Adult Literacy Core Curriculum - Nationally developed Skills for Life ...

Sample activities
• In pairs or in a group, work on a short narrative written in simple and compound sentences; discuss
and annotate to experiment with how detail might be added, e.g. by adjectives and adjectival
phrases and adverbials of time, place. Write out extended text in complete sentences, e.g. the text
The man walked down the street and sat on the bench. He took out a newspaper and read it. He put
his head in his hands. might become Early one Sunday morning the grey-haired old man walked
slowly down the empty street. He sat down heavily on the wooden bench. From his pocket he took
out a crumpled newspaper and read it carefully. Suddenly he put his head in his bony hands.
• Practise writing instructions, e.g. for a piece of household/DIY equipment/game/sport in complete
sentences, for other learners, using a writing frame if necessary. Ask another person to check the
finished version for clarity.
• Send a formal note by fax or e-mail (or something similar) to a friend/work colleague to confirm,
e.g. a meeting, purchase order, or similar. Check that complete sentences are used.
• Write a grammatically correct narrative or
recount of their own experience in the simple
past tense.
• Identify when things might need to be written
in the present tense, where the subject is ongoing,
e.g. as in a notice, instructions, the
description of a local habitat for wildlife
developed by a community environmental
project. Complete a writing task which
requires the present tense, using a writing
frame for support if necessary.
• In pairs, practise identifying subject and verb
‘partners’ in sentences in continuous text by
highlighting pairs in the same colour. Label
pairs as singular or plural and discuss the
different forms and endings.
• In pairs, compose some sentences that could
be punctuated with a full stop, question
mark or exclamation mark, depending on the
meaning required, e.g. She fired the gun.
She fired the gun? She fired the gun!
Discuss the differences in meaning and use
this to compose appropriate follow-on
sentences for each alternative.
• With teacher and other learners, identify
and discuss a subject on which people have
strong views. Each write the text of a short speech, in complete sentences, using a writing frame
if necessary and putting forward a minimum of three points; the speeches must include at least
one question and one exclamation correctly punctuated. Everyone reads out their own speech,
using punctuation to guide delivery.
• Write a note to put through a friend’s door arranging to meet in a particular place to go and see a
particular film/group and visit a particular pub/club afterwards. Use the capital I, initial capitals for
sentences and proper nouns correctly.
• Insert correct punctuation into an unedited text, using a word processor.
Writing
What is grammar?
Grammar is concerned with the structure of a language, the order
in which words can be placed to make sense, the types of word
and their functions in sentences, and the forms the words can
take. It is now widely believed that humans are born with the
facility to acquire language and so are able to learn to speak the
language they hear around them, absorbing the complexities of
its grammar and vocabulary from their earliest years.
Implicit and explicit knowledge
Though speech comes ‘naturally’ to most humans, we have to be
taught to read and write. Being taught some explicit knowledge
about how language is put together can help adult learners relate
their literacy learning to what they already know implicitly about
language. It can make them more conscious of how language
works in the texts they read and of how they can manipulate it
themselves to express their meanings. It can also provide them
with some concepts and terms, some meta-language with which
to think and talk about language and their own developing skills.
Language – rule governed not random
Knowing explicitly about, for example, verb tenses, pronouns,
uses of conjunctions to link parts of sentences, how paragraphs
can be linked, the grammatical characteristics of different types of
text helps learners consciously understand that language is not
random but rule governed, that, although speakers and writers
have choices over certain aspects, these operate within a given
structure. The knowledge that there are patterns that can be
studied, modelled and learnt can help adults to feel there is some
logic to the processes of reading and writing and that, given time
and teaching, they can master them.
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