activity asks pupils to work in a group/pair and to discuss who are their favourite 3 characters and why. They can record their ideas on the worksheet for this activity . The second activity asks the pupils to write whether they think Molly, Mother Peaceful and The Colonel are ‘good’ characters and give reasons for their answers. This activity follows on from the class discussion on the powerpoint presentation. This third activity is an extended writing task which asks the pupils to write a character description of Molly, Mother Peaceful or The Colonel. They are given some tips on what they could include before they write. In the extension activity, pupils are given 10 actions that characters in the novel have done so far. They are asked to use a thesaurus to find suitable adverbs to describe how the characters do these actions. This resource should take at least two lessons to complete, but it could be used for more depending on how much time you allow for the discussions. The extension work could also be used as a whole class activity or as homework. Please look at our other Private Peaceful lessons in this series.