Writing activity ideas for ESL classes by Citizens of Hope

"Pass-and-write" activity (Digital version)

CitizensTESOL — 2021-09-06 23:48:52 UTC

Here is our digital version of a "Pass-and-write" activity using Padlet. However, you can also facilitate this easily using Google Docs or Google Slides by sharing a single document with the whole class. For regular in-person classes, you can facilitate this activity using 1 piece of paper for each student instead. This is a great way to practice grammar and creative writing.

"Sentence-building" activity (Digital version)

CitizensTESOL — 2021-09-06 23:57:15 UTC

Here is our digital version of a "Sentence-building" activity using Padlet. However, you can also facilitate this easily using Google Docs or Google Slides by sharing a single document with the whole class, and creating a blank "table" in the document with 6 columns. For regular in-person classes, you can facilitate this activity using the whiteboard instead. This is a great way to practice grammar and parts of speech through a fun writing activity.

Sample Lesson Plan: Cassia's "Cooking Competition" writing lesson

CitizensTESOL — 2021-09-07 00:07:47 UTC

Here is a sample lesson plan using the Google Slides lesson plan template. This writing lesson incorporates a role play, realia / authentic materials in the form of menus from an actual local restaurant, and a topic that is sure to be fun, competitive, and delicious!

"Grammar Dice" Writing Game

CitizensTESOL — 2021-09-07 18:53:21 UTC

Here is a fun writing activity that uses big, colorful dice! These dice can include letters, numbers, key vocabulary from your lesson, parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.), or other fun challenges. And you can easily customize the regular cube-shaped dice to suit your next lesson by attaching Post-It Notes.

Music and ESL Writing Activity: Listen (or sing) and write-Tara

PetrovaFossil — 2021-09-17 16:15:41 UTC

One idea for a writing activity is to listen to a brief song or portion of a song. While listening, ask student to write their names on a piece of paper. On that paper, ask them to try to write down at least 5-10 words or phrases that they hear on a piece of paper. In this example, I have a link to the song from the 1960s musical, The Music Man called "Ya Got Trouble." After the class is done listening, hand in the papers. Then, hand them back out, to a different student. Each student writes a few sentences using the words or phrases on the page. Students then give it back to the person who originally wrote the words, for any corrections. If students don't know if something is correct, they can ask each other for help, or write the sentence on the board (without stating the author of the sentences) for more assistance from the class and teacher.

Simple sentences with writing prompt pictures

maryred — 2021-10-07 20:47:43 UTC

Gather pictures of various people doing various things, such as children eating in a kitchen inside along with pre-written words and phrases about the pictures that can be made into sentences. Have Ss get into groups or pairs and choose a picture with corresponding words. After looking at their picture, each group or pair of Ss write simple sentences about the picture including the subject, verb, adjective, etc., using the corresponding word cards as ideas of what to include in their sentence if needed.
If time allows, Ss may use the sentence they created in a group or pairs to expand on, writing a paragraph or whole page that relates to their sentence individually or using Pass-And-Write by passing the paper with their sentence to another Ss in the class and allowing them to add a sentence before passing to the next student who also adds a sentence and so on, so every S has their paper written on by other Ss as well as each Ss writing on another Ss papers until time runs out. Have Ss share their picture and related sentence or story with everyone in the class.

“3 Things” Writing Activity

barbarapinkley — 2021-10-30 23:57:20 UTC

Divide the class into pairs. Have students think of three random things: (objects, animals or people of some kind—for example: 1. chair, 2. cow, 3. teacher). Each student should write the words for three things on a piece of paper and give the list of 3 things to their partner.

Then, students are to write a story using all three of the things on the list in the story. It can be silly, and actually, the sillier the better! The length of the story and the time you give depends on the level of your students. Students can then share their story with their partner.

This activity could vary, depending on the level of the students. Beginner students are asked to write simple sentences in the present tense using nouns and verbs with other words they can use. Higher level students are asked to write their story in past tense, with nouns, verbs, adjectives and the wh- and h- words, and to include some -ing verbs and some infinitives.

