writing activities for the esl class and beyond

Writing is good for you if you want to learn English (or any other language!) 

Jay Doubleyou: writing (by hand!) helps you pick up a language

There are lots of things you can do:

Journals, diaries and the commonplace book:

Jay Doubleyou: class journals from the british council

Jay Doubleyou: the commonplace book as a language-learning tool

Dictation:

Jay Doubleyou: short texts for fun dication

Jay Doubleyou: practical dictation > online texts and audio

Jay Doubleyou: dictation can be fun

Don't worry too much about getting it right:

Jay Doubleyou: how to write good

Here are some good lists for what to do in the classroom:

Writing Tweets. ...
Writing Emails. ...
Writing Ads and TV Commercials. ...
Error Correction. ...
Collaborative ESL Writing Activity. ...
Association game. ...
Structural Writing. ...
Image-Based Story Writing.

10 Creative ESL Writing Activities For Young Students - VIPKid Blog

Text lingo
Writing correction code

Guided writing: Writing a story on the OHP

Guided writing: Writing an article using the OHP

ChatA business letter

Poems for the future

Writing through 'reverse reading'

Postcards

Role-play writing

Creating a framework for writing

A perfect story

Note writing

A creative writing activity: A dark and stormy night

Eliciting vocabulary before writing narrativesImproving paragraph writing

Songs and storytelling

Freeze the writing - A way to make writing tasks a group activity

Helping students organise argument essays

Writing activities | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC

Writing for fluency:

7 Effective Strategies to Build Writing Fluency | EnglishPost.org

Fluency in Writing—What Does It Mean?

Writing For Fluency: Classroom Activities | Cambridge English

Writing a leaflet/advert/copy:

Example of Leaflet Writing (10 Tips in Writing Your Own Business Leaflet)

Top 10 Essentials Of Effective Leaflet Advertising

How to write perfect copy for a leaflet - Printing.com Blog

Using connectors/linking devices:

English grammar - linking words in English | Learn English Today

Connectors and linking words - exercises

Connectives and Linking Phrases - Online Exercises - English Grammar

Writing Cambridge Exam-type texts:

CAE Writing Text Types – Tim's Free English Lesson Plans

https://www.fceexamtips.com/writing#:~:text=You%20have%2080%20minutes%20to,should%20be%20140%2D190%20words.

Write & Improve with Cambridge

Rewriting from Rinvolucri's Grammar Games:

gymnasium23.edu.kh.ua/Files/downloads/Grammar Games.pdf

Writing for learning:

“Short, impromptu or otherwise informal writing tasks that help students think through key
concepts or ideas presented in a course. Often, these writing tasks are limited to less than
five minutes of class...” (Definition from theWAC Clearinghouse). Writing-to-Learn
activities can be used in any situations where students could benefit from thinking deeply
about what they are doing in class, or why they’re doing it.
At the end of the class:
Purposes
 To help identify what students have learned
To assess their understanding
To help students better retain the material they learned in class 

(The National Teaching& Learning Forum)
Examples
In a few sentences, tell about the lesson from the previous day to a person who missed
the class the day before.
Imagine that you have to explain today’s lesson to a little child. How would you do it?
Imagine that you have to go home and tell your parents about today’s lesson. What
would you tell them?
Tell me about your two favorite activities from class today.
What is the top single concept that you learned in class today?
The most difficult concept/topic/principle/rule/word for me today was...because...
Tell me what the most interesting/important word that you learned today was. How
and in which situations will you use this word?

Writing-to-Learn Activities | TESOL Blog

What is Writing to Learn? - The WAC Clearinghouse

Jeremy Harmer: How to Teach Writing

Chapter 3: Writing in the language classroom (p31)
Writing for learning:
reinforcement writing (eg: grammar point just taught); preparation
writing (time to think before an activity); activity writing (eg: while listening; as part of another activity)
Writing for writing:
“our objective here is to help students to become better writers and to learn how to write in various genres using different registers.” “It is about helping student to communicate real messages in an appropriate manner.” (eg: letter writing) Also: writing purposes and creative writing.

How to Teach Writing by Jeremy Harmer - PDF Drive

Process Writing

In process writing, students have the chance to think about what they are going to write,
produce drafts, revise, edit, and give and receive feedback on their work before coming up
with the final version of the text. A process approach to writing contrasts with a product
approach, where the main idea is to reproduce a model text.

https://sites.tufts.edu/tuftsliteracycorps/files/2020/10/Process-Writing-Article-with-Teaching-Notes-Added.pdf

Scaffolding

Scaffolding is the process of breaking down a larger writing assignment into smaller
assignments that focus on the skills or types of knowledge students require to successfully
complete the larger assignment

Writing Center | University of Colorado Denver

8 Ways to Scaffold Writing for English Learners – Seidlitz Education

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