It is not a secret that to master a language, a person must be able to speak, read, write, and understand a native speaker’s speech. One of the hardest tasks is to write. A person needs not only to possess a good vocabulary but also to be aware of grammatical rules and correct spelling. That is why many students ask for an English writing service e.g. CustomWritings to help them with writing academic essays and college papers.
Is it possible to acquire top-level writing skills with pleasure? What exercises might be helpful in this challenge for native and non-native speakers? This article gives tips about how to improve English writing skills.
10 Creative Writing Activities That Will Interest Every Student and Independent Learner
The epoch of the Internet makes writing tasks more entertaining. There are so many opportunities to show one’s talent and to develop good writing abilities. Below, one can find the 10 best variants.
#1. Emailing
People use Gmail, Yahoo, and other email exchanging platforms in education and at work. Letters have a particular structure and formatting requirements. Writing emails is a very useful skill in the XXI century. Most organizations communicate with clients using chats, messengers, and email tools. Such a practice lets learners differentiate between formal and informal writing.
#2. Twittering
This social media platform was merely created for messaging. Today, it is a perfect virtual space for influencers who want their followers to hear them. Students can also imagine themselves as influencers. Teachers can create a contest for the best tweet. Besides, it is an excellent way to manipulate words because the post must not exceed 280 characters. So, each word must be to the point.
#3. Correction of Mistakes
This task might involve technology or deal with old school papers and red pencils. The task of a student is to get a post, article, or writing and search for grammatical and stylistic errors and mark them with a pencil. The same can be done with the help of online writing tools. Google Docs fit perfectly due to its Comment function. A person can underline mistakes with different colors to make them more visible. Such tasks improve a student’s grammar and language use.
#4. Creation of Hooky Ads
All movies, newspapers, TV channels, and radio stations introduce hundreds of advertisements daily. Students can try to create an ad by following either a sample or developing their vision of product promotion. If it is a home assignment, a learner can think of a good visualization by adding self-made photos, headings, fonts, and other essential details. Moreover, such activity involves speaking when students introduce their projects to others. So, it is a 2 in 1 creative and beneficial task.
Except for a writing activity, a person learns how to catch a reader’s attention. The task of the ad is to sell a product or service. People think about what words provide the best impression or evoke positive association in a person’s imagination.
#5. Step-by-step Writing
This task needs a good tutor. Together with a teacher, a student creates a paper word by word for beginners and sentence by sentence for A2 students. The main goal of this activity is to teach students to think and express their ideas about some topic logically. Thanks to that, students learn how to write compositions in different styles. They also see how to use citations and how to format papers.
#6. Each Time New
This activity is the best tool to let students understand how different essay types differ from each other. Yearly, college professors ask learners to write essays. The most popular essay types are:
- narrative
- compare and contrast
- descriptive
- expository
- cause and effect
- definition
- argumentative
- analytical
- persuasive
The task of a student is to write an essay in any style. Then he or she should alter writing to fit another essay type. For example, a teacher tells students to write a narrative school essay. Then, students need to turn a narration into an argumentative paper by adding a discussion. The next task will be to transform an argumentative essay into a cause and effect paper, and so on. Due to that, a student sharpens academic writing skills and masters a language from different perspectives.
#7. Instructive Writing
Everybody uses guides when dealing with new techniques or activities. On the one hand, it is easy to write an instruction. A person does not require beautiful expressions and stylistic devices. On the other hand, it is necessary to be precise and avoid wordy sentences. Moreover, a person must know how things work.
For instance, one writes a guide on how to create a 3D toy. To do that, students should know how to name cloth types, fillings, details, and sewing techniques. First, it is better to start with simple instructions and then proceed to more complex tasks.
#8. Image Description
One should try to describe everything that surrounds him or her. The picture selection must be random. Spontaneous writing trains our brains and tests our language abilities. Students should create a story. For example, learners take a look at a picture of two children. They try to think about a story by answering simple questions. Who are they? What are these children doing? Who are their parents? What is their hobby? Why are they alone? Such exercising stimulates one’s creativity and writing skills.
#9. Short-Long
This activity is about making writings longer or shorter. It teaches students to decide what parts are essential and what things can be deleted. Thanks to that, students learn how to turn official writing into non-official. For example, a person should take a narration full of beautiful expressions and stylistic devices and make it dry and emotionless. Then, the same student takes primitive writing and fills it with impressive, complex sentences.
#10. Group Writing
A group of students gets a task and starts performing it. They brainstorm together to get the best idea. Afterward, partners start writing and discuss what words to use, what style to choose, and how to present everything. Another variant is to take a sheet of paper and interrogative words. One student starts a story, and others try to continue using prompts.
Sample:
Who? (A man in a white T-shirt)
Action (was crossing a street)
Where (in New York)
When (one Sunday Morning), etc.
Such a task evokes new ideas and makes a person use language to develop an interesting story.
Final Thoughts
Many activities may help people master a language. One should do interesting tasks so as not to feel bored. Messengers, mass media platforms, and group activities serve as perfect stimulators and practicing tools when used correctly. One is free to choose the activity that meets personal expectations.
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