You can also ask students to volunteer to share their stories with the class or require that students turn in a more polished version of this activity for a homework assignment.

Writing Activity: Exchange prompts

mirjamvanwijk — 2021-12-10 18:43:06 UTC

This writing activity works best on students that have a higher proficiency level, but with some creativity you can also adapt it for lower level students.
To start, each student is going to write a prompt, the beginning of a story. Put all the prompts in a bowl and pass the bowl around. Each student should now have a new prompt (make sure no one accidentally gets their own) and they can start writing the story. For lower level students you can keep it short and simple. For higher level students you can make it a bit longer and integrate more specific and advanced vocabulary.
When the stories are finish, the students can read them out loud in front of the class. It would be also nice if the students can find the person that wrote their prompt, to discuss if they both had the same idea etc. I think this would be a great activity to practice writing (and also reading) for the more advanced students. Still, you can change it up however you like to adapt to any type of proficiency level.

Writing Journals & Letters

emailamandapoil — 2022-01-07 08:10:31 UTC

I like the idea of having Ss write a daily journal. This could be done at the beginning of each class with a writing prompt on the board and it's the first thing they do when they arrive to class and then hand it in the journal for the T to make corrections and hand back. There could be a different question each day or maybe it is done only once a week with the same question each Monday: "Tell me about your weekend".

Some writing questions could require shorter or longer answers so the time allowance could be adjusted from a 5 minute to 15 minute activity depending on how many sentences required for the response or on the level of learners.

A possible journal entry could be to write a letter to a friend back home about the new country you are settling into (refugee students) and what you like, dislike or what is similar or different to the home country.

Writing a note

ChristieAwesome — 2022-01-30 02:37:21 UTC

Bring in notecards or postcards to have students learn to write a note.
Discussion & lesson around when we write notes, for what reason or occasion. Is this done in other cultures?

Dialogue may include:
- Christmas cards
- Thank you notes
- I’m sorry card
- Postcards while on vacation sent to family/friends
- Valentine’s cards
- Birthday cards
- Get-well notes
- Sympathy cards
- Anniversary cards
- Congratulations (baby, graduation, job promotion, marriage)

Have each student think of someone that they would like to send a note to and have them work on this project individually after group discussion has taken place to generate ideas around formatting & vocabulary.

Queen of the Lanai

ChristieAwesome — 2022-01-30 03:09:21 UTC

If I were to write a book it may be a children’s book titled “Queen of the Lanai” (lanai is the word used in Hawaii for deck or patio).
This idea came from being in lockdown in Hawaii during COVID and may have some whimsical ideas for activities to keep busy in the kingdom! (Including morning ukulele lessons on the north end of the lanai, afternoon spa time on the south side of the lanai). The north & south sides of our lanai were only about 2 feet apart from one another - one did need to get creative during that time!

Writing Activity: Who kidnapped my English teacher?

zulywmusic — 2022-02-09 12:01:14 UTC

- Make up a story: Your English teachers has been kidnapped. Write what, when, where, how, who and how has it happened.
- There are some words given to you, that you most use while writing this.

Words that most be used:
- kidnap/ kidnapper
- be kidnapped
- handkerchief
- gag (be gagged)
- tie / untie
- undo the knot
- scared/ afraid
- isolated
- ransom money
- rescue/ release

*The words that most be use while writing can be new vocabulary words.

Postcards to pen pals

jessycafeiteira1 — 2022-04-22 22:29:29 UTC

Capture young learners’ imagination by introducing them to a fictitious young boy or girl (or one inspired by real life) who is their same age and who lives in an exotic far-off land.

If your students are interested in a particular region or city, such as San Francisco, adjust your character’s geographic location accordingly.

Have them write a short composition to their new faraway friend that will fit on a postcard about who they are, what they like doing, etc. You can even make your own DIY postcards in the office using colored cardboard or other material.

