Category: Teaching and Learning

Read, Write and Spell

Working on reading, writing and spelling is the primary reason learners come to us at Kerry Adult Literacy and Basic Education Service. It forms the core of our business, both in one to one and group tuition. To teach an adult in this setting takes considerable skill, and we take pride in the high quality of our tutors’ work across the county.
Some good sites to visit:
Bear in mind please that the skills of reading, writing and spelling are intertwined. They are best taught together, and most of these sites feature activities and resources across reading, writing and more, so it’s worth exploring them carefully.

Listen Read Write – readers for literacy students
The Tutors’ Corner at NALA.ie has loads of free resources
Adult Literacies Online Scotland has a fantastic bank of all sorts of resources – general literacy, workplace, numeracy, ICT, learning difficulties and more
Excellence Gateway The UK English Adult Literacy Core Curriculum, giving an overview of the curriculum, activities, ideas, suggestions and links to materials and research and also ideas for integrating employability.
How to Spell – a nice, easy introduction to spelling. Most lessons include a video and an exercise.
Skills Workshop a really useful site from the UK for literacy, numeracy, ESOL, IT and lifeskills resources
BBC Skillswise: One of the most useful websites for adult literacy tuition. Includes printable and on screen activities across English, Maths and Job Skills.
Share My Lesson – this is a huge American site for teachers to share and download all sorts of really useful resources – look at English Language Arts for a lot of reading, writing and spelling. Be careful if using any aimed at young children, make sure you adapt them for adult learners.
Puzzlemakers: Create and print your very own word search, criss-cross, math puzzles, and more-using your own word lists.
Word Scrambler: Create Word Scramble puzzles using your own words
ToolsForEnglish.com: All sorts of exercise making tools like gap fill, multiple choice, sentence scramble.
ABC Fast Phonics Listen to the sounds of highlighted words. Included are the names of alphabet letters, consonants, vowels and vowel rules, letter blends and common words.
Englishforeveryone.org Tons of printable worksheets, aimed at non-native speakers of English, but if you are looking for something specific around a grammar point, it’s a good place to look.
Phonics4free: A Step by Step phonics programme available online free of charge. It’s suitable for all ages including adults. Includes videos and downloadable worksheets.

English Dictionaries

The free Dictionary by Farlex: A varied and interesting site. The dictionary is one part, but it also includes online spelling testing, quotes and articles relating to the date, and lots more that could be of interest to a learner.
Online English Dictionaries: This list includes Dictionary.com which is useful as it breaks the words up in to syllables. It also provides a pronunciation of the words, but in an American accent. The Cambridge Dictionary does not break the words up into syllables but has the option of an English or an American accent when pronouncing the words
The Merriam Webster English Dictionary Online: also has the option of breaking up the words in to syllables with an English pronunciation and has a less cluttered screen.

Are there any sites you find useful that should be on this list? Please email them to your organiser for submission to the Webmaster Committee

Workplace Education

Skills for Work is a national workplace education programme aimed at providing training opportunities to help employees deal with the basic skills demands of the workplace. The initiative is funded by the Irish Government under the Department of Education and Skills, and delivered by the newly formed Education & Training Boards (ETB) across the country. The project is managed nationally by Dublin & Dún Laoghaire ETB.
A Skills for Work course:

May include a variety of subjects which support the educational needs of the employee.
Is offered on company premises where possible, the local ETB Adult Education Centre, or an alternative convenient location.
Is designed and delivered in a flexible and adaptable way to meet the needs of the employer and employee.
Programmes are of 35 hours duration
Sessions are usually 2 – 3 hours long and can be arranged for mornings, afternoons or evenings
Participants may be released from work to participate in SFW programmes.
Most offer free nationally recognised certification.
There are no tuition fees.

What are the aims of a Skills for Work programme?

Promote an ethos of lifelong learning in the workplace
Contribute towards the creation of a well educated and highly skilled workforce
Raise the competency level of employees with low levels of educational qualifications
Develop initiatives to enhance employees communication and basic IT skills
Enable employees to cope with frequent and ongoing changes in work practices

Who can access the Skills for Work programme?
Employers:

In the private sector
Willing to promote the SFW Programme
With employees who need to improve their core skills
With a need to upskill their existing workforce
Creating a learning environment for their employees

Employees:

Over 18 years of age and not in full-time second level education
In part-time or full time employment
With work skill needs
With few, out-dated or no educational qualifications
Willing to take part on a voluntary basis
With a desire to improve
With their employer’s support

The Skills for Work Co-ordinator for Kerry ETB is Ger Ferris, his contact details can be found here.

