Winter Storms underpinning for phonics, spelling, alphabetical order
A set of Entry 1 and Entry 2 English tasks that focus on two short texts about the alphabetical list of winter storm names released by the Met Office. The first Functional English resource I have written based on the revised Functional Skills English content (2018) which will be used by awarding organisations from September 2019 .
This resource does not aim to reproduce formal assessments (no one knows what those will look like yet!) but to assist non-specialist Functional Skills English tutors with teaching underpinning skills such as spelling, phonics, reading and alphabetical order.
Tasks are differentiated for E1 and E2, with a couple of E3 or higher-level challenges along the way, and are designed so that one task builds upon another. Two complete sets of tasks (one for E1, one for E2). Each set consists of a) discussion and oral alphabet activity b) an alphabetical card sorting game c) a related writing task where learners make up their own list of storm names d) reading comprehension questions and e) spelling tasks and tests using words and spelling rules from the new "spelling expectations" in .
This resource is not for the fainthearted! It comes with answers , suggested marks and copious teaching notes that explain how the resource can be used to make a complete lesson. There is a huge amount of detailed mapping and much information about phonics, IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) and the spelling and word reading expectations at Entry Levels. There is also discussion about the differences between organisational features (E3) and organisational markers (E2), and much more. Don't let this put you off! Writing this was a learning experience for me and helped me form a loose model on which I will base future Functional English resources in preparation for the changes coming in next year.
Also includes all the Spelling and Word Reading Expectation tables from the new content document  but each one has been compacted down into a single sheet for easy reference. I will probably republish these - and other parts of this resource as separate entities at a later date
I welcome positive and negative feedback about this experimental resource. Thank you.
1. Subject content functional skills: English. DfE (Feb 2018) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/functional-skills-subject-content-english