This is a great opportunity to teach basic introductions and conclusions in English writing, a foundational component of almost any form of writing.

Writing Ads and TV Commercials

jinnysings — 2022-04-23 16:46:46 UTC

Advertisements and commercials are a great example of creative writing, so they can be used as writing activities for ESL students. First Teacher can give your learners some sample ads as well as typical expressions that are used in advertising, and then ask the learners to create their own ads. You can bring some familiar objects to the classroom and tell the learners to advertise them. The students can work solo, in pairs, or in groups.
For even greater creativity, encourage them to support their ads with images. For example, they can cut out those images out of newspapers or magazines or print them from the web.
Bonus points go to teachers who have their students present them as pitches for an extra speaking activity.

Write your own story

ywamangelboston — 2022-04-24 17:30:48 UTC

Fill a box with multiple objects of your choice [Ex: Animal toy, cars, pen, ball, spoon, any interesting random objects of your choice.....] and seal it. Break the students in small groups of 2 or 3. They can open their box and see all their objects. Ask them to use at least 3 or 4 objects and write a short story by working together with complete sentences.

This activity will enable the students to use their imagination and come up with interesting story, which will encourage them to write more, with all the vocabulary words that they learnt earlier and even bring out new words by themselves which they never used.

Writing activity; Pick your favorite food and eat!!

jauritat — 2022-04-24 23:58:42 UTC

Ss are asked to take any food, for example, chocolate. After they are asked to eat, savor each bite and write down everything, from taste to texture, the sounds of it breaking in your mouth, and importantly, how it makes them feel.

Ss exchange papers with other students, and after they asked to read them.

Positive affirmations

angelashieldsrose — 2022-04-25 21:26:25 UTC

Have students write their name at the top of a blank piece of paper. The students will sit in circles and write encouraging notes and affirmations on the papers passing them in the circle until each person receives their own paper back. They will have these notes to encourage them on days they don't feel motivated.

What'd you hear?!

gracenicole725 — 2022-06-10 23:36:53 UTC

This is a mix of a listening and writing activity. Play a song for the students, preferably one that has clear pronunciation. Then you tell them to pick out the first few words they hear. Just play a minute or two of the song and let them pick out as many words in that time that they hear. Once you stop the song they now have to use all that they wrote down as their "word bank." They have a challenge to use all of the words they heard in a short story or paragraph.

Thank you letter

heatherfehr13 — 2022-06-14 22:12:59 UTC

Writing handwritten notes are not as popular as they used to be. But this is a great way for students to practice their writing skills because who doesn't like receiving a thank you card?

You can give the student a simple structure to follow when writing the letter.

What to include in a thank you letter:

1. Write Dear, (Insert who you are writing to)
2. Thank you for the (Insert what you are thanking the person for)
3. Write a sentence describing what you like about it.
4. Write a sentence describing what you will use it for.
5. End the card with another way of saying thank you or how you appreciate the person.
6. Write Sincerely, (Insert your name)

Describe a view!

elizandrah — 2022-07-11 08:17:52 UTC

My idea is to print a picture that has a lot of information in it. The students will have to describe through writing anything they see in the picture. The goal is for them to put together a plot, with at least 4 paragraphs, telling a story about the picture (the picture can also be used just a start point and the students can create a story from it). After they finish writing, the teacher can call individuals to come up to the front and read their story. Teacher is to take notes of any mistakes, and to write the corrections on the board at the end and discuss them with the students, without shaming them.

Error correction

jaelclaybaugh — 2022-07-28 01:39:02 UTC

Give the students a letter from an "imaginary friend" who does not speak English very well and needs help correcting their writing. Each line of the letter should contain at least one mistake. The students job is to rewrite the letter correctly with no errors.

