How to Create an ESL Writing Lesson Plan

For many language learners, writing is an effective way to learn new vocabulary and grammar. Even students who admit this, though, can balk at being asked to do "writing assignments" that seem like something from primary school. To get your English students writing more, create an ESL writing lesson plan that engages the imagination.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Set your teaching goals. Define exactly what you want your student to learn from the lesson. Choose both the language skills and the communication skills you want to practice. For instance, if the students will be writing job application cover letters, your linguistic goal might be to practice the present perfect tense and your communication goal may be learning to describe accomplishments.

2. Find an example text. Base your ESL writing lesson plan on a writing example that demonstrates how to use the language and skills you want to teach. Use a text you've recently employed in a reading or listening lesson. The next best choice is something your students have seen many examples of, such as job ads or resumes. If you use a new text, let the students skim it, and then review the text as a class and highlight the things you want to practice.

3. Choose a warmup activity. The warm-up will get students thinking about what they're going to write and introduce them to useful vocabulary. If you're writing a postcard, ask your class for some words that come to mind when they think of vacations. If your students must read the example text, your warmup should lead into the text.

4. Decide how you'll help the students to organize their writing. Your students will be able to write more freely if you provide a framework for their efforts. With something short like a postcard, you might ask your students to write down the three main ideas they want to express. For longer pieces, such as a cover letter or newspaper article, explain what kind of information each paragraph should contain.

5. Plan for feedback time. Few will be satisfied unless they can find out how well they wrote, so make this part of your ESL writing lesson plan. This doesn't mean you must grade every paper. Instead, you might have pairs of students correct each other's work or pick out a few common errors from the papers and correct them as a class.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't let your students write rough drafts in their native language and then translate them into English. Translating in that manner does little to help language acquisition. The more guidance you provide during the warmup and outlining time, the less your students will need to switch back to their mother tongue to gather their thoughts.
• An ESL writing lesson plan is more effective and interesting if students can write to someone other than the teacher. Try to use communication activities. For example, pairs of business English students might write invitations to business conferences and exchange them with each other. They can then explain to why they would or wouldn't accept the other's invitation.
• Don't skip the outlining process. Even if your students are familiar with the type of writing they'll be doing, it still helps to provide a framework they can use to structure their writing. When you write in a foreign language, so much thought goes to vocabulary and grammar that it's easy to forget structure.

Resources

• Get well designed ESL writing lesson plans, games and activities.
• ESLCafe.com has some lesson plans and lots of activity ideas.
• Try these ready-to-go, printable ESL lesson plans.
• Find material for your lessons at ESLGold.com.