F U N C T I O N A L S K I L L S E N G L I S H · L E V E L 1
Two Texts, One Topic: Information and Opinions
READING · LESSON 2 OF 10
Lesson by English
This lesson contains 19 slides, with interactive quizzes and text slides.
F U N C T I O N A L S K I L L S E N G L I S H · L E V E L 1
Two Texts, One Topic: Information and Opinions
READING · LESSON 2 OF 10
Functional Skills English Level 1 · Reading · Lesson 2 of 10 (about 60 minutes)
Covers: subject content 10 (compare information, ideas and opinions in different texts), with links to 9 and 11. Speaking and listening run through the pair talk.
Before the lesson: print the handout (Source A and Source B are slides 7 and 8), one per learner, so learners can lay the two texts side by side.
Device-free fallback: every activity works with the printed sources, mini whiteboards and hands up.
Description: Functional Skills English Level 1 Reading, lesson 2 of 10. Learners compare two texts on the same topic, a care company's apprenticeship web page and an apprentice's honest blog post, finding information that is the same and different and telling the employer's opinions apart from the worker's.
Tags: comparing texts, compare information, compare opinions, two texts, same and different, health and social care, care apprenticeship, level 1 reading, reading comprehension, exam practice, functional skills english, functional skills level 1, further education, adult learners Image credit: Age Cymru / Unsplash
😄 Great – ready to go
🙂 Good
😐 Okay
😕 Not great today
😴 Tired
Wellbeing check: what's your week been like so far?
Phase 0 · Wellbeing check (first 2 mins)
A quick, low-stakes check-in. Only totals show, so nobody is singled out. Say: "There's no right answer. It just helps me plan today."
Act on it: if several learners choose the last two options, ease the pace and build in a pair task early. Check in privately with anyone you are concerned about, and follow your college's wellbeing and safeguarding route.
Editor note: if any emoji have not come through, re-add them in the editor.
Device-free fallback: learners show 1–5 fingers, or write a number on a sticky note face down.
Read the company's website
Look at reviews or social media
Ask someone who works there
Ask friends or family
Just start and see!
Before you start a new job, how do you find out what it's really like?
Phase 1 · Hook (2–5 mins)
No wrong answer. Vote, then ask two or three learners why they chose theirs.
Probe: "Would a company's website and a worker's story tell you the same thing? Why might they be different?" This sets up today's two texts: one from an employer, one from a worker.
Device-free fallback: hands up for each option, or stand by the corner of the room that matches your answer.
What we're doing today
R E A D I N G
Today you will
Why it matters
find information that is the same in two texts
spot what is different
tell whose opinion is whose
You compare all the time: job adverts, phone deals, reviews.
The Level 1 reading exam often gives you two texts on one topic and asks how they compare.
Phase 2 · Goals (5–7 mins)
Keep it short and practical. Comparing is something learners already do: two phone deals, two job adverts, two reviews of the same takeaway.
The Level 1 reading assessment often gives two texts on one topic and asks what they agree on, where they differ, and whose view is whose.
Device-free fallback: read the slide aloud; learners copy the three goals into their book.
What does a care assistant do in a working day?
Phase 2 · Activation (7–10 mins)
Free association. Every answer counts: helping someone wash and dress, making meals, giving medicine, chatting, shopping, writing care notes, driving between visits, early starts.
Say: "Today's texts are about starting out as a care apprentice."
Vocabulary: an apprentice learns a job while being paid, with some time at college.
Device-free fallback: pairs list as many tasks as they can in 60 seconds; collect on the board. Image credit: Age Cymru / Unsplash
Same topic, two views
Information = facts you can check: pay, hours, dates.
Opinions = what someone thinks or feels.
When you compare, always ask: who wrote it, and why?
Phase 3 · Teaching (10–13 mins)
Misconception: learners often think that if two texts disagree, one must be lying. Usually they just have different purposes: an employer wants you to apply; a worker is telling her own story.
Probe: "If a text says the job is 'amazing', is that information or opinion?" (Opinion.)
Device-free fallback: draw two overlapping circles on the board, labelled Source A and Source B. Image credit: Age Cymru / Unsplash
www.ashworthcare.org.uk/careers
SOURCE A · web page
Ashworth Community Care · Careers
Start your career in care
Earn while you learn with a paid apprenticeship
We help over 300 older and disabled people in Ashworth to live safely in their own homes. Now we are looking for care assistant apprentices to join our friendly team. It's the most rewarding job in Ashworth – and you'll love it here!
One of our apprentices at work
What you get
£9.20 an hour, rising after year one
37.5 hours a week, including some weekends
one day a week at Ashworth College
free uniform and paid travel between visits
a clear route to senior carer
Is it for you?
No experience needed – we train you from day one. You must be 16 or over, kind and a good listener.
