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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This worksheet, called 'Natural Disaster Worksheet: Tsunami Curriculum: Grades 7 - 12', was kindly provided by Washington Military Department/Emergency Management Division, with some portions of i ...
This worksheet, called 'Natural Disaster Worksheet: Tsunami Curriculum: Grades K - 6', was originally offered by Washington Military Department/Emergency Management Division, with some portions of ...
This worksheet is meant for students to organise their writing tasks, taking into consideration word lenght, audience,format, style, etc. It will also guide students into fulfilling all the parts ...
It's an advanced activity. It's used to help the students write better. The teacher reads the sentences and asks the students to find the best discourse marker to fill in. More than one discourse ...
This PowerPoint presentation contains some essential tips to write a short story, by explaining the main information we have to use for example: dates, places, title, etc. It can be used with begi ...
Hello colleagues all over the world, This worksheet is an animals comparative worksheet that focuses on some animals and comparing them using one-syllable adjectives for young learners to practise ...
This worksheet aims at practising story writing. The activities in it aim at providing students with the right atmosphere and some specific vocabulary for them to write a good horror story. The wo ...
This is a power point lesson plan giving useful phrases/linkers used in all parts of their writing and then focuses on a specific topic (The advantages and disadvantages of watching DVDs at home) ...
This activity is suitable for adults or younger students. Prompt A instructs beginning learners to use "there is/there are" and positional prepositions. Prompt B instructs high-beginning and low- ...
A worksheet about how to write a formal letter of complaint. It contains a model letter in the form of a gap filling activity followed by a list of useful expressions students can use in formal co ...
This worksheet helps students to write a formal letter asking for information. It contains a model answer in the form of a gap filling activity, useful expressions and two exercises. It is really ...
This full lesson plan will be very helpful if you're planning a St. Patrick's Day lesson for your lower-level class. The worksheet provides ideas for every stage of the lesson: pre-writing stage, ...
This worksheet is about classroom language for kids. They have to trace and color the picture, so you have the following words: sit down, read. write, listen, stand up. Kids trace the words in or ...
This material is for a writing lesson. At first students have to write the answers to the questions in the boxes. Then they put the boxes in the correct order to make the story. Eventually, studen ...
Here's another great Hoops and Yoyo worksheet from Hallmark - just in time for Christmas! It's called 'My Christmas Wishlist: Giving is the best gift of all, right?' and is basically a writing tem ...
This is another great worksheet kindly provided by Hallmark - on the bright and 'Christmasy' paper with pictures of their favorite Hoops and Yoyo characters your learners will write a letter to Sa ...
Here's a great Christmas writing lesson for emerging writers where your learners will read a poem about the Snowman and will write their own in the snowman-shaped template.
Kindly provided by Eva ...
This is a simple story for young learners with a lot of spelling practice and tracing of the letters. Your kids will practice visual discrimination and letter order in words.
This spelling and re ...
Extracted from Merriam Webster's Dictionary (2000). This is a list of Words that begin with ANTI, AUTO, BI, DIS, EX, IM, IN, IR, MICRO, MIS, MONO, etc. There is also a list or words that ends ...
A very steady study about the differences between It and There with explanations, examples and exercises helping students with CAE and CPE levels. You have to crack a book sometimes in o ...
This worksheet will help students to compose an essay according to the given plan. They should express their opinion in the essay after watcing a film. The link to the film 'Validation' is given i ...
A worksheet to practice writing through tracing,vocabulary concerning free time activities and the question 'What do you want to do?' with lower primary learners. Originally designed by me as an a ...
A template which will help your student prepare a written review about the book they have recently read. Hope you will find it useful. have a nice time :)
It is a good ppts about topic sentence.You can use it in your writing sessions. It is easy for your students to understand how to write a topic sentence. Thus,your students can overcome their prej ...
Pupils design a healthy menu taking into account the six food groups (food pyramid). They can work in pairs or in small group, and the worksheet can be extended in DIN A-3 size. They can also sti ...
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