Skilled to go - Learning everyday consumer skills

Learning everyday consumer skills - a teachers' toolkit

Skilled to go uses real life consumer situations, such as choosing a mobile phone, to help learners develop consumer skills, knowledge and confidence alongside literacy and numeracy.

This FREE toolkit of resources includes games, quizzes, role plays and case studies, plus video and audio content.

  • Teacher quotesView all

    'I wish I had known about this site previously when we covered writing letters of complaint!'
    Karen Kennedy, Literacy/ Dyslexia Support, Liverpool Adult Learning Service

Adult education resources

Find out more about Skilled to go for use with adult learners and view sample activities from the toolkit.


Who is this version for?

Launched in 2008, this toolkit is for teachers to use with adult learners working at Level 1 in a range of learning settings, such as those on literacy, numeracy and ESOL courses. 

Suggestions for differentiation and extension activities for learners working at Entry 3 and Level 2 are included. 

 Activities are also editable (downloadable in Word or Excel), so you can adapt the vocabulary or calculations to suit the level of your learners.

What's covered in the toolkit?

The toolkit is made up of five modules, focusing on:

  • Buying and selling
  • Technology
  • Utilities
  • Scams
  • Buying and running a car.

Examples of the skills that the toolkit aims to develop include the ability to:

  • research relevant information to help make consumer choices
  • consider personal needs and preferences before making a consumer decision
  • analyse the features of consumer goods and services to identify their pros and cons
  • compare consumer goods or services to make the best choice for individual circumstances
  • identify sources of help to deal with consumer problems or handle consumer problems effectively.

How is the toolkit organised?

There are two possible download options.

The original method involves downloading:

  • complete sets of Teachers' notes (glossary link) which include suggestions for delivery and consumer information for teachers for each module
  • a complete User guide (glossary link) that provides background information on Skilled to go and full curriculum references
  • each module is broken into units containing individual files that make up an activity (e.g. Activity 1a Game board, Activity 1b Game cards, etc)

New for September 2011, users can also download ready-to-go packs, which include the relevant extract from the Teachers' notes, accompanying curriculum references from the User guide, and all activity parts together in one downloadable file.

There are separate versions of the toolkit for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, to reflect differences in consumer laws and regionality.

Sample activities

England and Wales

Download Sample activity - Best buys (3.03 mb)

Scotland

Download Sample activity - Best buys (3.18 mb)

Northern Ireland

Download Sample activities - Best buys (3.03 mb)

Office of fair trading