esl essay writing prompts

• Learning Resources
• For Teachers

40 ESL Essay Writing Topics + Prompts

By VIPKid  |  April 20, 2018

Ready to start teaching English online?

Writing ESL essay writing is hard for most students and many will struggle at first before learning to write well.

However, writing skills are a crucial part of learning a new language . 

In this piece, we’ll share some ESL writing prompts and ESL essay topics for five different kinds of essays. They should help your students develop their grammar and vocabulary skills  while teaching them how to write coherently.

(While they work for all kinds of students, we’ve found these topics are especially handy for  teaching English to kids .) 

Writing practice should never be boring! When you’re done this article, check out the 10 most engaging writing activities here .

Descriptive ESL Writing Topics

• Describe your favorite place in as much detail as possible.
• Describe your favorite fictional character in as much detail as possible.
• Describe a famous person – e.g. a singer or athlete – that you admire. Focus on both their appearance and personality traits.
• Describe a family member or your best friend  as detailed as possible. Discuss how they look and their personality.  
• Choose a  hobby or favorite activity  and describe why and how you do it. 
• Describe your most memorable holiday or vacation spot in as much detail as possible.
• Describe a photo or work of art in as much detail as possible.
• Pick your favorite food . Describe what you taste, smell, and sense while eating or drinking it. 

Earn up to $22 an Hour Teaching English from Home

Explanatory ESL Essay Topics

• Give directions for getting from one point to another . For example, how to get from your home to your school. Describe the landmarks someone might see along the way.
• Explain how to cook your favorite meal . Provide a recipe and the step-by-step instructions.
• Explain your favorite computer game . What should a player do to win? What are some playing tips?
• Explain what you would do if your friends show up at your house unexpectedly . Say how you would entertain them. 
• Explain how to make a bed . This task is seemingly simple but allows you to write about everyday habits you might never think through in detail. 
• Explain how to make a paper airplane . Again, this task has many precise, technical details that that should be included in the essay. 
• Explain how to brush your teeth . Try to make your essay about a seemingly mundane task more interesting. 
• Explain how to pack a suitcase when going on a holiday. List out all the objects and pieces of clothing you would bring. 

ESL Essays Topics to Practice Verb Tenses

• Talk about a time in the past when you had to make a difficult decision . Explain what you did and why.
• Describe your dream place to live . Why would you want to live there? What would you do?
• Write about three specific goals  you want to achieve this year. Explain how you are going to achieve them.
• Write about something you regret having done . Point out what could have happened if you had not made that decision.
• Describe the world 100 years from now . Describe how people live, and new inventions and also the things that will not change.
• Talk about your earliest memory . What happened? How well do you remember the events?
• Write a short essay about how you prepared for class . Now “translate” that essay into future tense. In other words, the essay should say how you plan to prepare for class.  

Argumentative ESL Essay Topics

• Are smartphones good or bad? Give some arguments to support your position.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of public schools and private schools ?
• What is your favorite book or movie ? Convince others, through your essay, to read or watch it. 
• Is it the case that the more people that have cars, the better? What are some advantages and disadvantages of public transit ? 
• Should money be spent on space exploration ? Give arguments to support your opinion.
• You’re the mayor of your town or city. Explain in an essay your recent decision to ban smoking . Then, from another person’s perspective, write a letter to the mayor protesting this new law. 
• Reading books vs. watching movies . Which do you prefer and why?
• What are the pros and cons of e-readers compared to paper books?

Hypothetical ESL Essay Topics

• What would you do if you were late for an important class?
• What would you do if your car got a flat tire on the highway?
• If you had the power to change one thing about your past, what would it be?
• If you had the power to alter  one major historical event , what would it be?
• If you could take any superhero’s powers , who would be your choice?
• How would you feel if, one day, you woke up 300 years in the past ?
• What would you do if you won the lottery ? Would your life change day-to-day?

Some General ESL Essay Tips

When checking ESL essays, pay attention to the following key points:

• Grammar. The ESL essay should be grammatically correct.
• Vocabulary. The more new vocabulary the essay contains, the more points it will get.
• Text flow. The text of the essay should flow logically and naturally. Pay attention to the use of connecting words and phrases. These include first of all , secondly , moreover , in addition , besides , finally , on the one hand, on the other hand , and as a result .
• Sticking to the topic. Some essay writers tend to deviate from ESL essay topics. However, a perfect ESL essay should stay as close to the point as possible.

