730 FREE Writing Worksheets
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FREE Writing Worksheets

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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Story Writing Prompts

Story Writing Prompts

These are story fragments with questions. You can print them out of display them for the whole class. Discuss questions. Then write the rest of the story. If you can't answer a question, ignor ...
13 Views 23,130 Pre-IntIntAdv
May I vs. Can I Unscramble

May I vs. Can I Unscramble

This is a two page worksheet teaching May I vs. Can I. The first has ten sentences in which they must unscramble correctly. The second page has five sentences in which they must correct. We were e ...
15 Views 20,502 Pre-IntInt
Animal Wordsearch

Animal Wordsearch

This is a simple wordsearch for elementary students including basic animal names. It aims to test students' receptive knowledge of these names by testing spelling at the same time. Problem so ...
13 Views 12,069 Elem
Travel Ad: Information-Gap Activity

Travel Ad: Information-Gap Activity

Student 'A' receives 'Adventure Travel' Handout 'A' - Student 'B' receives 'Adventure Travel' Handout 'B'. Without looking at each other's handout, they should describe their travel ads to each o ...
23 Views 29,387 Int
Business Writing Help - Invitations (for Polish students)

Business Writing Help - Invitations (for Polish students)

It is a great help for people who use business writing in everyday working situation. This gives you more frequently used business writing phrases and its translation to English language. Variety ...
5 Views 14,890 All
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Business Writing Help - Meetings (for Polish students)

Business Writing Help - Meetings (for Polish students)

It is a great help for people who use business writing in everyday working situation. This gives you more frequently used business writing phrases and its translation to English language. Variety ...
7 Views 18,605 All
Business Writing Help - General (for Polish students)

Business Writing Help - General (for Polish students)

It is a great help for people who use business writing in everyday working situation. This gives you more frequently used business writing phrases and its translation to English language. Variety ...
6 Views 11,708 All
Diversity

Diversity

Writing activity about diversity. Power Point Presentation (ppt) with some diversity quotes and a task in the end asking students to write an essay talking about diversity. The items are separated ...
3 Views 6,898 Pre-IntIntAdv
Apostrophe Brainteaser Worksheet / Poster

Apostrophe Brainteaser Worksheet / Poster

This worksheet/poster will be a great way to challenge your learners to test their knowledge of apostrophes. Learners, students and adults alike, will love to take the challenge of identifying the ...
19 Views 32,210 All
Punctuation Matters: Correct Use Of Commas In Direct Address [Poster]

Punctuation Matters: Correct Use Of Commas In Direct Address [Poster]

Incorrect use of commas in direct address is a common error committed by students and adults alike. This poster/handout depicts the concept pictorially. It will help learners understand that the u ...
16 Views 29,140 All
Common Errors In Apostrophe Usage [Poster]

Common Errors In Apostrophe Usage [Poster]

This printable poster/handout reinforces the concept of using apostrophes in contractions. It covers common error pairs such as its/it's, your/you're, and they're/there among others. You can print ...
13 Views 20,839 All
Does School Kill Creativity? (based on a speech at TED Talks by Sir Ken Robinson)

Does School Kill Creativity? (based on a speech at TED Talks by Sir Ken Robinson)

Watching a well-presented speech with an interesting topic is a great way to engage students in practising their listening and writing skills. TED Talks offers a variety of speeches. The one I pro ...
11 Views 18,370 AdvExam
Pronunciation of the Phonetic Vowels /ai/ and /i/

Pronunciation of the Phonetic Vowels /ai/ and /i/

This worksheet is to identify the difference between the long /ai/ sound and the short /i/ sounds that are otften confused by learners. It can be used to find patterns (e.g. the magic 'e' which tr ...
19 Views 50,697 Pre-Int
Planning Writing

Planning Writing

This is a useful tool to help with any writing assignment. Planning writing explained. I have used it with my Literacy and with my ESOL learmers with excellent results. It has helped to provide s ...
16 Views 18,035 BegElemPre-IntIntAdv
What Will She/He Do? What Will Happen?

What Will She/He Do? What Will Happen?

Hello :) this worksheet was prepared to practice "will". Students can learn the different usages of "will" such as making an offer, prediction, planning and also spontaneous decisions. There are ...
13 Views 14,784 ElemPre-Int
My Pet: Controlled Writing

My Pet: Controlled Writing

, Writing
This is an easy sentence completion worksheet on controlled writing. First, learners have to complete a short description of a pet using given words. Then, they write their own description using t ...
7 Views 21,626 BegElem
At the Castle! [for French Speakers]

At the Castle! [for French Speakers]

This worksheet helps pupils to practise the structure "where". First, just give the pictures to the pupils and tell them they have to ask and answer questions about where the characters are (oral ...
6 Views 7,709 BegElem
Dictation Handout: Derivatives - 1

Dictation Handout: Derivatives - 1

This worksheet requires that students use their dictionaries to complete the meaning of the words is their ESL learners. It could be assigned for homework or used as a small test. In the first exe ...
4 Views 16,794 AdvExam
Self-Access Learning Materials for EFL Learners

Self-Access Learning Materials for EFL Learners

Self-Access Learning Materials for EFL Learners Level: Lower intermediate Skill: Reading & Writing Topic: Te Matatini National Festival, New Zealand (Describing events/festi ...
8 Views 11,790 IntAdv
A New Year Letter [Correct the mistakes]

A New Year Letter [Correct the mistakes]

This is an actual worksheet for developing reading and writing skills. Students are to read and correct the mistakes. It helps to teach children to be honest, kind and attentive to people. It is v ...
18 Views 31,672 ElemPre-Int
Subject & Object Pronoun Dictation

Subject & Object Pronoun Dictation

This is a simple (and fun) practice for subject pronouns and their corresponding object pronouns. As a secondary goal it is a listening practice for singular/plural nouns. I've also added several ...
28 Views 42,927 BegElem
Writing: Famous Person

Writing: Famous Person

This handout has guidelines for a writing assignment about a famous person. The students have to write a paragraph about a person, but through their point of view. They have to write a 10-12 line ...
16 Views 44,031 ElemPre-IntIntAdv
Apostrophe

Apostrophe

This handout can be a poster about apostrophe s and apostrophe d. It can be used when you explain the difference between the two apostrophes, especially the difference between had and would in 'd ...
10 Views 14,120 All
Metaphors

Metaphors

This worksheet contains a gapfill and an exercise that shows a true understanding of metaphors. Students must choose the best phrase or word to complete the metaphor. They must also create their o ...
8 Views 13,857 Int
Past Simple Worksheet

Past Simple Worksheet

This worksheet is about the Past Simple, you can find exercises related to the pronunciation of the -ed, exercises using regular verbs in the affirmative, negative and interrogatives. Also, there ...
14 Views 17,371 Elem

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