Resources and Activities for Low-Literacy Students

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………..……………………………………..2

Tips for Teaching Low-Literacy Students……………………………………………………...3

Activities for Reading……………………………………………………..……………………..4

Reading, Writing and Word-Recognition Activities…………………………………………...5

Large Letters to Cut Out…………………………………….…………………………………..7

Traceable Letters/Numbers……………………………………………………………………..9

Activities by Topic………………...…………………………………………………………….11

Personal Information………………………………………………………………………..12

Time and Dates……………………………………………………………………………..16

Weather and Clothing………………………………………………………………………20

Health……………………………………………………………………………………….26

Introduction

Low-literacy students are students who cannot read or write at all in their native language, or cannot read and write very well. This may be because the student comes from a pre-literate culture—one where there is no written language—or because they had little or no formal schooling. Students may also struggle with writing in English if their native language does not use the Roman alphabet.

Although low-literacy students in the Level 1 class at CLUES can participate in the same listening and speaking activities as the other students, there is likely a wide gap between the reading and writing abilities of students who are comfortable with the Roman alphabet and literate in their own language, and students who are still working on forming letters and words. Sometimes it is necessary to modify activities for low-literacy students, or give them different activities altogether if the class is working on an activity, like paragraph-writing, that is very focused on reading or writing. The activities provided here are mainly for use in the case that the class is working on a reading or writing activity that is too advanced for low-literacy students. In those cases, low-literacy students can be given alternative activities that will be at a more appropriate level for them.

Pages four through six describe several alternative activities that low-literacy students can work on when the class is doing something that requires a high level of literacy. These are a good guide, because all of the activities described on these pages can be applied to many situations. Some examples activities based on the vocabulary and themes in the Level 1 curriculum are listed after those general activities are explained.

Tips for Teaching Low-Literacy Students

A compilation of advice from experts

Use a font that’s easy to read
Comic Sans, Century Gothic, and Futura are all examples of fonts that use g’s and a’s that look more like what people typically write
Use consistent fonts
try to use the same font for all materials used in a lesson
Be patient
realize that it takes a long time to learn to write for the first time; progress will not be instant
Be clear about classroom expectations
many adult learners—particularly low-literacy learners—do not have a lot of formal schooling, and do not know that they should raise their hands in class, keep phones quiet, etc.
Realize that students may have a hard time with abstract concepts
If your students have little formal schooling, things like putting foods into categories like dessert, dinner, and lunch may cause more confusion that you expect. Students may also have problems understanding what things like stick figures or other 2D drawings represent, and may require extra explanation
Teach materials that relate to students’ lives
Most of CLUES’ lesson plans are already focused around a theme such as food or work that is relevant to the students’ lives. This helps them connect to the material, and engages students
Minimize the amount of writing on the board
Many students want to write down everything that is written on the board, and do not know what things are important and what are not. Low-literacy students in particular write slowly and may not have the multi-tasking skills to listen while they are concentrating on writing

Activities for when the class is given a reading activity

These are activities that low-literacy students can work on when the class is given a reading activity. These activities all allow students to work with the same materials as the rest of the class, at their level.

Find the letter in the text: If the students have been focusing on learning certain letters, have students find those letters in the text. Have them circle the letter each time they see it, and perhaps count up the number of times that it occurs. This allows them to work with the same text as the rest of the class, on an activity that is more appropriate to their level.

Find vocabulary words in a text: Give students a list of the vocabulary words that you’ve been working on that can be found in the text. Have students circle each vocabulary word they find, and count up how many times each word occurs in the text.Giving students the vocabulary words they are searching for along with a picture of what that vocabulary word means can be especially helpful.

Reconstruct story with sentence strips: This activity may require the teacher to retype a story if they’re photocopying a story from one of the workbooks. However, it is simple: cut out each sentence in a separate strip, and have the students reconstruct the story. Even if students do not understand the whole story, it helps them recognize where sentences begin and end, and recognize which letters/words are the same.

Reconstruct sentences from words: This is basically the same as the previous exercise. The teacher can cut up the first one or two sentences from the story and have students put the words in the correct order, by looking at the original sentence.

Partner low-literacy students with advanced students: If there is a small reading component to the activity, such as reading comprehension questions for something that the class just listened to, partnering low-literacy students with the most advanced students in the class can be an effective way to allow low-literacy students to do the same activity that the rest of the class is doing. Have the advanced student read the written component to the low-literacy student, and have the low-literacy student help answer the questions and do the activity, even if they only help orally. If the advanced student writes down the answer that they come up with together, the low-literacy student can also copy down the answer to practice writing. Pairing advanced students with someone who needs extra help also keeps those students engaged.

Reading, Writing and Word-Recognition Activities

These activities can be used when the class is working on writing sentences or paragraphs, or when the class is doing a reading that is beyond the level of low-literacy students. The activities are arranged from easiest to hardest. Obviously, which activities would be appropriate alternatives is up to the discretion of the teacher, and depends on the level of the students.

