If you want your students to become good writers, you need to find fun ways to use writing. This is especially true of ELLs. Unless they have time to play with the language, they will never really feel confident in attempting any writing project.
The link I have provided,
TEN CREATIVE WRITING ACTIVITIES, offer some non-traditional approaches to the writing process. They also will have every student actively engaged in the process. JUMBLE STORY and ENHANCING AN AD were my favorites. Developing crazy ads has always been a writing assignment that my ELLs of all levels (beginning, intermediate, and advanced) thoroughly enjoy. They take an ad of a product they like (giving them choices is a must) and enhance to the point that it becomes a totally new product. We then follow it up with a skit to promote their product in class.
JUMBLE STORY is one I will definitely share with the English teachers I coach. My suggestion with those who have struggling students (ELLs and English Only) will be to have kids work in teams of two in developing their stories. When the project is finished, I would have them read them to the class and then keep all of them in a class binder. What a treasure that would be to show parents at Back-To-School night:)
Enjoy!
Denise
ELL Teacher Pros
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