As ESL teachers, we’ve all had those students who do great on their grammar exams, speak up confidently in class, and are always first to raise their hands for activities - and yet, when it comes time for a writing assignment, they can barely squeeze out a few short sentences. This can be frustrating for the student and teacher alike - but it’s the symptom of a problem that’s well-known in every teaching community: Speaking and writing are two very different skills.
As with any new skill, practice is key - but students who have trouble writing aren’t usually keen to take on even more writing practice. After all, they might think, if their grammar and vocabulary are correct, and they don’t need to write in English for their jobs, what’s the point of drilling this skill? The answer is, of course, that the ability to write in English is key in the world and the workplace - from writing cover letters and CVs to drafting emails and client presentations. The responsibility is at least partly on you, the teacher, to provide assignments that draw your students into the writing process.
BusyTeacher.org is your number-one stop for exactly those kinds of assignments. Our 730 writing worksheets will provide your students with intriguing writing prompts, and with a variety of writing exercises that’ll help them watch their own improvement as it happens. Our worksheets even break down the writing process into its core components, so you can figure out exactly where in the process each student is struggling, and intervene with exercises to help him or her through that trouble spot.
The writing worksheets here on BusyTeacher.org will help familiarize your students with all the sub-skills involved in writing - from choosing a topic and constructing that first paragraph, all the way to writing movie reviews and short poems. Some of our worksheets even cover basics like handwriting and sentence structure - so no matter how much your students need to brush up on their fundamentals, we’ve got worksheets to meet them where they are.
You’ll find worksheets on any topic you can imagine, from daily routines and holidays to pop culture, news, and even poetry and song lyrics. Some worksheets just help you lead simple fill-in-the-blank exercises, while others present thought-provoking topics for full essays, or include plans for your students to create their own newsletters. And for students who need help with English school assignments, you’ll also find worksheets on writing essays and test responses.
You can browse all of our 730 writing worksheets in thumbnail view, so you don’t have to wait for any of them to load to get an idea of what they’re like. As you scroll down the page, just click on any worksheet that catches your eye - they’re all completely free to download, print, and share in any way you like. And they’re all created and classroom-tested by real ESL teachers all over the world - which means you can be confident they’ll work in your classroom, too. If you’ve got a worksheet of your own that you’d like to share with your fellow ESL teachers in the BusyTeacher.org community, just click the “Submit a worksheet” button at the bottom of this page.
All of these writing worksheets are here to help you - so pick out a few that look interesting, and give them a try in your classroom today. We’re sure you’ll love them as much as the other ESL teachers in our community already do.
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ESL Articles
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Describe this girl: an activity to practise descriptions. There is a picture of a girl and some words that can help students to write their description. Though some words are given, you can add mo ...
This is a 3-page worksheet for teaching clauses of reason and clauses of result. There's a complete grammar guide followed by 3 different activities in which students are asked to choose a su ...
The title of this worksheet is 'Fun at the beach'. Students look at the picture and think of an interesting, creative story to go with it. They could maybe write about their own fun day at the bea ...
The title of this worksheet is 'Chipmunk snack'. Students look at the picture and think of an interesting, creative story to go with it. Students write their story on the lines provided and can th ...
The title of this worksheet is 'Haunted House'. Students look at the picture and think of an interesting, creative story to go with it. Students write their story on the lines provided and can the ...
Creative writing prompt :the cheetah who lost his spots. Students must write a story about a cheetah who lost his spots. Creative writing is becoming more and more popular in tests so use this pro ...
Creative writing prompt: if you had to choose a favourite day of the year, which day would it be? Explain why this is your favourite day of the year and the things you like to do on that day. Crea ...
Creative writing prompt : the title of the story is 'Noise in the attic'. Sam was searching for his favourite teddy bear, Barney. He couldn't find him anywhere. He decided to search in the attic. ...
Creative writing prompt : students are asked to imagine that they are travelling to the moon. They must describe what it's like there and the things they did when they arrived. Creative writing is ...
For upper-elementary/intermediate, writing prompts with cartoons. Reviews a little picnic vocabulary and language used at barbecues. Fun worksheet to use for talking about summer outside parties a ...
Famous people: Nelson Mandela. This English resource was created for children of 9 - 11 years old. It is a research topic that asks students to write a short article about Nelson Mandela. There ar ...
Bad luck. This is a rebus story, that is to say, a story which combines words and pictures. Here, pictures represent entire words. There is a colour version, a B&W one and the key. This type o ...
This is a worksheet to guide students to write an application letter. Recommended for pre-intermediate students who are asked to read the job ad given and write an application letter.
This is a punctuation worksheet I found that I would like to share. It is for a senior phase level. Learners have to identify the types of sentences given. A sentence is given which the lear ...
The worksheet is creative writing. Students will read about a dentist as an example. Then they must write about an eye doctor, and be super creative! The example as said is about a dentist, but a ...
For girls and boys! Cool mini project! Create your avatars. This will interest your students and get them working. Touches speaking, reading, writing. Goes with teenager interaction worksheets!
This worksheet is all about missing punctuation and was created for children of 8 - 9 years old. There are 13 sentences for children to read. Some of the sentences are questions, others are statem ...
The title of this worksheet is 'Dinosaur in your garden'. It is a creative writing exercise and was designed for children of 7 - 10 years old. Ss are given a scenario: You wake up one morning and ...
Add punctuation marks to the following poem named "The Pig" by Roald Dhal. Visit MagicPathshala.com to learn about sentences and for follow up activities and educational videos. Watch this video f ...
Two dice for revising punctuation marks. Recommended for elementary students who are asked to to roll both dice and then name the punctuation mark by using the picture clue provided.
The worksheet have students practicing the four linguistic skills while using collocations with the verbs "do" and "make". The students are given a hand out with instructions and the use of some s ...
Use these five dictations after covering such topics as Famous People, Traveling, Health and Fitness. Make sure that you pre-teach unknown vocabulary in class before your students put their pencil ...
It has 2 parts: a reading part, in which students have to read and show understanding by answering questions, and the writing part, which gives students an opportunity to use what they have ...
This is a simple scaffolded paragraph writing activity based on the topic of a country a student would most like to visit. The task is suitable for elementary levels and higher (the higher the le ...
This vocabulary match worksheet comes from a film review on the Australian film "Any Questions for Ben?". Students are then asked to read half of the review to each other and listen for the new vo ...
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