ESL teachers sometimes need donuts. They also need writing lessons that students can finish in 20-30 minutes. Here are two activities.
Short ESL Writing Activity #1: Cubing
A cube is an object with six sides. In this exercise, we use a cube to ask six kinds of questions about something.
Each question gives students a different way to look at an idea or object. The answers generate lots of information. That information helps students add depth and detail to their writing.
This is a kind of guided writing exercise – because of the question prompts – so it works well with students who say they don’t know what to write.
Six Questions
- DESCRIBE: What is the idea? What does the object look like? Describe it with words about the senses.
- COMPARE: Is it similar to another idea or thing?
- CONTRAST: How is it different from others? What makes it unique?
- ANALYZE: Divide the whole thing into smaller parts.
- APPLY: How can it be used? Who uses it? What can we learn from it?
- ARGUE: What do you think about it? Good or bad? Right or wrong? Yes or no? Explain your decision with reasons.
Lesson Flow
Step 1 Explain Task
Use the Cubing questions to write a short passage about this hamburger set. Click here to open the lesson resource pdf file with the information you need for steps 2, 3 and 4.
Step 2
Show the hamburger picture on the lesson resource pdf file. It has a photo of a hamburger set and the 6 Cubing questions.
Step 3
Show students the model answer on the next page of the resource page. Give students time to read the text and see how the story answers every Cubing question.
Step 4
Show students a different picture (two photos are in the lesson resource pdf file). Give students 10-15 minutes to write a short, coherent passage that answers all of the Cubing questions.
Short ESL Writing Activity #1: 4 Elements
This activity asks students to think carefully about how they describe places and things. There is also a little surprise at the end the activity.
Get the lesson resources pdf here.
Lesson Flow
Step 1 Explain Task
Students write a short story; probably 2-4 paragraphs. The aim of the assignment is to write detailed descriptions of places and things.
Step 2 Rules
Explain that there are a couple of rules. This is a time limited writing activity. Students have 10 minutes to write a short story about an adventure. In this story, students include 4 things in detail:
- woods
- water
- a key
- a barrier
Step 3
Students write for 10 minutes.
Step 4
Now the surprise. Tell students the 4 things in the story have a special power. Each thing tells us about a different part of the writer’s character. This part works best with a partner.
Partner A asks:
- How did you describe the woods?
- How did you describe the water?
- How did you describe the key?
- How did you describe the barrier?
The code is on the last page of the pdf file.
Enjoy.
About the activities
These activities come from two of my ebooks: If you and your students enjoyed these activities, why not buy an ebook? That would help support this website and all the free resources.