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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Easy exercise for students. It gives you a fact file with basic information. The teacher can combine the level of the text and the number of words. At the same time, it offers the possibility of ...
In this worksheet you will find a process writing lesson plan to guide your students in writing a biography. It contains different stages in process writing, texts to be analysed, a grammar practi ...
The goals of this worksheet is to encourage learners to be more descriptive in their writings, using new vocabulary in terms of adjectives. They are asked to complete several exercises including f ...
This can be used as a pre-task to the power point presentation that I provided entitled "Celebrities". Go through the pronunciation of the countries and the nationalities outlined on the worksheet ...
This worksheet is designed for learners to use their understanding of adjectives and learn how to produce more creative writing. The exercises consist of rewriting sentences using synonyms for cer ...
Grammar and writing practice. At the top of page: grammar box showing sentence structure. At the bottom of page: use your imagination and write about what people 'used to do' before these inventi ...
Page 1: Reading practice - 259-word article about the history and tradition of Halloween; Page 2: Ten reading comprehension questions; Page 3: Grammar practice - same article but with 12 grammar g ...
This creative writing exercise can be used as an extra resource when teaching students about Halloween. Students are asked to create a story titled 'The Wise Wizard'. Make your story as imaginativ ...
This creative writing exercise can be used as an extra resource when teaching students about Halloween. Students are asked to create a story titled 'A Spooky Night'. Make your story as imaginative ...
This creative writing exercise asks students to create a story titled 'My Pet Dragon' and can be used as an extra resource when teaching students about Halloween. Make your story as imaginative as ...
This a story writing exercise and can be used as an extra resource when teaching students about Halloween. Students are asked to write a story titled Trick or treat. Encourage your students to be ...
This is a creative writing exercise. Students are asked to write about the best Halloween costume they've ever been in and go through the entire process of creating it and the reactions of their f ...
I use this crossword puzzle with my elementary to pre-intermediate classes to test how much they know about simple punctuation marks. I use this at the beginning of a lesson before revising or te ...
I made this worksheet for my FCE and CAE students. It develops the structure of letters and emails required in these exams, and gives an organised overview of the language to be used. Page 2 is ma ...
This higher level lesson is also a great follow-up to my lesson ‘A Greener School’, which you can also find on Busy Teacher. It gives students some useful language and organization fo ...
This is a worksheet I use with Channel One News. Before watching the news, students try to predict what the news will be about on that day in a classroom discussion. During the video, students fil ...
This writing worksheet may be used to remind your students of some summer activities such as to play football, to ride a bike, to swim, to sunbathe, to go hiking, to go camping, to go on a picnic ...
Cinquain poem: The first line is one word which is the title of the poem. The second line contains two adjectives that describe the title. The third line has three words ending in 'ing'.The fourth ...
Cinquain poem: The first line is one word which is the title of the poem. The second line contains two adjectives that describe the title. The third line has three words ending in 'ing'.The fourth ...
Cinquain poem: The first line is one word which is the title of the poem. The second line contains two adjectives that describe the title. The third line has three words ending in 'ing'.The fourth ...
This is a worksheet that can be used when teaching about UK. It has some general information about the country. Ss work in pairs, each of them having a different worksheet (A and B). Without looki ...
"Pothound" is a great, short film by Trinidadian filmmaker, Christopher Guinness. You can watch it here: https://vimeo.com/32823310. I used this worksheet with intermediate ESL students in a Japan ...
This is a dictation worksheet for food in which the students are asked to write the missing letters. It is designed for elementary level. Hope it helps.
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