A good essay typically has the following parts:

• An introduction . Here, the author gives some general information about the topic or lays out their argument. An effective intro entices readers to read further. 
• The body . In an argumentative essay, the body could be 2 to 3 paragraphs. Each should introduce their arguments and support them with examples. In other types of essays, the content may vary. For example, the body may include descriptions, explanations, or personal stories.
• Conclusion . The author should logically conclude or summarize their thoughts and arguments.

How Do You Teach Writing?

It doesn’t matter if you teach English online or if you’re a classroom teacher, we want to know about your  teaching styles.  Do you use writing prompts,  games and activities, or something else entirely?

Earn $15-22 an hour Teaching English from Home

Share This Story

Related Articles

Tips to Help Increase Your VIPKid Class Bookings

If you're looking to increase your class bookings with VIPKid, look no further! We have 6 tips to help get you more classes.

June 10, 2021

How to Prepare for Your VIPKid Interview: 18 Dos and Don’ts

Finally, a play-by-play on How to Prepare for Your VIPKid Interview. We’ve broken down 18 Dos and Don’ts for the hiring process, what to expect, and how to Wow the interviewers!

May 13, 2021

How to Improve Reading Comprehension When Teaching English

VIPKid Teacher Nichole, a reading specialist with more than 20 years of teaching experience discusses her tips Improve Reading Comprehension.

May 4, 2021

By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies . You can change your cookie settings at any time.

ESL Activities

ESL Games, Activities, Lesson Plans, Jobs & More

The Best ESL Writing Prompts and Topics for Beginners

Learning a different language is hard. Writing in a different language is even harder. But the only way to improve writing is to write more! One way to make writing less frustrating for your ESL students is to provide them with interesting writing prompts and topics.

Writing Prompts for ESL Beginners

Purpose of Writing Prompts

The main purpose of writing prompts is to encourage students’ interests and also encourage them to write about the topic. This doesn’t mean that you always want to limit what your students write. It is also encouraged for students to come up with a topic of their own. However, thinking of a topic every single time can also be stressful. So, for ESL beginners, writing prompts act more like a guide to starting the writing.

If you are teaching ESL beginners how to write, try to keep the writing assignment short to about like 100 words. Once they get used to describing the topic and writing in a creative way, you can increase the word limit. Go through the list of writing prompts and find the topics that will interest your ESL students.

ESL Writing Prompts and Topics

30 Writing Prompts for ESL Beginners

• Describe your favourite holiday.
• Describe your best friend.
• Talk about your best vacation memory.
• Write about your New Year’s resolutions.
• What would you do if you won the lottery?
• Write about your family members.
• Describe your favourite game.
• Write about your favourite movie.
• Who is your favourite celebrity, and why?
• What do you like to do during summer vacation?
• What is our earliest memory as a child?
• What are your strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• What is your favourite season, and why?
• Describe your happiest memory.
• What kind of superpower do you want, and why?
• Describe your favourite movie (or TV series, book) character.
• What are the three most recent things that you bought? Where did you buy it from?
• Describe a perfect day for you.
• Which country do you want to visit, and why?
• Describe what makes a good friend.
• What do you like to do in your free time?
• Do you prefer presents or money? Why?
• Would you rather live in a very cold country or a very hot country? Why?
• Describe your favourite restaurant.
• Describe your favourite drink besides water.
• Which superhero do you want to be friends with? Why?
• Do you prefer a rainy day or a snowy day? Why?
• Talk about your favourite animal.
• Would you rather go back in time or travel in the future? Why?

Even More Writing Prompts for Beginners

When it comes to selecting writing topics for beginners, it’s important to choose subjects that are simple, relatable, and promote vocabulary and sentence structure development. Here are some ideas:

• My Family : Ask students to write about their family members, their names, ages, and occupations. They can describe their relationships and write a few sentences about each family member.
• My Hobbies : Have students write about their favorite hobbies or activities. They can describe why they enjoy them and how often they engage in these activities.
• My Daily Routine : Ask students to write about their daily routine, starting from when they wake up until they go to bed. They can describe their activities, such as getting ready, going to school or work, eating meals, and doing homework.
• My Favorite Food : Encourage students to write about their favorite food or dish. They can describe its taste, ingredients, and how it is prepared. Encourage them to use descriptive words to make their writing more interesting.
• My Favorite Season : Have students write about their preferred season of the year. They can describe the weather, activities, and events they associate with that season.
• A Memorable Holiday : Ask students to write about a holiday or vacation they remember. They can describe where they went, what they did, and why it was memorable.
• My Best Friend : Encourage students to write about their best friend. They can describe their friend’s appearance, personality, and what they like to do together.
• My Dream Job : Have students write about their dream job. They can explain what it is, why they are interested in it, and what skills or qualifications are necessary for that job.
• My Favorite Book/Movie : Ask students to write about their favorite book or movie. They can describe the plot, characters, and why they enjoy it.
• My Future Goals : Encourage students to write about their aspirations and goals for the future. They can write about what they want to be when they grow up or their plans for further education.

Tips for Teaching ESL Writing to Beginners

Before teaching your students an ESL writing lesson, check out these tips first.

Error Correction

Yes, you want to help students improve their writing. However, pointing out every single error in the writing can discourage students. Remember that your students are writing in a foreign language. Of course, they will make many mistakes as beginners.

However, it is still important to let them know where have made mistakes. The tip here is to praise a lot and let them know what’s good about their writing and then highlight the grammatical errors. This way, you will be able to make corrections without demotivating them.

writing prompts and topics

Student’s Interests

You want to encourage students and have them be interested in writing about the topic. To do so, you will have to choose topics related to what students are already interested in. You don’t necessarily have to use the exact writing prompts provided above. If you know what your students like, switch it up a bit to fit their interests. If there’s something your ESL students want to write about, let them do that too!

Provide Writing Structure

Teach your students how to structure the writing. Students will refer to that structure every time they are given a writing assignment. A structure to follow will lessen the stress of writing. Knowing how to begin an introduction, write the main point, and finish with a conclusion will help students worry less about how to structure and focus on being creative with their writing.

FAQs About English Writing Prompts for Beginners

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about writing prompts for ESL beginners.

What are some easy writing prompts?

List of easy writing prompts:

• What are your strengthes and weaknesses?

What are some fun writing prompts?

List of fun writing prompts:

• Would you rather become 10 years younger or 10 years older? Why?
• Which one is better and why? Being too short or too small.
• If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be?

Writing Prompts for ESL Beginners: Join the Conversation

What are your thoughts on these writing prompts for ESL beginners? Which one is your favourite? If there are other great writing prompts for English beginners, let us know in the comments! We’d love to hear from you.

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 60 books for English teachers and English learners, including Business English Vocabulary Builder and 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities for Teenagers and Adults . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at: YouTube Facebook Pinterest TikTok LinkedIn Instagram

Top Selling ESL Activity Book

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

More ESL Activities and Games

ESL Activities for Kindergarten: Fun ESL Kindergarten Activities

ESL Review Games & Activities: Ideas for English Review in Class

Common Words that Start with A in English with Images

Group Therapy | A Fun First-Day Activity for ESL Students

About, contact, privacy policy.

Best-selling author and English teacher Jackie Bolen has been talking ESL activities and games since 2015. The goal is to bring you the best ideas, lesson plans, and activity recommendations for your TEFL classes.

Get in touch: About + Contact

Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Email: [email protected]

Address: 2436 Kelly Ave, Port Coquitlam, Canada

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

Teaching Expertise

• Classroom Ideas
• Teacher’s Life
• Deals & Shopping
• Privacy Policy

60 Interesting Writing Prompts For The ESL Classroom

December 15, 2022 //  by  Christina Swiontek

Writing prompts are a great way for ESL learners to explore writing and practice their writing skills. English language learners will greatly benefit from responding to writing prompts. They can learn basic language skills and express themselves through descriptive, narrative, creative, opinion, and journal-based writing. By using these engaging writing assignments, beginner and intermediate learners can look forward to becoming strong writers. Help your young ones become more confident writers with the help of these fun prompts! 

Descriptive Writing Prompts 

For these descriptive writing prompts, guide students to be as specific as possible. It may be helpful to provide them with a list of adjectives and have a classroom discussion about how they can be used to describe various scenarios. Encourage writers to be creative and have fun with their writing topics. 

• Do you remember your first pet? What were they like?
• What is your happiest amusement park memory?
• Share your favorite meal in detail. 
• What does a perfect day include? What is the weather like? 
• What do you like to do on a rainy day? Share your ideas. 
• Have you ever been to the zoo? What did you see and hear? 
• Use your senses to describe an open area of grass and trees.
• Describe a sunset to someone who cannot see it.
• Share information about something that brings you joy.
• Imagine you are taking a trip to the grocery store. Share your experience.