Postcards

annaostland — 2022-08-09 01:06:40 UTC

In this activity, the teacher will tell the students of a fictional individual who is their age and lives in a far-off place (can be based on a real person). The students will write a short paragraph describing themselves or what they are doing to the individual described by the teacher. The students can even make their own post cards and get involved creatively on this one!
If the students have a particular place that they are interested in, the teacher can describe a person from that place and give a brief description of their culture and interests. This is a good way for students to learn about people their age in other countries, be creative, and practice their writing skills.

Story Prompts from Ellii.com

CitizensTESOL — 2022-10-03 15:26:49 UTC

Here is a set of digital lessons from Ellii.com that you can use to get your young learners writing and telling stories using these colorful picture prompts! These short lessons include theme-based vocabulary tasks, and the higher levels contain guided tasks to help students plan their stories. This is a digital-only section that is useful for multi-level classes.

https://ellii.com/lessons/story-prompts

Re-write the ending!

katrinas7 — 2023-03-27 21:43:30 UTC

Students could re-write the ending to their favorite fairytale, movie or other. What if Cinderella didn't get her prince? What if the Titanic didn't sink? What if Little Red Riding Hood took the Big Bad Wolf hostage?

Students could bring in books from their culture or have an option to look through a number of books brought in by the teacher. There could be computers available for research, as well as previous student examples. The option to share with a partner or the entire class would also be a fun way to end the activity.

Short story project

jessicaisliving — 2023-03-30 12:29:19 UTC

(This is ideal for more advanced students. It can be modified of course.)

I would like for the students to do this individually. You could turn this into a big project and give them a deadline or make it simpler and easier to finish within two classes. I don't think it could be done in one class sitting as I would like the class to edit each others stories too to practice reading and grammar. They would follow the classic creative writing format.

Step One: Brain storm
Step Two: Draft
Step Three: Editing
Step Four: Peer Edit
Step Five: Finalize

The short story could be about anything. It could be a personal story or a made up story.

I would want them to focus on the short story format.

1. Setting - Helps with details and descriptions.
2. Rising action - Comprehension. Do they understand the assignment, is their story going somewhere. Does it make sense?
3. Climax - What has the story lead up too, do they understand their own plot.
4. Optional - Falling action (They aren't needed in short stories)
5. Resolution - What is the Moral of the story?

The story can be as short as it needs to be as long as they meet the criteria. No more than 30 pages.

Write a story from a new perspective

jpatnott — 2023-05-07 19:22:24 UTC

Show a short or long movie clip and then have students rewrite the story from a different characters perspective. OR Have the students read a story and have them write the story from a different characters perspective; this could be a story from their own culture or the culture they are living in now.

Create your own AD

matthewsgarmon — 2023-05-27 18:29:31 UTC

This is a fun sounding activity I found on an ESL website I think it would make a great in class writing activity. Advertisements and commercials are a great example of creative writing. Give your learners some sample ads as well as typical expressions that are used in advertising, and then ask the learners to create their own ads. You can bring some familiar objects to the classroom and tell the learners to advertise them. The students can work solo, in pairs, or in groups. For even greater creativity, encourage them to support their ads with images. For example, they can cut out those images out of newspapers or magazines, or print them from the web. Bonus points go to teachers who have their students present them as pitches for an extra speaking activity.

Writing activity ideas

maditdavis01 — 2023-08-30 22:39:28 UTC

I have two writing ideas, so I will just put both down lol! I had a great writing teacher growing up, so I have a lot of writing activity ideas from simply being in her class!

Rewrite the story: For this activity, I would have intermediate and advanced levels do this activity. The student takes any fairytale story whether its Cinderella or Jack and the bean stalk, or even a fairy tale that is native to their own country, and they rewrite the story in their own words. They keep a lot of the things the same, for example the glass slipper (Cinderella) or giants in the sky (Jack), but they can change the story however they would like to change it. It could be adding new characters, or twisting the ending, but overall I found this activity super fun so I would like to have my students do the same!

Lists: For this one I would do for beginner and intermediate levels. This activity is basically students jotting down ideas with as many words as they know. The teacher writes a prompt on the board, (store, zoo, etc), and students write as many words as they know that relate to that topic (store: cart, food, and clothes. Zoo: tiger, birds, and animals.). This is just a super simple writing activity for early learners :)

Writing Activity Ideas: Finish the story.