Match upper- and lower-case letters: Give students cut-outs of both the upper- and lower-case letters on pages 7 and 8 below. Have students match upper-case and lower-case letters. Alternatively, you can check out the worksheets here: for more ideas for practice matching upper- and lower-case letters

Trace letters:This activity is for students who need practice forming letters in the alphabet. One letter-tracing worksheet is on page 9 and a number-tracing one on page 10. Others can be found at

Copy vocabulary words:(examples below) This can come in two forms:

Simply have the word and space for the students to copy the same vocabulary word a couple times in a row, next to a picture of what the word means
Have one page with the words associated with pictures, and another that has the same pictures and blank spaces to be filled in. This is a little more difficult than number 1.

Match letters to words:(examples below) Give students cut-out letters (see below—you can give students either the whole alphabet or only the letters they need) and have them reproduce the vocabulary words learned that day with the letters. Depending on the level of the students, you can accompany the vocabulary words with pictures.

Find letters or words in a magazine: CLUES has a ton of magazines that can be used for this purpose. This is the same as “find the letter in the text” above, but using a magazine.

Match words to words:(examples below) This can be done in two ways:

Matching a vocabulary word to the exact same word on the other side of a worksheet
Matching an upper-case vocabulary word to the same lower-case vocabulary word on the other side of a worksheet, to help connect upper- and lower-case words together.

Match flashcards: (examples below) The flashcards can either have pictures or not, depending on the level of students. Giving students one flashcard with a picture and one without can help students focus on the words, while still giving them the help of seeing a picture.A good resource for flashcards is

Play Go Fish: This can use the same flashcards from above. This requires more explanation than the other activities, and is only appropriate when there is enough time and it is not necessary to keep quiet.

Word search:(examples below) This can help students with recognizing words and letters. You can easily make your own word search with the vocabulary words you are focusing on at You can also find a word search for each week’s topic in the materials below.

Scrambled Vocabulary: (examples below) Take vocabulary words and scramble them—for example, turn sneeze into zenees. Give students a word bank and have them unscramble the letters into the correct words.

Give students a picture-story: For more advanced low-literacy students, you can give them a simple story that’s accompanied by pictures, to aid with comprehension. CLUES has a book full of simple picture stories.

Fill-in-the-blank sentences: If you have more advanced low-literacy students, who aren’t at the level of writing a whole paragraph or whole original sentences but can do some reading/writing, fill-in-the-blank sentences are a good stepping stone. (This could also be a good full-class activity, depending on the level of the class.) Give the student a simple sentence with one or two blanks. For example, if you are talking about food, you can give the students the following: “I like to eat ______.” Have the student fill in the blank with different foods. You can either have the student copy the whole sentence or just fill in the blank, depending on level.

Large Upper-Case letters to cut out (with some repetition for common letters)

Font used: Comic Sans MS, size 72. Can make more letters by putting them in a table in Microsoft Word, or by printing this multiple times

A / A / B / C / D
E / E / F / G / H
I / J / K / L / M
N / O / O / P / Q
R / S / T / T / U
V / W / X / Y / Z

Large Lower-Case letters to cut out (with some repetition for common letters)

Font used: Comic Sans MS, size 72. Can make more letters by putting them in a table in Microsoft Word, or by printing this multiple times

a / a / b / c / d
e / e / f / g / h
i / j / k / l / m
n / o / o / p / q
r / s / t / t / u
v / w / x / y / z

Traceable worksheet for alphabet practice:

Traceable worksheet for number practice:

Activities by Topic

Although the activities listed on pages 4-6 can be done with any set of vocabulary and any lesson, I’ve included a few examples of activities, organized by topic. The topics correspond with the themes currently taught each week for CLUES’ level 1 class. The activities may not be relevant to the vocab taught each day, but it’s easy to create new, similar activities.

Theme 1: Personal Information

Activity 1: Word Search

Find the words listed below

In The Classroom

X L W U Q R T W V V K T K X U

I M K H I N O V L C E X V S U

P M R A I M F B B A F O N V Q

D C H D Z T T R C O V D O Z N

M C Q Z A P E H W D P Y T P V

L U T M M H E B E P A P E R L

H I E X P R X K O G N R B Q D

N U C F V I C J J A Y P O E Y

T W Y N U Y K G G L R I O L I

Y A U S E U O J Q E H D K B R

M Q H U B P L E E Z V P B A X

A A Q A G X V E T T K L E T H

G V Q R T Q L Q T V I A V N L

H W J T Y H A G D A H G G T B

T N E D U T S K L F V Z O Y V

CHAIR

NOTEBOOK

PAPER

PEN

PENCIL

STUDENT

TABLE

TEACHER

WHITEBOARD

Activity 2: Match Letters to Words:

C / H / A / I / R
T / A / B / L / E
P / A / P / E / R
P / E / N / C / I / L
N / O / T / E / B / O / O / K
W / H / I / T / E / B / O / A / R / D

Activity 2 (for teachers):