Learn more: Teacher’s Notepad

Opinion Writing Prompts

An important aspect of opinion writing practice is for the writer to state their opinion and provide facts that support it. Opinion writing exercises can also be referred to as persuasive writing; in which the writer’s goal is to have the reader agree with their opinion. A tip for writers is to select a topic they are passionate about and provide enough supporting details. 

• Have you ever read through a book that has been made into a motion picture? Which do you prefer?
• Do you like to spend time inside or explore the big city? Share reasons to support your answer.
• What do you feel is the best invention? What would life be like without it? 
• Share details about a fun trip with your best friend. 
• Write and describe what it would be like if you didn’t have homework. 
• Do you think every sporting event should have a winner? Why or why not? 
• Is it better to vacation in the mountains or on the beach? Why is it better? 
• Share your thoughts about your favorite sport and why it interests you. 
• Think about your favorite book. What makes it your favorite?

Learn more: ThoughtCo

Narrative Writing Prompts

Narrative writing prompts are an effective way for students to improve their writing and creativity skills. It also motivates children and makes them excited to write. ESL writing topics such as these are a great way to spark creativity and imagination. 

• Think about what may happen if you took a picture of your friend in front of a volcano. 
• Imagine you had three wishes that could be granted, but you cannot use them for yourself. What would you wish for? Explain your reasoning. 
• What do you think would happen if you were to plan the luckiest day of your life? 
• If you had the option of bringing home a zoo animal, how would you spend your time together?
• Include the following words in a funny story: grapes, elephant, book, and airplane. 
• Write a short story from the viewpoint of an ant. What are the pros and cons of being so tiny?
• Can you imagine having the opportunity to meet your favorite book character? Who would you choose and why?
• What would your school day be like if there was no electricity? 
• Imagine you are a pirate, and you just took off on a voyage. What are you searching for? 
• Finish this story: The pirates set sail on their ship in search of . . .
• If you could be a teacher for the day, what decisions would you make and why?

Learn more: Vibrant Teaching

Creative Writing Prompts

Creative writing has many benefits for all children, including foreign English language learners. It helps improve communication skills, memory, and knowledge. Creative writing also stimulates higher-level thinking and self-expression.  

• If you could have a pet elephant, what would you do with it? 
• If you could spend the day in animal form, which animal would you be? 
• Oh no! You look up on the roof and you see your cat is stuck. What can you do to help?
• Share your adventures in detail if you were to own a pair of magical shoes.
• If you could have dinner with your favorite character, what would you ask them?
• If you could spend a day on a time machine, what would you do?
• Imagine you are taking your dog on a trip through the forest. What do you see?
• What is fun about playing in the rain?
• Think about playing hide and seek. Where is your favorite place to hide?
• If you could be a part of the circus for a day, what would be your special talent? 

Learn more: Squibler

Essay Writing Prompts

Essay writing prompts help students learn the fundamentals of writing. The following essay topics aim to strengthen reading comprehension and develop context and structure. Both ESL students and native English speakers can benefit from essay writing practice. 

• Share your favorite class subject and why.
• Explain the reason why it is good to share with friends.
• Share your favorite sport and why it is so special.
• What would it be like to be a superhero?
• What is your favorite game? How would you describe the goal of the game to someone who has never played it?
• Think about the tools you use in the classroom. Which one is most useful?
• What makes your best friend unique?
• Think about your least favorite subject. What would make you like it more? 
• What is your favorite thing to do over the weekend?
• Is there a story you could read over and over? Share why you enjoy it.

Learn more: Splash Learn

Journal Writing Prompts

Journal writing is an awesome way for children to practice writing. While writing in a journal, students can focus less on quality writing and mechanics and more on self-expression and the meaning behind their writing. Children may want to find a sacred writing space where they can avoid distractions and focus easily.

• What makes your school community unique?
• What does it mean to be kind?
• What should you do if you can’t get along with a classmate?
• What qualities are important in a friend?
• If you could invent something to solve a problem, what would it be?
• Did you ever break something by accident? How did you fix it?
• What is your favorite game to play in, and out of the classroom?
• Think about an imaginary friend. What are they like?
• Look in the mirror and write about what you see.
• What is your favorite playground equipment? Why? 