Family Learning

Parents are a child’s first, and most important, teachers. Family learning programmes encourage and support parents in this role, giving them some tips, tricks and tools to help support their child’s development and learning. It also encourages them to work on their own literacy and numeracy skills. According to international research, parental involvement in a child’s learning has more of an impact on their educational outcomes than any other demographic measure including social class or level of parental income (click here to find out more)
There are all kinds of opportunities for learning in the home, and in the course of ordinary family activities. Family learning programmes help parents and carers to draw out and boost these learning opportunities, to help children along.
Parents are very busy people, and family learning programmes are also a chance to sit for a few minutes a week and talk with other parents about how things are going, what works and what doesn’t work around children’s learning. We try to schedule them at times that suit parents, whether that is mornings or evenings, on a local basis.
Family learning programmes cover a very broad range of topics, including:

Helping with Reading
Helping with Writing
Helping with Maths
Helping with Homework
Cookery
Crafts
Storysacks (a creative way to make reading fun)
Sports

If you would like to find out more about family learning in your area, or how to train as a family learning tutor, contact your local literacy organiser. Details are found here
Some good sites to visit:
www.helpmykidlearn.ie – NALA’s family learning page, with a great range of activities for primary school children
Schooldays.ie maths resources page – a great source of info, including a video on how the new methods of subtraction work
Mathsaid Really good interactive maths website for parents and tutors
Kids activities blog – Storytelling activities – a great way to boost a child’s love of reading
Neil Griffiths presents Storysacks – find out more about this useful and fun programme for parents
Find your child’s Learning Style – This can be very useful information for parents
Parents Numeracy Toolkit – Hands on ways to improve children’s maths
Are there any sites you find useful that should be on this list? Please email them to your organiser for submission to the Webmaster Committee

Listening & Speaking

The ability to speak and listen effectively is one of the most fundamental of the literacy skills. With adults, it is often the least considered or identified when discussing ‘literacy’ issues, despite the fact that difficulties with speaking and listening have a profound effect on the way adults function in everyday life and in society as a whole. Listening and speaking skills are taught explicitly in a number of our courses, particularly Communications, but also have a place in one to one tuition and any literacy classroom.
Some good sites to visit:
Veronica Walsh CBT blog on listening skills
Excellence Gateway – a collection of resources aimed at tutors in the UK working in the prison service. Most are broadly applicable and of high quality.
Skillsworkshop – this is a massive site, with a huge collection of resources. This link brings you to their Listening and Speaking section.
Skills You Need – Non Verbal Communication – learn how to talk about body language, and what it says about us
Are there any sites you find useful that should be on this list? Please email them to your organiser for submission to the Webmaster Committee

Personal Development

We run courses to help learners to get the best out of life, to start afresh, and to build their confidence. Topics include:

Personal and Interpersonal Skills
Time For Me
Community Participation
Learning to Learn
Voter Education
Consumer Awareness
Committee Skills

Some good sites to visit:
Mind tools – a business focused site that has a wide range of personal development info, from time management to stress management
Business Balls – a huge site with a massive range of downloadable materials including classroom activities, warm-ups and glossaries
Headstrong Ireland Contacts page – a great list of organisations and websites for people who feel they want more support in the area of positive mental health
Are there any sites you find useful that should be on this list? Please email them to your organiser for submission to the Webmaster Committee

