49 ESL Writing Activities & Games: For Teachers of Kids and Teenagers

By Jackie Bolen

Even experienced ESL teachers get stuck in a rut. It's time to find some fresh ideas for writing classes for children and teenagers! Whether you're a first-time ESL/EFL/TEFL teacher, an experienced but overwhelmed instructor, or an instructor without a textbook, you need more activities for your English writing classes for beginners, intermediate or advanced students. If you're tired of wasting time wading through the junk on the Internet, then Jackie is here to help.

 

During her decade of experience as a CELTA/DELTA certified teacher, author Jackie Bolen has developed countless games and activities for her students. She's sharing her low-prep/no-prep ideas with ESL teachers throughout the world.

 

In ESL Writing Activities and Games for Kids and Teenagers, you'll get over three-dozen ideas to use in your own classroom. The highly-detailed descriptions will show you exactly how to use the activities during your lessons. Jackie's clearly and concisely explained activities will help you add instructional variety and put the focus back on your students.

 

If you're extremely busy or you're simply out of new ideas, Jackie's book makes it easy to try out new and exciting activities your students will love! It's easier than ever to have better writing classes for children and teens today.

 

Buy the book to get new lesson plans ready to go in minutes! 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie Bolen
• Release date: Jun 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393583059

Book preview

Copyright 2020 by Jackie Bolen

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher/author at the address below.

Jackie Bolen: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

About the Author: Jackie Bolen...............................................................................................5

Jackie Bolen around the Internet..................................................................................5

Tips for Teaching ESL/EFL Writing.......................................................................................7

Tip #1: Student-Centred Teaching is ALWAYS Best...................................................7

Tip #2: How Much Feedback to Give when Teaching Writing.................................9

Tip #3: All About Teaching Writing to ESL Beginners...............................................9

Tip #4: How Can I Foster Student Autonomy in Writing Classes?.......................11

Tip #5: Include Writing in Speaking and Conversation Classes...........................12

Tip #6: Reasoning and Critical Thinking are Also Important.................................13

Tip #7: Teach the Writing Process.................................................................................13

Tip #8: All About Writing Style.......................................................................................14

Tip #9: Mistakes are Unavoidable..................................................................................15

Writing Activities for All Levels............................................................................................17

3 Things...................................................................................................................................17

Categories..............................................................................................................................18

Conjunctions and Transitions: Don't Forget About Them........................................18

Dictation Practice.................................................................................................................21

Is that Sentence Correct?..................................................................................................22

Picture Prompt......................................................................................................................23

Postcards................................................................................................................................25

Proofreading Practice.........................................................................................................26

Puzzles.....................................................................................................................................28

Scaffolded Writing Prompts..............................................................................................29

Scoot........................................................................................................................................30

What Can I do with a _____?..........................................................................................32

Word Association..................................................................................................................33

Word of the Day ...................................................................................................................33

Words in Words....................................................................................................................34

Writing Activities for Upper-Level Students....................................................................36

2 Truths and a Lie................................................................................................................36

5 Senses..................................................................................................................................37

Association.............................................................................................................................38

Boggle......................................................................................................................................39

Bucket Lists...........................................................................................................................41

Chapter Response................................................................................................................42

Character Problems and Solutions.................................................................................43

Choose Your Own Adventure Group Writing...............................................................43

Dictogloss...............................................................................................................................45

Freeze......................................................................................................................................47

Interesting Story and Questions......................................................................................48

Movie Subtitles.....................................................................................................................49

Only 1 Question....................................................................................................................50

Practice Writing Fluently...................................................................................................51

Reverse Writing....................................................................................................................53

Running Dictation................................................................................................................54

Scrabble..................................................................................................................................56

Translation.............................................................................................................................57

Vocabulary Square...............................................................................................................58

Where Are They Now?........................................................................................................60

Word Poem/Name Poem....................................................................................................60

Writing Activities for Lower-Level Students....................................................................62

Adjective or Adverb Modifier Posters............................................................................62

Alphabet Game......................................................................................................................63

