ESL students can write on a range of topics, from the beginning through advanced levels. Some writing activities are more abstract in nature and appropriate for advanced level students. Other activities can be more structured and concrete, such as when the teacher provides students with words and sentence starters to help students complete their writing activities.

Interview
Students can practice a journalistic style of writing by interviewing one of their classmates about their lives. This will also help them increase their awareness of other cultures and ways of life. Develop a list of questions with your students before you pair them up. Some questions might include: "Where are you from?"; "How many brothers and sisters do you have?"; What is your favorite hobby?"; and "What is your job?" Have only five to 10 questions on the list. Pair students up, and have them write down the answers to these questions. Students can then write a few paragraphs about the lives of the people they interview. Students can also edit each other's paragraphs after they edit them themselves, and then write a final copy. Students can also share their interviews with the rest of the class when they are finished writing.

About Me
A good writing activity for beginning to intermediate ESL students is to write a paragraph about themselves. For more beginning students, you might help them write their information by giving them some sentences to help them begin their sentences. For example, you might write in the board, "I am from. . ." and "I like to. . ." Students can include a picture of themselves in their final copy of their paragraphs. They can self-edit and then peer edit each other's papers. Hang the paragraphs up on the wall in the classroom for others to read.

Report
Have your students pick an animal they are interested in for a research report. This activity is more appropriate for intermediate to advanced level students. Bring some books from the library about animals to class to give students some reference material, such as "National Geographic Wild Animal Atlas: Earth's Astonishing Animals and Where They Live" by National Geographic (2010) or "Science Kids Animal Homes" by Angela Wilkes (2006). You might also print out some information from the Internet about animals to add to the books. Some helpful sites include Animal Planet's Wild Animal and National Geographic's Animals sites.

Encourage students to write about only one topic per paragraph and to write at least three to five paragraphs, including introduction and conclusion paragraphs. Students can edit their own papers, have another student go over it again, write a final copy and share the information they learned about the animal with the class.

Opinion
Choose a topic that is current in the news and have students give their opinions about it. This activity is best suited to advanced level students. In the lessons leading up to the writing activity, focus on vocabulary for expressing opinions, agreeing and disagreeing, and words that connect ideas, such as "however" and "moreover." Also talk about words such as "first," "next," "lastly," and "finally" to help students organize their ideas into paragraphs.

Discuss thesis statements in introductions, topic sentences, providing evidence to support an argument and concluding paragraphs. Talk about different aspects of the topic in class and write students' ideas on the board about it before they begin to write. Give students a list of words and phrases to use in their papers to help them organize their ideas coherently.