Getting Literate
The following links will take you to a variety of literacy skills websites. These may be of use to help improve some areas of your grammar, spelling and vocabulary use, alongside the key skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Remember, working on improving your literacy skills will enable you to become better writers, readers and speakers of English. If you go to Google and enter “Grammar”, “Grammar exercises” or "literacy skills" many other useful sites will come up for you.
Class Work
Quill is a website that we will be using in our English lessons to help develop your writing skills in English. It is an excellent site that is full of various activities that can stretch and develop your abilities in English. The weblink will take you to the main site and from there you will need to sign up and then I will give you your class code in order for you to start the activities.
Literacy Skills Websites
BBC Skillswise offers help in improving the key skills of reading, writing and speaking and listening. It also offers help in building your expertise in word, sentence grammar and spelling. The site is aimed at adults, but it is easily accessible for students of your age, so don't let that put you off!!
Language Arts Go Grammar has a veritable plethora of games related to grammar, vocabulary and spelling. There is even another link at the bottom of the page for more games! You may find some of the games quite simple, but they do range in complexity and difficulty, so have fun playing and let me know how you get on!
The Gallaudet University English Center website contains links to help you with writing, reading, grammar and vocabulary. This website has a mixture of information to help improve your literacy skills, alongside some more interactive activities. Even though the website says it has been recently updated, some links don't appear to work. However, persevere with it as it is a useful site!
Internet 4 Classrooms Language Arts has a vast array of resources to help meet all sorts of English needs. There are literally hundreds of interactive resources to help you in developing a wide range of English related skills. You'll have to have a good look around the website and try out the different games and quizzes!
The link to the Glencoe Online Writer's Choice website takes you to its Sitemap. From here, you can pick activities from a variety of Grade levels (the Grades are the equivalent of our Years - i.e. Grade 7 = Year 7). There are lots and lots of activities to select from that mainly cover grammar, vocabulary, spelling and proof-reading. I've tried this site out and while many links work, some are defunct, so just keep this in mind when navigating your way around the site!
The English Zone is a fantastic website with a wealth of resources in the form of mini lessons and interactive activities. The website covers everything from grammar, reading and writing to spelling, vocabulary and pronunciation!
This website may be of help in developing your vocabulary. You have to register to join (which is free) but then there are games to play and different activities that help expand the bank of words that you use and understand. There is also a link to vocabulary and its meaning from a wide range of books also. Check out the site and let me know what you think!
This website allows you to play a whole host of quizzes that are dedicated to spelling. Some of the quizzes will be easier than others, but work your way through the different quizzes and let me know what you think - you can always find other spelling websites by searching "spelling websites" in Google!
Literacy Skills Books
Apart from websites, there are many books that you can buy to help improve your literacy. If you want to buy a book, it is very important that you have a look at the book first and see if it will meet your needs. Some books that may be of help are:
Grammar Books
“English Grammar in Use - Intermediate Edition” (Third Edition) by Raymond Murphy, Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 978-0521537629
This book has lots of units on grammar and each unit has straightforward activities to help embed your learning. There are also additional exercises along with an answer key. Some copies of the book also come with a CD Rom to further aid learning.
"Macmillan English Grammar in Context - Intermediate Edition" by Michael Vince, Macmillan, ISBN: 978-1405071437
This book covers numerous grammar rules along with activities to help develop your grammatical accuracy. It also contains a glossary of words to help develop your vocabulary, a list of some of the more trickier verbs, an answer key to check your work and a CD Rom of the book with extra resources for each unit of study.
For both books, try out the activities, check your answers and then we can talk and clarify your understanding where needs be.
"Good Grammar" by Graham King, Collins, ISBN 978-0004723747
This book doesn't contain any activities, but it takes you through grammar and punctuation rules in language that is very simple and straightforward. It's a good book to refer back to!
This book has lots of units on grammar and each unit has straightforward activities to help embed your learning. There are also additional exercises along with an answer key. Some copies of the book also come with a CD Rom to further aid learning.
"Macmillan English Grammar in Context - Intermediate Edition" by Michael Vince, Macmillan, ISBN: 978-1405071437
This book covers numerous grammar rules along with activities to help develop your grammatical accuracy. It also contains a glossary of words to help develop your vocabulary, a list of some of the more trickier verbs, an answer key to check your work and a CD Rom of the book with extra resources for each unit of study.
For both books, try out the activities, check your answers and then we can talk and clarify your understanding where needs be.
"Good Grammar" by Graham King, Collins, ISBN 978-0004723747
This book doesn't contain any activities, but it takes you through grammar and punctuation rules in language that is very simple and straightforward. It's a good book to refer back to!
Spelling
“Oxford A-Z of Spelling” by Catherine Soanes and Sheila Ferguson, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199233472
This book contains a dictionary of words, alongside spelling rules, when to use word endings and beginnings and accurate use of apostrophes and hyphens.
This book contains a dictionary of words, alongside spelling rules, when to use word endings and beginnings and accurate use of apostrophes and hyphens.
Vocabulary
"Vocabulary Expander" by Graham King, Collins, ISBN 9780004723822
According to Amazon, this book enables you to "dramatically increase your word power. The majority of the population have a vocabulary of less than 10,000 words: this guide shows you how to go dramatically beyond that" in a way that is simple and easy to remember.
According to Amazon, this book enables you to "dramatically increase your word power. The majority of the population have a vocabulary of less than 10,000 words: this guide shows you how to go dramatically beyond that" in a way that is simple and easy to remember.