Esl intermediate writing games

Draw a handmade map or grab one off of the internet. Divide the students into two teams. Then, have one student from each team come to the whiteboard with marker in hand. Ask how to go from point A to point B on the map. Each student, with the help of his or her team, must quickly write coherent directions turn left, turn right, go east, go west, etc. This writing activity has the potential for several modifications to spice it up, but the essential idea is that the class, as a group, creates a story line by line.

Depending on the age, maturity level, and preferences of students, you might put content limitations in place or interject with your own sentences from time to time to keep the story on a productive track. Nearly everyone uses social media; they identify with it; they engage with it. Instead of fighting students to stay off of their phones in class, why not consider crafting your own Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram posts together as a class?

In English writing, more is not always better. The stage at which ESL students begin to develop advanced writing skills and become more confident is the right time to begin to introduce the concept of brevity and its benefits. Start by offering your own writing sample that is chock full of redundancies, extraneous details, and non-sequiturs. Point some of them out yourself so that they know what to look for.

Ask your students to shorten the story by half while keeping the original meaning and the critical details. For some advanced ESL students who are either working already or will soon join the workforce, the ability to translate spoken English into written form quickly and accurately is an important skill. Help them develop this skill set by selecting a text that is commensurate with their comprehension level. The text should be about words. Students will listen and transcribe what they are hearing as quickly as possible.

Emphasize the equal importance of accuracy and speed. Devising effective ESL writing activities — and, equally importantly, adapting them to match the needs, interests, and social context of your students — requires a good bit of trial and error. To get started developing high-quality writing activities for your students, take a look at our list of free lesson plans. They are full of effective teaching strategies that are backed by years of practical success in ESL classrooms around the globe.

Your email address will not be published. No SPAM, ever. Read our Privacy Policy. Post a Job Dashboard Register Menu. Teaching Tips. Ben Bartee October 27, No Comments. Share on facebook. Check professional academic writing services on SmartWritingService. The aim of the activity is to create stories by collaborating with classmates using three words at a time. Student Level: Beginner , Intermediate , Advanced. Age Group: Kids , Adults. The Dictogloss writing activity is an excellent collaborative English lesson that incorporates all core language skills.

Student Level: Intermediate , Advanced. Have you ever tried doing a running dictation in your English classroom? This ESL writing activity will also help students elevate their listening, speaking, and reading skills. It is a great collaborative activity for pairs and group work. This activity is appropriate for all ages and levels.

Error Correction Worksheet — Identify and correct the mistakes in the paragraph. Writing Lesson: The Elements of a Letter — Introduction to the elements of a letter greeting, body, conclusion. Error Correction: Conjunctions — Identify and correct the mistakes in the letter. The writing lessons and worksheets below are taken from our book Write Right: Transitions , available for instant download! Topic Sentences Introduction — Introduction to topic sentences and their function in a formal paragraph.

Introduction to Similes and Metaphors — Using similes and metaphors to write interesting topic sentences. Similes and Metaphors Review — Practice describing people and things using similes and metaphors. Topic Sentences Review — Practice writing topic sentences. The Body of a Paragraph Introduction — Introduction to the body of a paragraph and the information that should be contained therein.

The Body of a Paragraph Review — Practice thinking of information to use in the body of a paragraph. Concluding Sentences Introduction — Introduction to concluding sentences and their function in a paragraph. Concluding Sentences Review — Practice writing concluding sentences. Sentence Fragments and Complete Sentences — Introduction to sentence fragments and a review exercise to practice identifying them.

Run-on Sentences — Worksheet to practice correcting run-on sentences. Comma Splices and Conjunctions — Worksheet to practice using conjunctions correctly to fix comma splices. Semi-colons — Introduction to this often baffling piece of punctuation, with a review exercise.