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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Adding Adjectives

Adding Adjectives

This English resource was made for primary/elementary students. Students are asked to add a descriptive adjective to each underlined noun. This will make the sentences more interesting and is good ...
13 Views 29,644 Elem
Movie Worksheet: The Theory of Everything

Movie Worksheet: The Theory of Everything

Luis Vinueza
This worksheet helps students to  develop their listening and speaking skills, because after seeing the film they must answer several questions, and reflect in some cases. Students should tak ...
10 Views 28,609 Pre-Int
Essay Writing

Essay Writing

This is a helpful resource to teach essay writing. I used this presentation to guide my students on how to write an essay. In this case, it is an argumentative essay, but the structure is always t ...
12 Views 34,887 Pre-IntInt
Best Tips for Public Speaking for ESL Students

Best Tips for Public Speaking for ESL Students

Suzanne Bhagan
One of the main challenges that face ESL and EFL students is public speaking in a foreign language. This worksheet gives ESL and EFL students important tips for public speaking. It also provides c ...
11 Views 35,062 ElemPre-IntInt
Writing an Email about Healthy Lifestyle

Writing an Email about Healthy Lifestyle

BusyTeacher Contributor
This worksheet has information adapted from http://www.choosemyplate.gov/. It requires students to fill up the parts of the food pyramid and extract information from the pictures to write a 50 wor ...
3 Views 40,010 Int
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Anatomy of an Advertisement

Anatomy of an Advertisement

Romaenglish
This worksheet teaches students how to use descriptive and persuasive language to make a compelling advertisement. This was originally designed for Chinese University students and so the examples ...
17 Views 44,717 Pre-IntIntAdv
Be a Superhero!

Be a Superhero!

T. Miller
Need an engaging, exciting guided writing prompt? Try the "Be a Superhero" guided prompt. If you work with students with idea formulation, organization, paragraph parsing, or writing persistence ...
6 Views 18,837 ElemPre-IntInt
How to Write a Paragraph

How to Write a Paragraph

Benjamin Chapman
The "paragraph hamburger" is a writing organizer that visually outlines the key components of a paragraph. Topic sentence, detail sentences, and a closing sentence are the main elements of a good ...
7 Views 33,017 BegElem
Summer Is Here

Summer Is Here

Monica
With this activity I believe students will have the opportunity to work in groups and find as many words as they can to describe summer. Once they are done looking for all the words they will fac ...
6 Views 10,044 Pre-IntInt
Colors

Colors

Shaghayegh
Here is a worksheet for a dictation about colors. It is useful for students who've just learnt how to write colors. There are some missing letters to complete the words. This worksheet can be done ...
6 Views 22,980 Elem
Dictation

Dictation

Shaghayegh
This is a power point for dictation practice in the format of game.  There are some missing letters to complete by students and an applause for the correct answer.  This can be good for ...
11 Views 23,199 Elem
Writing a Conclusion - Komodo Dragons

Writing a Conclusion - Komodo Dragons

Writing a conclusion is an important part of any piece of writing. It is a summary of the main text and leaves the reader with the basic information in the piece. Students are asked to read throug ...
10 Views 15,741 Elem
Writing a Conclusion - Wolves

Writing a Conclusion - Wolves

Writing a conclusion is an important part of any piece of writing. It is a summary of the main text and leaves the reader with the basic information in the piece. Students are asked to read throug ...
9 Views 15,662 Elem
Writing a Conclusion - Manatees

Writing a Conclusion - Manatees

Writing a conclusion is an important part of any piece of writing. It is a summary of the main text and leaves the reader with the basic information in the piece. Students are asked to read throug ...
5 Views 9,544 Elem
Writing a Conclusion - Green Sea Turtles

Writing a Conclusion - Green Sea Turtles

Writing a conclusion is an important part of any piece of writing. It is a summary of the main text and leaves the reader with the basic information in the piece. Students are asked to read throug ...
7 Views 13,767 Elem
Writing a Conclusion - Gibbons

Writing a Conclusion - Gibbons

Writing a conclusion is an important part of any piece of writing. It is a summary of the main text and leaves the reader with the basic information in the piece. Students are asked to read throug ...
4 Views 8,188 Elem
Writing a Conclusion - Polar Bears

Writing a Conclusion - Polar Bears

Writing a conclusion is an important part of any piece of writing. It is a summary of the main text and leaves the reader with the basic information in the piece. Students are asked to read throug ...
7 Views 24,185 Elem
The House

The House

Worksheet for primary school. This is a worksheet about the parts of the house. Item I: reading. Item II: complete the graphic organizer according to the reading. Item III: match the names with ...
5 Views 20,086 Beg
Biography - Famous Author

Biography - Famous Author

This handy report form is good for practicing research activities. Students are asked to choose a famous author and fill in the report form. The are asked to answer a few questions and write a sho ...
7 Views 17,984 Elem
Writing a Non-Fiction Summary

Writing a Non-Fiction Summary

This worksheet is a step-by-step guide that explains the process of writing a non-fiction summary for ESL students. Students have expressed to me that teachers often assign tasks that require summ ...
5 Views 21,445 IntAdvExam
Rory's Story Cubes Vocabulary - Actions

Rory's Story Cubes Vocabulary - Actions

This might be a useful worksheet for story writing and speaking exercises with different past tenses. All you need is the blue set (Actions) from Rory's Story Cubes. Introduce the vocabulary, ...
17 Views 24,807 Pre-IntIntAdvExam
Creative Writing Exercise - Chinese New Year (Year of the Rat)

Creative Writing Exercise - Chinese New Year (Year of the Rat)

The Chinese Year of the Rat is the first in the 12 year cycle. Students are asked to look at the picture and write a creative story to go along with it. This activity could help lead into a Chines ...
3 Views 9,369 Elem
Creative Writing Exercise - Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox)

Creative Writing Exercise - Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox)

The Chinese Year of the Ox is the second in the 12 year cycle. Students are asked to look at the picture and write a creative story to go along with it. This activity could help lead into a Chines ...
3 Views 7,007 Elem
Creative Writing Exercise - Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger)

Creative Writing Exercise - Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger)

The Chinese Year of the Tiger is the third in the 12 year cycle. Students are asked to look at the picture and write a creative story to go along with it. This activity could help lead into a Chin ...
3 Views 9,171 Elem
Creative Writing Exercise - Chinese New Year (Year of the Rabbit)

Creative Writing Exercise - Chinese New Year (Year of the Rabbit)

The Chinese Year of the Rabbit is the fourth in the 12 year cycle. Students are asked to look at the picture and write a creative story to go along with it. This activity could help lead into a Ch ...
3 Views 6,096 Elem

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