Learn more: YourDictionary

•  All topics A-Z
•  Grammar
•  Vocabulary
•  Speaking
•  Reading
•  Listening
•  Writing
•  Pronunciation
•  Virtual Classroom
• Worksheets by season
•  600 Creative Writing Prompts
•  Warmers, fillers & ice-breakers
•  Coloring pages to print
•  Flashcards
•  Classroom management worksheets
•  Emergency worksheets
•  Revision worksheets
• Resources we recommend

FREE Creative Writing Prompts Worksheets

Guess what here's something fresh for your lessons it's a growing collection of visual writing prompts so that you're never out of writing ideas again present these to your students, one at a time, for a quick 10-min 'free writing' activity, they'll love it read more... ...less.

• Copyright 2007-2021 пїЅ
• Submit a worksheet
• Mobile version

Interesting Writing Prompts For ESL Students

10 August 2021 Guest posts

Just like speaking, reading, and listening, writing is an essential element of learning a language. That’s why it’s so important that ESL students pay special attention to their writing skills while teachers assess their progress.

Unarguably, the best way to learn and improve these very writing skills is through practice. The more a student practices writing, the better their skills will get. Consequently, teachers need to provide their students with opportunities to practice their writing – and this can be done with the help of interesting writing prompts.

Why Should You Use Writing Prompts?

Why exactly do you need to use writing prompts? In fact, do you need them at all? As mentioned earlier, writing can be improved through practice . If you decide to write about whatever comes to your mind, you can technically improve your writing. However, you will see better results if you write with more intention.

Using writing prompts poses a challenge to the students as these prompts make them think in a particular direction and try to phrase their thoughts in relation to the topic at hand. By choosing more and more complicated writing prompts every time, you (or your student, if you are a teacher) will gradually improve their writing skills.

Descriptive Writing Prompts

Instead of only using writing prompts of one type, it’s worth trying out a variety of writing prompts. Experts from the top rated research paper writing services explain, “Variety in the writing prompts you choose will help you develop different writing subskills. You should be able to describe as much as you should be able to argue your point.”

Hence, here are some descriptive writing prompts to start from:

• Describe your favorite place using as many details as possible. This can be anything from your childhood hideout to your writing desk to your family’s summer home.
• Pick and describe your favorite food. Focus on such characteristics as its taste, smell, look, and so on.
• Choose and describe your favorite activity, hobby, or passion. It could be anything from reading to swimming to going on picnics with friends.
• Write about your favorite fictional character or famous person. Describe their appearance, personality, accomplishments, and so on.
• Describe your most memorable holiday. It could be one you went on with friends or family or even alone.

Explanatory Writing Prompts

Another type of writing prompts you should try out are explanatory ones. While descriptive prompts only ask you to describe something, explanatory prompts urge you to go into more detail with your descriptions. Here are some explanatory prompts to try:

• Pick your favorite meal or food and explain how to make it by laying everything out in the form of step-by-step instructions.
• Think about your hometown, choose your favorite places around it, and give directions on how to get to each place.
• Explain how your favorite computer game works. Talk about the concept, the characters, the plot, the locations, the music, the functionality, and so on.
• Choose some kind of skill you have and explain how someone could learn to do it. For example, if you know how to create paper planes, explain how to do them.

Argumentative Writing Prompts

Experts from the best writing services reviews sites put it this way, “Descriptive and explanatory prompts ask you to be somewhat indifferent and take more of an objective stance on different topics. Argumentative prompts, on the other hand, ask you to take a subjective point of view and support your opinion with valid points.”

Here are some argumentative prompts to use:

• Choose your favorite book, movie, show, etc. and try to convince others to check it out by writing about it.
• Consider space exploration. Should money be spent on it? Write about your opinion on the matter and use relevant arguments to support it.
• What’s better: reading books or watching movies? Write about your opinion on the matter and use relevant arguments to support it.
• Should more people use public transport instead of cars or should more people get their own cars? Write about your opinion on the matter and use relevant arguments to support it.

Hypothetical Writing Prompts

Last but not least, there is one more type of prompts you will find useful – hypothetical. These prompts ask you to consider a particular situation and explore it through writing. Here are some hypothetical prompts to practice your writing:

• If you could change one thing about your own past, what would that thing be?
• If you could have any superpower, what would this superpower be and what would you do with it?
• If you could travel back in time, to which point in time would you travel and what would you do then?
• If you could meet any dead person, what would you do?
• If you one day won the lottery, how would you spend the money?
• If you had the power to solve one world issue (e.g. hunger, global warming), what would this be and how would the world change once the issue is solved?

