YMCA WALES
COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
LEVEL TWO AWARD IN YOUTH WORK
ESSENTIAL SKILLS GUIDE
Introduction
The purpose of this guide is to give you some useful ideas and study skills that
you may want to ‘brush up’ on before you embark upon your written assignments.
At The YMCA Wales Community College, we are committed to providing you with
the tools and support you require to complete your course of study.
The tips and ideas included in this booklet are designed to give you a refresher
and provide you with some practical ideas and suggestions – we want you to
succeed with your studies and are on hand if you require any further support.
If you have any concerns or areas that you feel you would benefit from when
studying with us, please let us know. In the space below make sure you have the
name and contact information of your tutor.
Tutor:………………………………………………………………
Contact Number…………………………………………….
Email…………………………………………………………………
Level 2 – Award in Youth Work
Learner support materials for level 2
As you work your way through your file you will come across some words that
may be unfamiliar or that you find difficult to spell. We have made a list of
those words and their meanings that you can refer back to.
approaches
to begin to deal with, come close or closer to, a way of dealing with
attitudes
the way a person views something, can be positive or negative
boundaries
limit
colleagues
fellow worker, professional
curriculum
course of study
description
the act of describing, statement or account
Development
process of growing, a fact or event that changes a situation
diversity
quality of being different or varied
educative
impart knowledge, to provide schooling for
empathetic
the power of imaginatively entering into and understanding another
person’s feelings.
empowering
to give the power or authority to do something
enthusiasm
lively interest or eagerness
expressive
full of expression
facilitate
assist the progress of
governmental
political authority, policy making body of a country or state
identity
individual characteristics by which a person or thing is recognised;
individuality, personality
inequality
lack of equality
intervention
the act of intervening, prevent conflict
opportunities
a favourable combination of circumstances, a good chance or prospect
participative
to become actively involved in
practice
to work at; to do something regularly
qualities
distinguishing characteristics; feature or personality
Use the space below to write down any words you find difficult to spell.
Spelling it right
Every day we are faced with challenging words that we need to spell and using
predictive text on our mobile phones and spell check on the computer only make
the problem worse!
Do you find spelling on a day to day basis difficult? Do you dread completing
sections in your file? Are there certain words that you always stumble over?
How do you deal with difficult words?
In the space below make a few notes on spelling and how you spell.
Many of us find it hard to put pen to paper and complete the written sections in
our folders – you may even put it off as you feel shaky or unsure of certain
spellings.
There are many ways in which we can develop our spelling techniques; here are a
few of them.
1 – Use a dictionary
There is nothing wrong with using dictionary or an electronic spell checker –
particularly for complicated words – the drawback is that you need to know
which word you can’t spell in order to look it up correctly!
2- Practice writing it down
Simply write the word you have difficulty in spelling down several times – this
will help you ‘see’ the word as you spell it.
3-Make a reminder
If there is a word that you use regularly but always have trouble
with write it on a post it note and stick it somewhere where you
will look at it often – bathroom mirror or fridge door.
4- Look, say, cover, write, check
*
write down the word
*
look at it carefully
*
say the word out loud
*
cover up the word
*
write the word
*
check with the original
*
if the word is wrong try again until you get it right
*
repeat the steps at regular intervals until you feel happy
that you can spell the word.
5-Photograph the word
Look carefully at the word and take a photograph of it in your mind.
6- Break the word up into syllables
Break the word up into syllables and just concentrate on one syllable at a time.
For example:
Excellent becomes ex-cell-ent
7-look for words within words
You may notice that some words have smaller words in them.
There is a rat in separate; Piece has a pie in it, a piece of pie
8-Make up your own reminders
Try making up your own reminders using nonsense rhymes and connecting words.
Believe
I believe there are seven days in the week (as believe has seven letters)
Difficulty
Mrs d Mrs i Mrs f, f, i Mrs c Mrs u Mrs l, t, y!
Necessary
Draw a mental picture of a shirt with one collar (one c) and two sleeves ( 2 s)
9- Sound out silent letters
Learn words with silent letters by sounding out the silent letters and making the
word sound silly.
Gnome – g-nome
Knot – k-not
10 –Trace the letters
Using your finger trace over the words
11-Make the word
Use plasticine or scrabble tiles or fridge magnets
12-Highlight the hard bits
Highlight the hard parts of words you find difficult and draw attention to them.
Underline them or use a highlighter.
13-Say the letters or sounds
Look at the word one and read it out letter at a time. You can choose whether
it is more helpful to say the letter or the sounds.
People – p-e-o-p-l-e
Splash – s-p-l-a-s-h
14 – Groups or similar words
Do you often find you make mistakes with ‘similar’ words? There are a few good
ways of remembering!
Learn a spelling ‘rule’ – ‘i before e, except after c’ this technique can help you
remember words like ‘niece’ or ‘ceiling’.
Look for letter patterns – the pattern may be at the beginning of a word, middle
or end.
‘ch’ patterns – church
choir cheat
champion
Prefixes and suffixes
Prefix – beginning of a word
Suffix – end of a word
Examples of prefixes –
Examples of suffixes -
un
s
dis
re
ing
ed
unhappy
writes
disappoint
walking
regard
talked
15- Keep a personal dictionary
Buy a small notebook and label the pages alphabetically and write in the words
you find hard to spell and use often.
16 – Write without looking
Write the word without looking at what you are writing – shut your eyes and try
and remember what the word looks like.
17- Be active
Rather than sitting still whilst trying to practise your spellings move around –
fiddle with something like a ball or elastic band – sometimes you can become too
focused on a word to the point where it doesn’t look right.