Letters to cut out and give to students:

W / H / I / T / E / B / O / A / R / D
C / H / A / I / R / T / A / B / L / E
P / A / P / E / R / P / E / N / C / I
L / N / O / T / E / B / O / O / K

Activity 3: Match Words to Words:

Part 1: Match the word on the left with the same word on the right

CHAIRTABLE

TABLENOTEBOOK

PENWHITEBOARD

PENCILPAPER

NOTEBOOKPEN

WHITEBOARDSTUDENT

STUDENTPENCIL

TEACHERTEACHER

PAPERCHAIR

Part 2: Match the upper-case word on the left with the same lower-case word on the right

CHAIRnotebook

TABLEwhiteboard

PENpaper

PENCILpencil

NOTEBOOKteacher

WHITEBOARDchair

STUDENTpen

TEACHERstudent

PAPERtable

Theme 2: Time and Dates

Activity 1: Word Search

Find the words listed below

Days of the Week

W D Y C S S U Y K Q L M S Y J

N V U A S U A H M F K O M A C

B D V T D D N F A O T N S D N

I W D Y R S R D Z F K D K S F

H K H U J I E M A B R A H R X

N I T G D F B N O Y I Y X U M

X A T A T X D V D L M U V H O

S R Y P L X P K Z E U O B T N

T D B Q Q F U S S J W Q P B M

W G L U A S B U P P Z U R H I

T U E S D A Y O D Z G B Z N R

V W U P D X D O T V C G V I R

P Z N G V V V H A J B E U D V

A F E X D A P I J E Y G Z J J

J S C P N X X K M A T G Z Q U

FRIDAY

MONDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

THURSDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

Activity 2: Match Words to Words:

Part 1: Match the word on the left with the same word on the right

SUNDAYFRIDAY

SATURDAYSATURDAY

FRIDAYMONDAY

WEDNESDAYTUESDAY

THURSDAYSUNDAY

MONDAYWEDNESDAY

TUESDAYTHURSDAY

Part 2: Match the upper-case word on the left with the same lower-case word on the right

SUNDAYsaturday

SATURDAYsunday

FRIDAYmonday

WEDNESDAYfriday

THURSDAYtuesday

MONDAYthursday

TUESDAYwednesday

Activity 3: Flashcards:

Use for Go Fish or for matching. Source:

Theme 3: Weather & Clothing

Activity 1: Word Search

Find the words listed below

Clothing

H S T S S N U V R D A A N P

A E G T K D D J R C S R T D

C E O K U C E K M D F R O Q

V O S R B A O U O E U A U G

B P Q H N X Z S J W C G J O

C A W S I T R I K S T P P A

X P J T X R C O I Z B P S V

S F N M U J T D Q L Y X C D

J A C K E T P H A T Z U S S

T A F B E U A C C X A G J E

C R W B R H N K R U Q P P O

P O X K D G T A W Q L R O H

V F S S S T S O B P R M G S

C F W G V A X G X X C M B C

BOOTS

HAT

JACKET

JEANS

PANTS

SHIRT

SHOES

SKIRT

SOCKS

Activity 2: Matching flashcards

Match the cards with pictures to the cards without pictures

boots
dress
hat
pajamas
coat / gloves
jacket / pants

Activity 3: Match Letters to Words

B / O / O / T / S
C / O / A / T
G / L / O / V / E / S
P / A / N / T / S
H / A / T
P / A / J / A / M / A / S

Activity 3 (for teachers):

Letters to cut out and give to students:

P / A / J / A / M / A / S / H
A / T / P / A / N / T / S / G
L / O / V / E / S / C / O / A
T / B / O / O / T / S

Theme 4: Health

Activity 1: Copy Vocabulary Words:

Part 1: Pictures with words

Part 2: Write the words

Activity 2: Scrambled Words:

Write the correct word next to each scrambled word. All the scrambled words are words that appear at the bottom of this page.

MAR_ _ _
SNEO_ _ _ _
GLE_ _ _
CKNE_ _ _ _
EKEN_ _ _ _
REA_ _ _
LHUSORED______
LWOEB_ _ _ _ _
NHDA_ _ _ _

10. TOOF_ _ _ _

Choose from the following words:

LEG
HAND
EAR

SHOULDER

ELBOW

KNEE

NOSE

ARM

NECK

FOOT

Activity 3: Match Words to Words:

Part 1: Match the word on the left with the same word on the right

HEADACHECOUGH

FEVERSORE THROAT

STOMACHACHERUNNY NOSE

SORE THROATHEADACHE

RUNNY NOSESNEEZE

COUGHSTOMACHACHE

SNEEZEFEVER

Part 2: Match the upper-case word on the left with the same lower-case word on the right

HEADACHErunny nose

FEVERsore throat

STOMACHACHEsneeze

SORE THROATcough

RUNNY NOSEfever

COUGHheadache

SNEEZEstomachache

The City

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Food & Restaurants

Shopping

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Employment

Sources