SGorrill — 2023-09-29 19:14:59 UTC

This activity would probably be best for intermediate to advanced language learners. Students would be read a story, just not the entire story. A copy of what is read would be provided to each student. The st’s task would then be to continue and complete the story. You could set a limit on the number of sentences that the st has to use. For advance learners you might include more specific requirements about character development, conflict, theme and conclusion. This activity gets the st’s started but gives them liberty and creativity to create a story of their choosing. Research shows that st’s learn better when they have choice in their learning. What better way to give them choice by allowing them to add their own flavor to a story that has already begun?! Another cool part would be sharing the stories among the class especially if st’s are provided the same beginning. This sharing could also include the actual end in the written text.

Writing Activity Idea: Describe the last time you…

diegoeliasmusic — 2023-10-09 03:47:42 UTC

I usually do these type of activities with my students in order to help them practice past tenses, which I have found it's a challenge for most of the students. Also, I like to do this because I think it's practical, so they can relate what they have lived with the language they are learning.

Some ideas could be:

Describe the last time you went to the beach.
Describe the last time you went to the cinema and what you liked about the movie.
Describe the last time you traveled.

Mad Libs

gottasophia — 2023-10-13 15:50:39 UTC

Either get a mad libs book or create your own specific to your class and student needs!

Mad libs is a great activity for any level of student. Choose a topic (birds, foods, nature), or choose a part of writing to focus on such as, grammar, nouns, verbs, adjectives. Give your students a passage with fill in the blanks throughout. In a typical mad libs activity, under the "blank" will describe the type of word you need to use such as a verb, adverb, or adjective. At the end, you will often have a pretty hilarious story that somehow all comes together to make some sort of sense in the end. To adapt it to different levels, consider taking away the hints as to what type of word to use for higher levels or giving a word bank at the top of the page to aid lower level students who might not have a ton of vocabulary to choose from yet.

Fun writing activities!

konawetfeet — 2023-10-27 21:17:58 UTC

With social media and messaging being such a prominent part of people's lives today I think it would be a fun idea to incorporate a writing activity where Ss respond to texts. For this activity I would have a message on the board for my Ss to see and then in one sentence they would need to respond and continue the conversation. This would be a faster exercise to really get Ss thinking, so I would recommend it for upper-intermediate to advance language classes. After about 30 seconds the Ss will pass their paper to the left and then respond to whatever the last person wrote and so forth. This activity could be 3 minutes or 10 minutes. Then at the end the T choses one or two texts to read out loud.

Writing Activity Ideas

muruguluz — 2023-10-29 02:20:20 UTC

Writing Ads and TV commercials

Advertisements and commercials are a great example of creative writing, so they can be used as writing activities for ESL students. Give your Ss some sample ads as well as typical expressions that are used in advertising, and then ask the Ss to create their own ads. You can bring some objects to the classroom and tell the Ss to advertise them. The Ss can work solo, in pairs, or in groups. For even greater creativity, encourage them to support their ads with images or background music. Have Ss present their ads as pitches for an extra speaking activity.

-> found on: https://blog.vipkid.com/10-creative-esl-writing-activities/

Word chains

This can be a writing or a speaking activity (although for the speaking activity the Ss need to know the spelling of the words very well - so maybe not a good activity for beginners). One person starts with a word (e.g. house), the next needs to come up with a word that starts with the ending of the last word (e.g. house - elephant). Then the next person continues with a word beginning with the letter the last word has ended in (elephant - typhus) and so on...

Having an Actual Pen Pal

elisakimberly7 — 2024-01-25 19:01:54 UTC

In my opinion there is hardly anything more meaningful in language learning that using the new language to communicate with real people about real things.

As teachers who now (at the latest) know many other English teachers around the world it would be so cool to arrange a "pen pal" exchange or "e-mail pal" with your class.