Apply by 31 October at ashworthcare.org.uk/jobs
**Who wrote it?** The employer. They want you to **apply**, so they show the good side of the job.
**Opinions.** *The most rewarding job* and *you'll love it* are the employer's views. You can't check them.
**Information.** Pay, hours and the college day are facts you can check. Look for them in Source B too.
**Who it suits.** The employer's idea of the right person. Does Amara agree? Check Source B.
Phase 3 · Reading Source A (13–18 mins)
Learners read along on the handout while you read aloud (or a confident volunteer does). Then open the hotspots in order.
Probe: "Who wrote this, and what do they want you to do?" (The employer; they want you to apply.)
Vocabulary: rewarding means it makes you feel good about what you do; a senior carer is a more experienced carer who leads others; a route here means a way to move up.
Underline task: facts in one colour, opinions in another. Keep these for the comparison later.
Device-free fallback: printed Source A; learners underline facts and circle opinions. Image credit: Age Cymru / Unsplash
www.amarawrites.blog/three-months-in
SOURCE B · blog
Amara Writes · Blog
Three months in: the truth about care work
Posted by Amara Osei, 19 · 12 September
Three months ago I started as a care apprentice with Ashworth Community Care. Honestly? It's the best decision I've ever made.
The pay is £9.20 an hour, the same as my mate gets at the supermarket, but this job actually means something. I visit about eight people a day. Some visits are only 15 minutes, so you often feel rushed.
The early starts are brutal. My first visit is at 7am, and I work every other weekend, so I miss a lot of Sunday lunches with my family.
Amara, doing her college work
Wednesday is my college day, which is a nice breather. If you're patient and you like people, I'd say go for it.
Just buy a good alarm clock!
**Who wrote it?** Amara, an apprentice. She writes as *I*, about her own experience.
**Same information.** £9.20 an hour, just like Source A. The two texts agree on this fact.
**Opinion.** *Brutal* is Amara's feeling about the early starts. Source A never mentions them.
**Advice.** *Go for it* is Amara's view. Compare it with Source A's *you'll love it*.
Phase 3 · Reading Source B (18–23 mins)
Read the blog aloud, or ask a confident reader. Then open the hotspots.
Probe: "What does Amara say that the employer did not?" (The early starts, rushed 15-minute visits, missing family time.) "Why would the employer leave those out?"
Vocabulary: a blog is a personal web page where someone writes about their life; brutal means very harsh or hard; a breather is a short rest.
Device-free fallback: printed Source B; learners use the same two colours as for Source A. Image credit: Vitaly Gariev / Unsplash
Which information is in both Source A and Source B?
Some visits last only 15 minutes.
The pay is £9.20 an hour.
You get a free uniform.
It's the most rewarding job in Ashworth.
Phase 4 · Check (23–25 mins)
Answer: B. Both texts give the pay as £9.20 an hour.
Why the others are wrong: A is only in Source B. C is only in Source A. D is only in Source A, and it is an opinion, not information.
Probe: "How did you check? Did you look in both texts?"
Device-free fallback: learners hold up A–D cards or fingers.
Compare in 3 steps
R E A D I N G
1
Pick one topic. For example: pay, hours or weekends.
2
Find it in both texts. What does each one say about it?
3
Same or different? Say it with both, however or whereas.
Phase 3 · Teaching (25–28 mins)
Click to reveal each step. After step 3, model it aloud with the topic weekends: "Both texts say you work weekends. However, Source A just says 'some weekends', whereas Amara says every other weekend and that she misses family time."
Vocabulary: whereas means "but on the other hand". It joins two different points in one sentence.
Support: give learners the three linking words on a card to keep.
Stretch: can they compare a second topic, e.g. college?
Device-free fallback: write the three steps on the board one at a time.
Where is it? Drag each card: only A, both, or only B.
Only Source A
Both texts
Only Source B
Pay of £9.20 an hour
First visit of the day at 7am
A free uniform
A clear route to senior carer
Some visits last only 15 minutes
Working at weekends
Phase 4 · Practice (28–33 mins)
Learners check each card against both sources before they drag it. Pairs can split the job: one reads Source A, one reads Source B.
Answers: Only Source A: free uniform; a route to senior carer. Both: £9.20 an hour; working weekends. Only Source B: first visit at 7am; visits of only 15 minutes.
Device-free fallback: read each card aloud; learners show A, B or "both" on a mini whiteboard.
Whose view? Why?
R E A D I N G
Source A: the employer
Source B: Amara
Wants you to apply.
Shows the good side only.
Opinions: most rewarding, you'll love it.
Wants to share her real experience.
Shows highs and lows.
Opinions: best decision, brutal, go for it.
Phase 3 · Teaching (33–36 mins)
Comparing opinions means asking whose view it is, and why they hold it. The employer wants to recruit, so it chooses positive words. Amara has no job to fill, so she can mention the hard parts.
Misconception: "the blog is negative". It isn't: Amara calls it the best decision she has made. She is balanced: she gives highs and lows.