ESOL

As part of the countywide response to learners’ needs for tuition in English as a second language, the Kerry Adult Literacy and Basic Education Service offers free ESOL classes at beginners level across the county to unemployed adults and asylum seekers. Learners are referred to us by a number of partner agencies.
ESOL Teaching Tips
NALA made a series of short videos of ESOL teaching tips at their ESOL conference earlier this year. They include:
– Teaching ‘ESOL literacy’ students by Angus O’Riordan
– Using synthetic phonics with ESOL or ESOL literacy students by Michelle McGrane
– Linking ESOL to QQI General Learning at level 2 by Svetlana Wilson
– Tips on ESOL teaching and learning using Facebook by Margot Walsh and Laura Rowland
They are all less than 3 minutes long. Click here to watch.
Some good sites to visit:
Are you inter-culturally competent? Find out on this site: http://www.areyouintercultural.eu/
The PESTALOZZI Programme – the Council of Europe’s programme for the professional development of teachers and others involved in education. The website also provides different materials about adult literacy
Research and Practice in Adult Literacies (RaPAL)– the only UK-wide organisation that focuses on the role of literacies in adult life
LESLLA – Research on Low-educated/non-literate Second Language Learners
Listen Write Read – readers for initial literacy students
One Stop English – bank of resources
Excellence Gateway – a portal to a massive range of resources from the UK across adult education
British Council – modules for ESOL teachers who are not experienced in teaching initial literacy
Euralpha – for anyone who wants to know more about Learner Autonomy
Dyslexia for Teachers of Foreign Languages – a site full of useful information about dyslexia, including a self directed study course for tutors
Refugee Interactive Skills for Employment – a full curriculum, with lesson plans and resources, from the UK.
NALA Training videos page. Video highlights from their ESOL conference 2013. Some really useful tips for ESOL tutors.
ESOL Materials Ireland – authentic ESOL and literacy materials specifically designed with the Irish learners’ needs in mind.
Dave’s ESL cafe – a broad site covering a range of ESL resources for both tutors and learners
Using English – This has printable handouts on both grammar and vocabulary for beginner and intermediate levels. It has resources for tutors and learners.
Many Things – This is mainly online games and fun quizzes for learners.
BBC World Service – Very good website for learners and tutors. Printable resources for tutors with options for pronunciation practice for learners.
BBC Skillswise – Excellent resource for basic word grammar. It has printable worksheets and there are online quizzes for learners.
BBC Learning English This is an excellent self-study site with audio, video, lesson plans and worksheets. It’s particularly good for pronunciation, idiomatic English and day-to-day English for the workplace. It has up-to-date news and sports stories with reports from around the world on a broad range of subjects. Tasks reinforce good learning strategies for listening with good pre-task exercises.
Autoenglish Bob Wilson presents some short video lessons on some topics and on basic grammar subjects – countable/uncountable, comparatives and so on. There are worksheets available as reinforcement for students.
CAELA – Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (USA) Access to information, ESOL research, trends, promising practices and resources. There is a newsletter which you can sign up for and users can submit questions about teaching adult ESOL.
Simply Cracking Good Stories This site came about from a project from Newcastle University (UK) to create engaging and accessible stories for ESOL students with basic reading skills. They do this through running workshops, training non-writers and publishing high quality, simple stories.
Breaking News English There are reading exercises and breaking news stories on a large range of subjects and themes, with good pre and post reading exercises. The site also offers spelling exercises and tips, definitions and a dictionary etc.
http://dystefl.eu Dyslexia for teachers of English as a foreign language.
http://www.eur-alpha.eu/ For anyone who wants to know more about learner autonomy.
http://esol.britishcouncil.org/cpd-modules/teaching-basic-literacy-esol-learners-1 These are three teacher education modules for ESOL teachers who are not experienced in teaching initial literacy, developed by the British Council.
http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/node/1515 The English Adult Literacy Core Curriculum, giving an overview of the curriculum, activities, ideas, suggestions and links to materials and research and also ideas for integrating employability.
http://www.areyouintercultural.eu/ What shows that you are interculturally competent?
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/pestalozzi/home/default_en.asp The PESTALOZZI Programme is the Council of Europe’s programme for the professional development of teachers and others involved in education. The website also provides different adult literacy materials.
http://rapal.org.uk/ Research and Practice in Adult Literacies (RaPAL) is the only UK-wide organisation that focuses on the role of literacies in adult life
http://www.talent.ac.uk A useful site for paper resources for pre-entry levels in English. Many are available in word format so can be adapted for learners accordingly.
http://www.leslla.org/about.htm LESLLA – Research on Low-educated/Illiterate Second Language Learners
http://www.listenwriteread.com Readers for Initial Literacy students
http://www.onestopenglish.com A bank of resources tailored for students of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and ESL (English as a Second Language)
http://rise-project.eu/resources/ Refugee Interactive Skills for Employment Resources page – a trainer’s handbook with lesson plans, games and materials – aimed at helping refugees improve their employment skills
Are there any sites you find useful that should be on this list? Please email them to your organiser for submission to the Webmaster Committee

Information Technology

We teach a range of Information and Communication Skills (ICT) to adults who have literacy difficulties, in small friendly groups. We aim to encourage and support the learner who lacks confidence in this area, helping them to become part of our digital society. Our classes run from absolute beginner (often called Computers for the Terrified!) to QQI Level 3, across the county in a range of settings.