This would of course be more than a short activity but it could be a meaningful exercise that connects a series of activities around letter writing, conversational vocabulary and so on.

You need another class to partner with. Paper for letters, stamps and a lot of creativity.

I was able to be part of a project similar to this when I was in school and I really enjoyed it. As a teacher you can coordinate with the other teacher to match students with similar proficiency levels and even encourage students with a lower level to include a drawing in their letter.

Writing a travel blog

emmabmiller02 — 2024-05-16 20:23:33 UTC

Students will get to write a travel blog about either their home country or someplace they would like to travel to. They will get a list with areas they must cover i.e., transportation in the area, food, tourist attractions, etc... If possible, they can even print out pictures and put together a poster to hang up in class. This is meant to be done individually, but can also be done in pairs or small groups. This can be adapted based on language level by giving more advanced students more areas to cover i.e., History of the city/country, statistics about how tourism affects the economy there, etc...

Daily Journal

shoafgrace — 2024-06-06 16:52:54 UTC

A writing activity that I think would be so beneficial is having students write daily entries in a writing journal. I remember doing this in elementary school and it was fun to look back and see the process of my writing. Before students arrive in the morning, write a few questions of the board. It can be as simple as, "What's your favorite color, why?" or more challenging, "What is your name, were you named after someone or something?" Then students can reply to these questions in their journals. This can either be an interactive activity where the students share with the whole class or a small group. Or this can be primarily for the teacher and seeing what writing stage they're in. Either way, it's a great warm-up activity for students to get into the routine of writing every day.

Daily Journal/Question

maria_hopper — 2024-06-23 17:08:16 UTC

Something I have seen that works really well is having a daily journal that helps to put students into a routine. Every day the student comes in and there is a question on the board to prompt them to write about! This can even tie in well with the HITRECORD website by offering writing prompts. The journals will be personal and kept by the student so if there is any sensitive information, students feel like they have a comfortable place to write about how they feel.

What is happening in this picture?

20hippl — 2024-06-26 09:24:54 UTC

There is a saying that says "a picture can be worth a thousand words."

This activity helps support this! Writing is so important but sometimes students struggle, especially at a young age, to grab words out of their mind and put it down on paper. This activity can encourage those skills to improve. The teacher will put a (age appropriate) picture on the board, the students will have one minute to look at the picture and simply take it in. The students will be given the next 5 minutes to either write sentences or just words. This will depend on their level. After the 5 minutes is up, have each person share one thing they noticed.

Verbs

shamsoadam22 — 2024-07-16 01:56:39 UTC

A Distinct Writing Activity

parsafathi50 — 2024-09-26 09:50:01 UTC

There is a writing activity I remember from elementary school that was really interesting to me. In this activity the teacher wants all the students to say the name of the things they use a lot during the day in their lives, and wanted them to talk about their lives and see the world through the eyes of this thing that they use a lot, some of them wanted to talk about their lives through the eyes of their bikes, some of them wanted to talk about their lives through the eyes of their tablet and so on, there was a lot of laughing during the activity when some of them read their writings to the whole class.

Write a Story

faithyrobison — 2024-11-06 02:55:12 UTC

You start out this activity by writing the first two sentences of a story. For example:

"Mia heard a loud knocking on the door. As she opened it she saw..."

"Wilson was getting ready to board the plane but oh no! He forgot..."

As you can see the second sentence leaves off on a cliffhanger. It is then the students job to finish the story! There are so many opportunities for the students to be creative or funny. If you need to make it more simple for lower levels, you can always do it as a class or have the students only finish the one sentence.

Who? What? Where?

lesliedrury — 2024-11-06 07:47:33 UTC

This activity uses a list of ideas for each of these categories - who, what, where. Students combine an item from each category.

For example:

For WHO: pirate or cowardly giant.

For WHERE: rodeo or dessert oasis

For WHAT: risking his life or winning a contest.