Device-free fallback: the same, read aloud; learners copy the two lists of opinion words.
Source A: the employer
Source B: Amara
Type one opinion from either text, then put it under the right source.
Phase 4 · Practice: opinion hunt (36–40 mins)
Each learner types one opinion at a time from either text and files it under the source it comes from. Aim for at least two each. Then read out a few from each column.
Likely answers: Source A: friendly team; the most rewarding job in Ashworth; you'll love it here. Source B: best decision I've ever made; this job actually means something; the early starts are brutal; a nice breather; go for it.
Watch for: facts filed as opinions (e.g. "£9.20 an hour"). Ask: "Could you check it?"
Device-free fallback: two columns on the board; learners come up and write one opinion each.
Complete the comparison
Both texts say the pay is £9.20 an hour. However, Source A only shows the good side, whereas Amara writes about the hard parts too.
Phase 4 · Check: the comparison frame (40–43 mins)
This is the shape of a strong comparison answer: what is the same, then what is different, joined with a linking word.
Answers: Both · However · whereas.
Distractors: "Neither" means not one or the other, so it makes the first sentence false. "Because" gives a reason, not a contrast.
Editor note: after pushing, set this fill's text to 28px in the editor.
Device-free fallback: write the two sentences on the board with gaps; learners copy and fill them in.
Exam-style practice
minute
second
Answer on paper using Source A and Source B. Look at the marks: they tell you how many things to write.
1. How much does the apprenticeship pay? (1 mark)
2. Give one piece of information that is in Source A but not in Source B. (1 mark)
3. Give one opinion Amara has about her job. (1 mark)
4. Both texts mention weekends. How are they different? (2 marks)
5. Who wrote each text, and why? (2 marks)
Starters
Only Source A says…
Amara thinks…
Source A says… whereas Source B…
Source A was written by… to…
Phase 5 · Independent practice, exam style (43–53 mins)
Learners work alone, on paper, with both sources. Start the 10-minute timer. This is the format of the Level 1 reading assessment: short questions, with the marks shown.
Support: for question 4, remind learners of the three steps: one topic, find it in both, same or different. Point to the starters.
Stretch: answer question 4 in one sentence using whereas.
Mark it together on the next slide.
Device-free fallback: the questions are written to be copied from the board or printed.
Check your answers
R E A D I N G
1. The pay
2. Only in Source A
3. Amara's opinion
4. Weekends: the difference
5. Who wrote them, and why
Both texts agree on this.
Not the pay or weekends. Those are in both.
It must be a view, not a fact like "7am".
One mark for each side of the difference.
One mark for each text.
£9.20 an hour.
Any one: free uniform, paid travel, route to senior carer, apply by 31 October.
Any one: best decision; it means something; early starts are brutal; go for it.
A says some weekends. B says every other weekend, and she misses family time.
A: the employer, to get you to apply. B: Amara, to share her real experience.
Phase 5 · Mark it (53–56 mins)
Click each yellow marker to reveal the answer. Learners mark their own work with a different colour pen and add up out of 7.
Common errors: Q2 giving the pay (that is in both). Q3 giving a fact, e.g. "she starts at 7am" (true, but not an opinion; "the early starts are brutal" is). Q4 only describing one text: a difference needs both sides.
Device-free fallback: read the answers aloud.
You can now…
R E A D I N G
find information that is the same in two texts, and what is different
tell whose opinion is whose, and why they think it
compare two texts using both, however and whereas
Phase 6 · Celebrate progress (56–57 mins)
Click to bring in each tick. Ask: "Which of these feels solid now? Which one needs more practice?" Name it as real progress: comparing two texts is one of the harder Level 1 reading skills.
Device-free fallback: learners tick the three statements in their book, adding a question mark next to any they are unsure about. Image credit: LessonUp Studio (made for this series)
Picking one topic and finding it in both
Asking who wrote each text, and why
Hunting for opinion words
Using both, however and whereas
What helped you most when comparing the two texts?
Phase 6 · Reflect (57–59 mins)
No right answer. Ask one or two learners why they chose theirs, and when they could use it outside college (e.g. comparing two job adverts or two quotes for car insurance).
Device-free fallback: thumbs up for each option, or write the strategy on an exit slip.
Take it further
R E A D I N G
Stretch: in class
Before next lesson
Choose a new topic: training.
Write two sentences comparing what Source A and Source B say about it.
Use both, however or whereas.
Find an advert: a leaflet, a menu, a web page or a poster.
Write down:
one fact you could check
one opinion the writer wants you to believe
Take it further (59–60 mins)
Stretch is for early finishers in class. A good answer names the topic, says what each text says, and uses a linking word, e.g. "Both texts mention training. However, Source A says you go to college one day a week, whereas Amara says Wednesday college is a nice breather."
Before next lesson needs no device. Learners bring their advert to Lesson 3, where we sort facts from opinions.
Device-free fallback: this slide is already paper-based.