Knowing the demands: using the starting points

Some of the everyday demands that learners face, although they may be a long way from achieving them, could include:

• making a shopping list
• applying for a driver licence or a residency visa
• writing a letter to apply for a job
• reading power and telephone bills, bank accounts, supermarket receipt
• claiming a benefit
• reading children’s school reports and letters
• writing a note to a child’s teacher
• reading the labels on medicines
• writing and/or reading classified ads (or websites) to find a flat, house or car
• reading and filling in tenancy forms, and/or
• reading a summons or charge summary.

It is therefore vital to find out about the demands and contexts that are relevant for individual learners. Wherever possible, the materials (content) should reflect these real demands and contexts. It is highly likely that you will need to adapt and create materials, and to make use of materials the learners will actually need to read and write. This resource, together with the learning progressions, provides ideas for how to include these elements in the learning process, but they are a brief guide only: every learner and situation will be different.

Regardless of the learning environment, learning will be most effective and relevant when it is organised around a personalised study plan and goal-setting that has been negotiated between the learner and the educator, and where there is regular assessment and evaluation.