And finally……
Have a go! Use a piece of rough paper and try spelling a difficult word first
before you think it is correct, take your time and if you are still unsure use a
dictionary for help.
How do you remember difficult words? What methods do you use to help
you remember?
Apostrophes
Apostrophes have two uses.
1. Apostrophes show you that some letters have been taken out of a word to
shorten it.
Do not becomes don’t
I will becomes I’ll
Could have becomes could’ve
The apostrophe goes where the letters have been removed. You use
apostrophes this way in informal writing. You should not shorten words when
writing formally.
BEWARE!
Sometimes words are shortened in an irregular way. The apostrophe however is
still used to show where letters are missing. For example – will not becomes
won’t.
2. Apostrophes show you that something belongs to something else.
To show belonging you add ‘s.
The girl’s file – says the file belongs to the girl.
The boy’s pen – says the pen belongs to the boy.
The car’s wheels – the wheels belong to the car.
Usually the apostrophe goes before the s.
If the owner already ends in an s, then the apostrophe goes after the s that is
already there. You just need to add an apostrophe e.g.
The Youth Workers’ files – the files belong to some Youth
Workers.
The cars’ wheels – the wheels belong to some cars.
The boys’ coats – the coats belong to some boys.
Watch out for plurals that don’t end in‘s’. Words like men and children don’t end
in s but they are talking about lots of people. These words use‘s to show
possession e.g.
The men’s hats – the hats belong to some men.
The women’s house – the house belongs to some women.
Adverbs
What are adverbs?
Adverbs are words that tell us more about verbs…they add information to the
verb. (*reminder – a verb is a ‘doing’ word or a ‘being’ word, e.g. ‘walk’, ‘feel’)
Using adverbs makes a sentence more interesting.
Any verb you use can have an adverb added.
The girl smiled nervously as she handed in her assignment.
The boy grinned sheepishly as he met his tutor.
We use adverbs:
to say how something happens
e.g. ‘The family walk (how?) quickly.’
to say where or when something happens
e.g. ‘I collected the file (when?) yesterday.’
to say how often something happens
e.g. ‘I meet with my tutor weekly.’
to make the meaning of an adjective, adverb or verb stronger or weaker
e.g. ‘Catherine drives (degree?) more slowly than her husband.’
Adverbs are often created from adjectives (*reminder – an adjective is a
describing word that tell you more about nouns) by adding ‘ly’to the end of the
adjective eg slow becomes slowly, quick becomes quickly.
It is important to remember that certain words change when they become
adverbs. If an adjective ends in a ‘y’ you need to change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ before
adding ‘ly’.
Happy becomes happily
Heavy becomes heavily
Position of Adverbs
There are three places in the sentence where adverbs can come.
At the beginning of a sentence:
‘Suddenly I had earache.’
‘Recently I had earache.’
In the middle of a sentence:
‘I suddenly had earache.’
‘I recently had earache.’
At the end of a sentence:
‘I had earache suddenly.’
‘I had earache recently.’
How do you know where the adverb goes?
Most kinds of adverbs can go in ‘mid position’ (before the verb) in a sentence:
‘I’m usually working at weekends.’
‘I never said I liked you.’
Other adverbs may fit more comfortably at the beginning or end of a sentence:
‘Yesterday I met with my Youth Worker.’
‘I met with my Youth Worker yesterday.’
The best way to know if the order is right is to say the sentence to yourself.
Does it sound right?
‘She often is late’
‘She is often late’ sounds better.
Spotting Adverbs
Adverbs are quite complicated. You cannot tell by the look of a word that it is
an adverb. You can recognise it is an adverb only by the work it does in a
sentence. A word may be an adverb in one sentence and a different part of
speech in another sentence.
‘The meeting with the Youth Workers went well’ here the word well describes
how the meeting went, so it is an adverb.
‘The well was drained by morning’ Here well names something, so it is a noun.
‘The well water tasted disgusting.’ Here well is being used to name a type of
water, so it is not describing a verb.
‘ly’ on the end of a word is a good clue that it is an adverb. Many adverbs are
made by adding ‘ly’ to the end of adjectives e.g. careful (adjective) becomes
carefully (adverb).
BEWARE!
Some ending in ‘ly’ are never used as adverbs for example – friendly, lonely,
lovely.
Look out for adverbs that have the same form as adjectives. ‘Hard’ and ‘early’
are both adjectives (*reminder adjective – describe people, places and things)
and adverbs.
 ‘It’s still early’. Adjective
 ‘We arrived early.’ Adverb
 ‘he works very hard.’ Adverb
 ‘He’s a hard man to know.’ Adjective
Where can I go for more help?
If you feel that you would benefit from some more help with
your literacy skills you can use the information listed below.
You can contact your local council using the numbers or links below.
If your council isn’t listed ask your tutor for help.
My local council is___________________________________________
http://www.rhondda-cynon-taff.gov.uk Telephone: 01443 744000
http://www.torfaen.gov.uk Telephone: 01495 762200
http://www.merthyr.gov.uk Telephone: 01685 725000
http://www.cardiff.gov.uk Telephone: 02920 872000
http://www.bridgend.gov.uk/ Telephone: 01656 643643
http://www.swansea.gov.uk/ Telephone: 01792 636000
http://www.newport.gov.uk Telephone: (01633) 656656
Other Organisations can also help, these include:
http://www.learndirect.co.uk Telephone: 0808 101 901
http://essentialskillswales.co.uk