Final Thoughts

All in all, writing prompts for ESL students are somewhat different from those native speakers get for practicing their writing skills. This is because ESL students are usually older when they study the same topics that native speakers study at a younger age.

That being said, by using the topics listed in this article, you will be able to provide ESL students with the most interesting writing prompts. Or, if you are a student, you will be able to practice your writing skills either on your own or with the guidance of your teacher. ESLstarter offers a wide variety of TEFL jobs so see where you can go with TEFL and put those skills into practice!

Previous post: How To Teach The Basics Of Writing to ESL Students

• Features (34)
• Guest posts (37)
• Argentina (10)
• Colombia (6)
• Ecuador (2)
• Hong Kong (5)
• Thailand (15)
• Vietnam (5)

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience.

ESL Essay Writing: 7 Important Tips to Teach Students Plus Resources for Writing Lessons

“Every good story has a beginning, a middle and an end.”

This is true for a good essay, too.

An essay needs a coherent structure to successfully articulate its arguments. Strong preparation and planning is crucial to providing that structure.

Of course, essay writing can be challenging for ESL students. They must order their thoughts and construct their arguments—all in their second language.

So, here are seven ESL essay writing tips that will allow your students to weave together a coherent and persuasive essay, plus teacher resources for writing activities, prompts and lessons!

1. Build the Essay Around a Central Question

2. use the traditional 5-paragraph essay structure, 3. plan the essay carefully before writing, 4. encourage research and rewriting, 5. practice utilizing repetition, 6. aim to write a “full circle” essay, 7. edit the essay to the end, esl essay writing resources.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Encourage your students to build all their writing around one central question.

That central question is the engine of the writing—it should drive everything!

If a word or sentence is not assisting that forward motion toward the explication of that question and its possible answers, then it needs to be reworded, rephrased or just plain cut out and discarded.

Lean writing is merciless. Focusing on a central question throughout the prewriting, writing and rewriting stages helps develop the critical faculties required to discern what to keep and what to throw away.

Providing a clear structure for the student to approach essay writing can do a lot to build their confidence. The 5-paragraph essay, or “hamburger” essay, provides that clear structure for ESL writers.

Generally, this structure employs five separate paragraphs for the entire essay. Each paragraph serves a specific purpose, melding together to form a coherent whole:

• Paragraph 1: The introductory paragraph. This includes the thesis statement, orientating the reader to the purpose of the essay.
• Paragraphs 2 to 4: The body paragraphs. These make individual points that are further backed up by various forms of evidence.
• Paragraph 5:  The conclusion paragraph. This provides a summation of the arguments and a final statement of the thesis.

While students do not need to rigidly follow this format forever, the simple structure outlined above can serve as excellent training wheels for your writers.

Using the 5-paragraph structure as outlined above makes planning clear cut.

Once they have their theses and are planning their paragraphs, share with the students the ridiculously useful acronym P.E.E. This stands for Point, Explanation and Evidence.

Each body paragraph should make a point or argument in favor of the central thesis, followed by an explanation of this point and relevant evidence to back it up.

Students can make note of all their points, explanations and evidence before they start writing them in essay form. This helps take away some of the pressure ESL writers feel when faced with a blank page.

Extol the necessity for students to constantly refer to their planning. The mind-mapping techniques popularized by Tony Buzan can be useful at the planning stage and make for easy reference points to ensure focus is maintained throughout the essay.

Having a visual reference such as this can help ensure that your student-writers see each piece of the whole as well as that elusive “bigger picture,” so it becomes a case of seeing the forest and the trees!

Just as planning is crucial, so too is research.

Often ideas or connections do not occur until the writing process has begun. This is a good thing! Essay writing is a creative act, so students can have more ideas along the way and work them in as they go.

The key is to always be able to back up these ideas. Students who have done their research on their subject will be much more confident and articulate in expressing their arguments in their writing.

One way you can help students with context and research is to show relevant video content via FluentU . This language learning program uses authentic videos made by and for native speakers to help students learn English.