Correction Relay...................................................................................................................65

Do you _____?.........................................................................................................................66

-er Dictionary Activity.........................................................................................................67

Give a Reason .......................................................................................................................69

Make a Sentence..................................................................................................................70

Mixed Up Sentences............................................................................................................71

Name 5 Things......................................................................................................................72

Q&A..........................................................................................................................................73

Synonym/Antonym Brainstorm Race..............................................................................74

What's That Called?.............................................................................................................75

What's the Question?..........................................................................................................75

What Can Students Write About? .......................................................................................77

A Short Story.........................................................................................................................77

A Picture.................................................................................................................................77

Life Story................................................................................................................................78

Hopes for the Future...........................................................................................................78

Describe a Scene..................................................................................................................78

Short Writing Activities for Beginners..........................................................................79

Get a Pen Pal.........................................................................................................................79

Before You Go............................................................................................................................81

About the Author: Jackie Bolen

I taught English in South Korea for a decade to every level and type of student. I've taught every age from kindergarten kids to adults. Most of my time centered around teaching at two universities: five years at a science and engineering school out in the rice paddies of Chungcheongnam-Do, and four years at a major university in Busan where I taught high level classes for students majoring in English. I now teach ESL/EFL students in Vancouver, Canada. In my spare time, you can usually find me outside surfing, biking, hiking, or on the hunt for the most delicious kimchi I can find. It's not so easy in Vancouver!

In case you were wondering what my academic qualifications are, I hold a Master of Arts Degree in Psychology. During my time in Korea I successfully completed both the Cambridge CELTA and DELTA certification programs. With the combination of ten years teaching ESL/EFL learners of all ages and levels, and the more formal teaching qualifications I obtained, I have a solid foundation on which to offer teaching advice. I truly hope that you find this book useful and would love it if you sent me an email with any questions or feedback that you might have.

The activities and games in this book are ones that I've used in my own classes and are tried and true with kids as well as teenagers! If you only teach beginners, there are also lots of activities for you.

Jackie Bolen around the Internet

ESL Speaking (www.eslactivity.org)

Jackie Bolen (www.jackiebolen.com)

Twitter: @bolen_jackie

Email: [e-mail]

Do you want teaching games, activities, tips and tricks delivered straight to your inbox each week? Then you'll want to sign-up here: Jackie Bolen's Email List.

Tips for Teaching ESL/EFL Writing

When it comes to teaching EFL/ESL writing, I believe that every teacher goes through a learning curve about how to teach different elements of writing no matter how good they personally are at writing let alone teaching the language skill. When I took the CELTA course, my tutor said that any time a student is writing in English, it can be considered writing practice. Prior to this moment, however, I thought ESL writing was about teaching students how to write a paragraph or essay.

It’s vital for teachers to avoid looking through the prism of ‘I-must-teach-my-students-EVERYTHING-about-writing.’ This will overwhelm you as well as diminish your teaching confidence and performance before you enter the classroom. My CELTA tutor’s wisdom helped me to realize that when a student completes a simple writing task—things like filling in blanks correctly or learning how to write a basic sentence with SVO (subject verb object) in the right order—that these small and simple acts of writing are a good definition of successful learning and teaching practice for a teacher.

No matter what level your students are, they can benefit from some writing practice. Just be sure to meet them where they're at and choose games and activities according to this. Here are my top tips to help you out when teaching English writing to ESL or EFL students.

Tip #1: Student-Centred Teaching is ALWAYS Best

When you're teaching a language, whether speaking, writing, listening or reading, student-centred is always the way to go. What I mean by this is that students should be doing the hard work, not you! What exactly does this mean when teaching writing?

Students Improve by Spending More Time Writing and Reading

The best way to improve writing is to write and edit lots and also examine good examples of English writing! Design your classes so that students are getting as much practice as possible. There are more details in the last section of the book about what students can write about. However, here are a few quick ideas. Your students could write a journal entry in every

Reviews for 49 ESL Writing Activities & Games

[Gifted Talented · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Nothing new I don’t already know. It’s trite and uninteresting.