Then students combine them to create the introduction to a story: There once was a cowardly giant who decided to compete in a rodeo, but ended up risking his life.

Rewrite History

TimThurston — 2024-11-07 00:54:42 UTC

I envision this writing activity being open to Ss discretion. The T will instruct the Ss to pick a book, movie or actual event that they didn't like the ending of and make it their own.

For me, I would pick some heartbreaking Minnesota sports games and rewrite the endings in exciting ways that have my favorite teams winning for a change(there would be a lot to chose from). If technology is available T could give Ss some time to research. T could also encourage Ss to bring something from home.

Ss could share their prop and rewritten story in small groups or in front of the entire class.

gb36classic — 2024-11-09 10:29:25 UTC

I’d like to use Johnnie Lewis’ Five Finger Paragraph activity to teach an ESL writing class. On a given topic (e.g., my favorite travel destination, my favorite snack, the person that I look up to), students write a paragraph on that topic using the Five Finger Paragraph strategy. For the beginner and elementary levels, I can divide the class into 5-person groups and provide each group a list of words/phrases specific to the topic for them to use in writing. Using the five finger paragraph method, each student in the group writes one of the five sentences to form the group’s paragraph for the topic. As a group, they will then read the paragraph to the class. For intermediate level, each group can have fewer students but still produces a 5-sentence paragraph. For advanced level, individual students can write their own paragraphs or essays, depending on the learning outcomes.

Silly Story

cameronadams2 — 2024-11-12 01:41:38 UTC

I did this activity in school and I loved it! It helps ease the Ss.

The students will be given an initial started and a plan.

e.g I woke up this morning and had a shower, got dressed but then...

The first student will finish the sentence and add a couple more leaving their last sentence unfinished. The next student will repeat until the last student when they have to decide how the story will end.

Share about a time when...

clairebassett14 — 2025-06-17 04:10:45 UTC

Students are given a list of prompts that help them generate a memory they can write about. For example, write about a time when

you felt really excited

you felt confused

you appreciated a friend

etc.

then they can write 3-4 sentences on that topic. For those who finish early, they can choose another prompt.

What Happened?

heidi589 — 2025-07-02 18:56:39 UTC

For this activity students will write a short story based on a picture I show them.

First, I'll show the picture to the class and ask the class to think of any vocabulary words that come to mind when looking at the picture. I'll write these on the board and add to the words if needed.

Next, I'll have students get into groups to discuss what they think is happening in the picture, what lead to it happening, and what happened next.

Then, I'll hand out worksheets that have 3 picture boxes that say First, Next, and Last. (The picture I showed the class will be in the Next box.) The students will illustrate the other boxes on their own to show what happened First and Last.

Finally, the students will write their own story below to describe what is happening and using the transition words First, Next, and Last.

Students can then share their stories with the class.

Cooperative writing (nonsense stories)

2026-02-20 12:37:58 UTC

I use this activity a lot with my highschool students: the class is divided in 3 or 4 columns of pairs of students. Each pair has a blank A4 paper and writes their names on top.

I give the whole class the first prompt:" It was a dark and scary night and Mr. Smith was..." One person in the pair writes the rest of the story as much as they can for about 10 minutes. I remind them when there's 1 minute left... and then I say "Switch papers": the pair at the back brings their paper to the front and all the other pairs give their paper to the pair behind them. Then I give another prompt they must write, for example: "That's when...", etc (another 10 minutes).

By this time students really want to know what the others have written and so this a great activity for both reading and writing. Before the paper goes back to the original pair, I give the last prompt: "And the moral of this story is:....".

And then we share the stories. It's always a good laugh!

How to make a sandwich

haradonbrookse — 2026-03-24 16:00:19 UTC

Add a picture for each step

Complaint Letters

2026-05-05 04:41:47 UTC

Write a complaint letter about the damaged dog belt Mr. Ranch has received.

Writing a complaint letter about a damaged and dangerous harness.(All are welcome)

zaid21989 — 2026-05-07 11:34:16 UTC