Four Creative Writing Activities for Students

Compared with rote memorization which enables learners to learn the basics and rules of the language, creative writing tests can effectively test students' English ability.

Writing requires students to correctly concatenate the words, phrases and sentence structures they have learned, so as to describe things or express their opinions properly rather than simply showing what they have learned.

Just like asking children to build a castle out of a pile of building blocks of different shapes, creative writing is not easy for students who are learning a new language. Therefore，you need some strategies and excises to stimulate their imagination.

Journal/diary of a historical figure

Let students choose their favorite historical / famous figures at will and imagine what a day in their lives will be like. Tell them that they don't have to look for data, just describe the details of each character's life according to their imagination and preferences, such as which restaurant the person usually goes to, what he will do after dinner, and describe these scenes in detail. Just make them have some fun!

Write a letter to their favorite fictional character

With the popularity of social software and email, writing letters seems to be a very old-fashioned behavior. However, it means different to ask students to write letters to their favorite characters.

Young students usually have their own idols, such as cartoon characters or characters in movies. Tell them to write a letter to tell their favorite character how they love him/her so much, share their daily life, or ask them questions about what they desire to figure out all the time. If possible, you can write a return letter to one of your students (or more if it’s possible), which will be the biggest surprise for him/her.

Essay report of a foreign planet

Young students are always full of enthusiasm in the mysterious space world, and it is very exciting and interesting for them to describe another planet in their imagination.

Teachers can list some questions to help students imagine, such as the name, appearance, environment, residents of another planet, etc., and compare them with the earth, or imagine that they are on a fantastic space trip and try to describe their conversation with aliens. Another way is to ask students to draw imaginary planets and aliens so as to help them describe the scene in words.

Creating a story together

It is a fact that ESL teachers have to admit that writing is always a nightmare for some students.

If you have students who are so afraid of writing, you can invite them to create a story with you. First of all, you can write the first sentence for the story, such as the classic "Once upon a time, there is ..." When the first sentence is completed, pass the first sentence to the next student and ask he/she to write a sentence related to the previous sentence for the story. Until the last student writes the final sentence, the story is completed.

Don't forget to set a theme for the story to make sure it has a reasonable ending.

You may check article about how to get students fully concentrated in class here