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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It's such fun getting a postcard! Students are given a sample postcard, which they can use as a model. They can cut out the blank postcard, make a drawing on the other side about their holiday (th ...
This is a PowerPoint presentation describing some basic rules when writing formal/informal emails in English, introducing some common phrases and things to avoid. It also includes two examples of ...
It is a modified article from Wikipedia. It talks about London, a brief history and states its importance to the world. It also contains information about London's sightseeings. It contains a voca ...
The worksheet is intended to teach argumentative writing and the suggested layout. Students are prompted to the lesson by a short video about the topic of "Euthanasia". They first watch the video ...
Did he say $.15 or $.50? Numbers can sound very similar. This dictation exercise requires students to listen carefully and circle the price that was dictated. The second part gives students pra ...
Following are nine writing lesson plans, each lesson plan contains the following elements: o Objectives o Composition focus o Prewriting o Drafting o Revising o Editing o Publishing o Materials ...
Students often have difficulties in creating written texts in English,especially when they don't feel very familiar with the practical use of the language. Writing through answering questions abou ...
Young learners need support when creating written texts. This set of questions supports students' first attempts to create written texts by providing an easy and familiar topic of writing. The way ...
This worksheet contains a story and a set of pictures that can be used in order to teach or revise the names of certain animals and also the parts of their bodies. There are also two lesson plans ...
It contains tips to write a perfect story. It has ideas to write a story and can be used with students who are learning to write short story. It is a power point ellaborated with pictures and the ...
it is just a worksheet for grade one students in the beginning of the year to learn simple motor handwriting skill. I ask the students to hold the pencil in the correct way then trace the dots t ...
This worksheet contains a short explanation on how to write a paragraph, explaining what the topic sentence, the supporting sentences and the closing sentence is. An activity for the learners is a ...
This is a short quiz for an ESL English course I gave this June in Summer school. This worksheet contains types of sentences: declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory. It also has a ...
Super interesting poem by Benjamin Zephaniah to work with school situations, memories y past habits. It's also an opportunity to work with authentic material and explore different spellings of the ...
This is a Mad Lib-like activity I created where students must make a list of verbs, nouns, adjectives, and other words, that they then plug into a template of a postcard from a vacation. Hilarity ...
Hi all, this a really nice activity I use to motivate my students to write an original and interesting story using musical ideas. All you need is pick four different musical pieces. You might want ...
This worksheet is for begginers. it contains easy vocabulary and structures such as he is wearing... or he is .......(action). Using this worksheet you can teach children how to write a very short ...
This worksheet scaffolds writing for students who have learned some adjectives of description. They are given ideas for a person/character to describe and some adjectives to use, or the opportunit ...
Punctuation for ages 9 to 12 years (grades 3 to 6) Begins with the short story as example of how to use punctuation. Includes punctuating sentences and direct speech. Can be used for revision of ...
This is a webquest on advertising which will guide your students through the process of designing a webquest. In this worksheet your students will read about propaganda strategies and techniques. ...
This is a sample of an informal letter of apology. The worksheet starts with some warm up questions that student's answer. The sample letter is simultaneously a 'fill in the gaps' activity. There ...
This handout can be used after the students have been previously taught about some graphemes and simple words (e.g. "oo" / "ee"/ "th" / "all" / "ow" / "sh" / "ch"/ "ea" / "ing" / "ink" / "ame"/ "a ...
This handout can be used after the students have been previously taught about some graphemes and simple words (e.g. "oo" / "ee"/ "th" / "all" / "ow" / "sh" / "ch"/ "ea" / "ing" / "in ...
Here is a set of high quality flashcards for teaching or revising punctuation. There are excellent illustrations and basic rules. The cards are recommended for elementary students and they can al ...
This is a picture dictionary which can also be used as a classroom poster for teaching or revising punctuation. The worksheet is available in both colour and black and white version.
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