Teaching Creative Writing to ESL Students

You might be wondering, “Is it a good idea to teach creative writing to ESL students?” After all, many of them are studying English for academic or business purposes. If you’re teaching at a university like me, your students want to know how to get a high score in the IELTS exam or how to use business English well enough to get a good job.

Is creative writing worthwhile for ESL students? In my opinion, yes. It may not seem like it has much real world value, but it’s a fun and engaging way to impart some valuable lessons to your students. Doing creative writing allows them to work on grammar, punctuation, spelling, tenses, structure, functions, and much more. What’s more, it’s exciting compared with writing IELTS essays and business reports. I always have great fun with my students in our creative writing classes.

The PPT below outlines what creative writing is and why it’s useful for ESL students. It also contains a great activity for your students that requires little to no set-up time and can fill an hour long class easily.