Some good sites to visit:
Google Search Basics – how to use this popular search engine. Links to tutorials on all google products.
GCF learnFree.org  Free online training courses in all sorts of  topics including computers
Alison.com Free online training courses in all sorts of  topics including computers
Skillful Seniors   Free online tutorials on using a mouse and keyboard skills.
Mousing Around  How to use the mouse, try the mousercise training activity, and practise with games.
MindFlash Online Tutorials  A selection of resources including IT vocabulary sheets and lots of touch typing tools
WebWise   Learn about staying safe online
Think Tutorials Tutorials on a broad range of IT – from smartphones to blogging tools, including Office applications.
Windows 8 Beginners Tutorial Video Part 1: On You Tube – Start Screen & Charm Bar.
Windows 8 Beginners Tutorial Video Part 2: On You Tube – Quick Access Menu.
Are there any sites you find useful that should be on this list? Please email them to your organiser for submission to the Webmaster Committee

Money & Numbers

Numeracy is a vital skill in today’s world. Where we might think of maths as consisting only of sums, fractions and decimals, it is broader than that. Our numeracy teaching has a firm link to everyday life, and includes concepts of shape and space, patterns, measurement, handling data and using numbers for day to day living like shopping, budgeting, cookery and sport. We run regular in service training in this area, so if you would like to train as a numeracy tutor, contact your local literacy organiser. Contact details are found here.
Communicating everyday mathematical concepts to students – From NALA and TCD numeracy conference – 18 June 2015 in TCD
Tutor tips – watch some on video here
Make everyday links – use Plain Maths! (Mary Bambrick)

Break down your own understanding of the numeracy you are teaching
Use your broader set of skills to impart what you know
Use everyday objects – use the contents of your pocket to teach algebra – you can only add like terms (e.g. two pens) not unlike terms (a key & a phone) – see NALA case studies below

Go to NALA case studies for ideas and support (Tina Byrne)

Check out the NALA numeracy case studies BEFORE you google – you might just find what you are looking for.
Use the case studies to find out about shared ideas and initiatives.
Free to download/ order from NALA What Really Counts and What Really Counts Next

Open your maths eyes! Encourage learners to open theirs. (Aoife Smith)
Open your maths eyes – haveyougotmathseyes.com – bring outside maths into your sessions

Have learners open their maths eyes. They will start to look at familiar things in their lives and think about the maths in them.
Devise a learner questionnaire to find out their areas of interest and base the numeracy on those areas
Raise critical awareness of numeracy information eg. price comparison when shopping, fares on the bus
Use everyday objects for a wide variety of numeracy skills – receipts or recipes for rounding, estimating, calculator practice.
Set tasks to be done outside of the class – Rounding up items when shopping to estimate the total cost, Practise calculator skills on the receipt

Reluctant learners – everyone has a maths story (Catherine Byrne)

No-one has no maths – work from the tip of the iceberg and uncover the learners’ knowledge together
Listen to and acknowledge the learner’s maths story (maybe tell yours too)
Log and park the learner’s maths story and start a new chapter together
Demonstrate care for your learner and passion for your subject

Numeracy as social practice (Nuala Broderick)

Find out what the learner does in maths in everyday life e.g. online gambling and hook that to new learning
Use a clock face chart and/or images to prompt learners to let you know what they have done in the past 24 hours. Unpick the maths in their activities and fit them to the curriculum
Use numbers from the world at large to develop critical thinking
Connect with the learner’s mindset to shift the mindset of maths anxiety

Problem solving (Mark Prendergast)
Mathematical knowledge and skills have little value if they cannot be applied to new or unfamiliar situations (Ubuz, 1994:367)

Have a look at some Problem Solving Strategies on the new look projectmaths.ie website
Try Polya’s Four Stages of problem solving :

understand the problem
devise a plan
carry out the plan
look back/ review

Technology in the numeracy classroom (Suzanne Smith)

IXL Online practice and lessons in Maths (links to the school curriculum)
mathseverywhere.org.uk an interactive learning tool to help deal with the numbers and calculations in everyday life
Check out the websites, apps and resources in What Really Counts Next

Some good sites to visit:

Rug.ie: Really Useful Guide to Words & numbers-downloadable worksheets.
Cookie.ie: Loads of useful worksheets on spelling, fractions etc.
Resources.Writeon.ie: Worksheets & Video Clips from NALA’s Read Write Now.
Have you got maths eyes: Ideas & worksheets that make real life maths more visible.
Consumer Classroom – this links to the financial literacy page of this huge website, with loads of downloadable resources and online teaching resources.

Are there any sites you find useful that should be on this list? Please email them to your organiser for submission to the Webmaster Committee

Category: Teaching and Learning

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