Guidance

We live in an era where some young people will rarely admit to 'not knowing'.
Our experience at the centre is that some learners will say they understand things when clearly they don't.
The English programs we have created require learners to be 'supported'.
If left to themselves they will 'play the games' they can do and 'not try' those they think look difficult.
Learning supporters therefore will still have to 'monitor' their learners' progress.
Some learners will happily stay in the 'comfort zone' and not push themselves to learn that which they find difficult.
Our program draws together hundreds of safe, educational, interesting and interactive websites.
Our aim is to educate not entertain but we also believe that learning should be FUN

Learn English
Click here to 'Test Your English'
This is a series of simple 10 multiple choice question tests.
The first 3 questions should be easy for all learners. The second 3 are set at a higher level.
The third 3 are set at a higher level still and the last should be difficult.
As the tests are multi-choice anyone taking the test should not get a score of less than 3.
Anyone truthfully getting all correct should not need to do that particular English topic.

Click here for 'Extra work'
We have included some sheets to print out if you wish to encourage learners to do some extra work.
These can be marked on-line but again the results have to be truthful to give a true indication of understanding.

The English Programs

We, at the centre, constantly search the internet for safe, educational and fun activities.
Each is then catalogued under specific topic areas which are covered in school.
The learners who come to the centre range in age from 8 - 14.
Each of the following topics are organised into a sequence of activities from what should be simple through to more difficult.
These topics will be ever changing as more appropriate and/or better quality websites are found and included.
Those websites which are not used in the program, either because they are too young for our learners or we have already suitable material, are still available via internal links.

We have included a short explanation below each topic link to help 'learning supporters' understand why we have included the link and what learners should get from the activity.

Each topic is set out in a similar format so that learners can easily find their way around the activities.
Early Spelling
A collection of excellent early spelling activities.

Long Vowel Sounds
A collection of activities in which learners are involved in activities concerning long vowel sounds.

Alphabetical Order
A collection of activities concerning alphabetical order to five places.

Phonemes
A collection of 10 postcards in which learners are involved in activities concerning phonemes.

Spywatch
An excellent BBC Story involving activities on alphabetical order, homophones and vocabulary.

Writing in sentences
A series of activities around constructing sentences and altering words within them.

Capital Letters, full stops and opposites
A series of activities around capital letters, full stops and opposites.

Escape the Maze
A series of activities around spelling, silent letters and syllables.

Full stops, commas and compound words
A series of activities around full stops, commas and compound words.

Sentences
A series of activities around what a sentence is and how to create them.

Spelling and Vocabulary 1
A series of activities around basic spellings.

Spelling and Vocabulary 2
A series of activities around basic spellings.

Spelling and Vocabulary 3
A series of activities around basic spellings.

Catch that Horse
A series of activities around regular and irregular plural nouns and homophones.

Nouns under construction
A series of activities around what nouns are and how they are used.

Catch that Thief
A series of activities around plural nouns, prefixes, suffixes and apostrophes.

Punctuation
A series of activities around the use of capital letters, full stop, commas, speech marks, question marks and exclamation marks.

Word Games

Fowl Words
An excellent game which encourages learners to create words from a series of letters.

Letter Rip
Another excellent game but more difficult than Fowl Words. This time the letters are in a grid and words can only be made from letters next door to each other.

Word Spell
Another excellent game similar to Fowl Words where available letters lay on a 'scrabble tray'. Like Fowl Words the game is about making as many words as possible from the available letters.

Letter Lassoo
An unusual version of a wordsearch where words found are 'lasooed', they disappear and a new set of letters slide in the fill the gap.

Wordo
Once again a game where you have to make words from letters next door to each other. However, this time they are falling from the top of the screen and you have to be aware that when a column reaches the top of the screen the game is over. The pressure this puts the player under negates the benefit of the spellings achieved.

Word Spy
A game similar in format to Letter Rip. The letters available are set in a grid. Words can only be made by using letters next door to each other. As letters are used others take their place.

Scrambled Word
There are a number of spelling categories to choose from. Letters then appear in a random order. You have to 'unscramble' the letters to form a word. This does require a level of vocabulary as well as spelling.

Thesaurus Tangle
An excellent game similar to Scrambled Word where letters are available to be unscrambled to form a word. Clues as to the type of word, eg opposites, are given. This does again require a level of vocabulary as well as spelling.

Topic Tangle
An excellent game similar to Scrambled Word and Thesaurus Tangle where letters are available to be unscrambled to form a word. Clues as to the type of word, eg clothes, are given. This does again require a level of vocabulary as well as spelling.