You can watch videos as a class or assign them directly to students for individual viewing. Videos come equipped with interactive bilingual subtitles and other learning tools such as multimedia flashcards and personalized quizzes so you can see how each student is doing.

No matter how your students do their research, the important thing is that they explore and understand their topic area before beginning the big task of writing their essay.

Even with thorough planning and research, writing oneself into a linguistic cul-de-sac is a common error. Especially with higher-level students, unforeseen currents can pull the student-writer off course.

Sometimes abandoning such a sentence helps. Going back to the drawing board and rewriting it is often best.

Students can be creative with their sentence structures   when expressing simpler ideas and arguments. However, when it comes to more complex concepts, help them learn to use shorter sentences to break their arguments into smaller, more digestible chunks.

Essay writing falls firmly in the camp of non-fiction. However, that doesn’t mean that essay writers can’t use some of the techniques more traditionally associated with fiction, poetry and drama .

One technique that’s particularly useful in essay writing is repetition. Just as poetry relies heavily on rhythm, so too does argument. Repetition can provide that sense of rhythm.

This is because written language has its origins in oral language. Think of the great orators and demagogues and their use of repetition. Speechwriters, too, are well aware of the power of repetition.

The writing principle of the “rule of 3” states that ideas expressed in these terms are more convincing and memorable. This is true of both spoken and written words and the ideas they express. Teach your students to use this method in their essay writing.

The very structure of the 5-paragraph essay lends itself to planning for this repetition, in fact. Each idea that is explored in a body paragraph should be outlined first in the introductory paragraph.

Then, the single body paragraph devoted to the idea will explore it at greater length, supported by evidence. And the third rap of the hammer occurs in the summation of the concluding paragraph, driving the point securely and convincingly home.

As mentioned at the start of this post, every good essay has a beginning, a middle and an end.

Each point made, explained and supported by evidence is a step toward what the writing teacher Roy Peter Clark calls “closing the circle of meaning.”

In planning for the conclusion of the essay, the students should take the opportunity to reaffirm their position. By referring to the points outlined in the introduction and driving them home one last time, the student-writer is bringing the essay to a satisfying full circle.

This may be accomplished by employing various strategies: an apt quotation, referring to future consequences or attempting to inspire and mobilize the reader.

Ending with a succinct quotation has the double benefit of lending some authoritative weight to the argument while also allowing the student to select a well-written, distilled expression of their central thesis. This can make for a strong ending, particularly for ESL students.

Often the essay thesis will suggest its own ending. If the essay is structured around a problem, it’s frequently appropriate to end the essay by offering solutions to the problem and outlining potential consequences if those solutions are not followed.

In the more polemical type of essay, the student may end with a call to arms, a plea for action on the part of the reader.

The strategy chosen by the student will depend largely on what fits the central thesis of their essay best.

For the ESL student, the final edit is especially important.

It offers a final chance to check form and meaning. For all writers, this process can be daunting, but more so for language students.

Often, ESL students will use the same words over and over again due to a limited vocabulary. Encourage your students to employ a thesaurus in the final draft before submission. This will freshen up their work, making it more readable, and will also increase their active vocabulary in the long run!

Another useful strategy at this stage is to encourage students to read their work aloud before handing it in.

This can be good pronunciation practice , but it also provides an opportunity to listen for grammatical errors. Further, it helps students hear where punctuation is required in the text, helping the overall rhythm and readability of the writing.

To really help your students become master essay writers, you’ll want to provide them with plenty of opportunities to test and flex their skills.

Writing prompts and exercises are a good place to start:

Descriptive writing activities encourage students to get creative and use their five senses, literary devices and diverse vocabulary. Read on for eight descriptive writing…

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-writing-projects/ https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-picture-description/

Giving good ESL writing prompts is important because inspiring prompts inspire students to write more and writing more is how they improve. Read this post to learn 50…

You’ll likely also want to teach them more about the mechanics of writing :

Are you looking for ESL writing skills to share with your ESL students? In this guide, you’ll find different ESL writing techniques, such as helping students understand…

Would you like to introduce journal writing into your ESL classes? Fantastic idea! Here are 9 essential tips to make it creative, engaging and fun.

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-writing-lessons/

Essays are a great way not only for students to learn how the language works, but also to learn about themselves.

Formulating thoughts and arguments about various subjects is good exercise for not only the students’ linguistic faculties, but also for understanding who they are and how they see the world.

Enter your e-mail address to get your free PDF!

We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe