There are a few things that university and college tutors must take into consideration when it comes to picking ESL writing activities for their students. The first thing to consider is they must pick activities that are easy to do online because communication is swift.
The second thing worth considering is they must not pick activities that require students to be in groups because it can lead to confusion. Sessions need to be done one on one to help students develop better, and the third thing worth considering is all the activities picked need to be age-appropriate.
Younger students in age need activities that are easy to understand and since this article is talking about advanced students, complex games can be applied without professional writing help from paper writing services. The last thing worth considering for tutors is ESL writing activities must be included in students’ homework and in-class lessons.
Advantages of ESL writing
While there are so many ESL writing exercises out there and this article will highlight a few of them, it is important to know what the advantages such a practice brings to the table. Below are three advantages
Improves the writing skills of students
Writing is fundamental when it comes to a student’s development, especially if English is their second language. Students are taught the basics like how to write assignments, take notes, produce good emails, how to effectively communicate with their classmates and professional writing services, and more.
Students improve their vocabulary
These activities, when done properly by a tutor, can improve a student’s vocabulary. This is because students will be exposed to new words which they will be able to use in assignments, emails, articles, and many other places they will be asked to produce writing content in the future.
Help students grasp the English language better
Every time students attend classes and are given exercises, they learn new words all the time, which they can use in their content. It is a wonderful way to become fluent in the language and also improve their comprehension.
Tutors need to remember that if they want to see their exercise bear fruits, they need to select ones that are appropriate for their students depending on their age. This eliminates confusion and makes it easy for students to understand what is being taught.
ESL writing activities for advanced students
Creative tweets
Twitter is one of the most popular platforms in the world and a great place to start as far as ESL exercises are concerned. Tutors can ask their students to come up with tweets on a given topic, plus a Twitter account can be created for the students to share their thoughts. Since the platform has a limit on the number of characters per post, it encourages creative thinking.
Creative email
Even though the world has been taken over by platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, there are people out there who still use emails as their main source of communication. Tutors need to explain to their students that there are two types of emails which are written by people, which are informal and formal. This exercise can involve telling students to produce emails based on a particular topic like a marketing plan. Launching a new product or a birthday party.
Advertisement writing
Adverts epitomize what creative writing is all about and tutors can use sample ads for their exercises and then students can be asked to create their piece based on what they see. Products can also be brought to the classroom and tutors can ask students to come up with a piece advertising them.
The use of images should strongly be advised because it will make them look like the ones produced by magazines and newspapers. Extra points can be awarded to students who come up with the most creative piece or the best pitch.
Correcting errors
This type of exercise mainly focuses on a student’s ability to highlight any mistakes in content that has already been written by someone else. For instance, students can be given a letter written by an imaginary author who isn’t fluent in the English language. There will be a few mistakes made in the text, and it is up to the students to spot them.
Team writing activities
This exercise involves a tutor telling their students to write something together. Students can be told to write a sentence or two about any story of their choice and then pass it along to their classmates who will also write a sentence or two and pass it along to continue the story. Once the story is complete, one of the students will be tasked with reading it out loud. This trains both writing and thinking skills, which are very important when it comes to a student’s development.
Picture based writing
This is a very fun exercise where tutors and custom writing services use cards that have pictures in them, put them in a bag, and ask students to pick one or a few. Once a student picks their cards, they need to produce a story based on what they see. This is a great way for a tutor to know how creative their students are as well as know the level they are at in terms of their writing skills.
Instructions manual writing
In this exercise, the tutor or academic writing services need to ask students to produce a step-by-step guide on how something works. These objects can be everyday items that people use in their homes, like the microwave or toaster. To take things up a notch, tutors can ask their students to write a step-by-step guide on how certain dishes are cooked.
Cutting down content exercise
In this last exercise, students can be given long pieces by their tutors or a college paper writing service and asked to make them short by removing what is known as filler content. Students can either work on content as a group or together with the tutor. Some exercises can even be given as homework so that students can practice away from college or university.
Final thoughts
To wrap things up, the benefit of using ESL writing exercises and activities in classes is to help students achieve their learning goals. Paper writing services say that when only fun activities are incorporated during lessons, students will not take much from them. There is to be a proper balance between learning and fun, hence why many colleges and universities use ESL writing activities because they help students support their arguments better and encourage creative thinking. In other words, ESL writing activities are not just classroom activities, they are homework too.
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