Teaching English as a second language can be a daunting challenge, even for experienced teachers. Writing can one of the more challenging aspects of learning the English language. Bored students can quickly become noisy and hard to control. Writing games can be a great way to engage students in the classroom so they can learn their lessons while having fun.

Interactive Story Game
This game takes about an hour to play and should be used with students who are at the intermediate level or higher. First, hand out prompts which tell what they will be writing about. Each student will receive a different prompt. Give them about ten minutes to begin their story. When the allotted time is up, students should then pass what they have written on to another student. Now the students will read the story in front of them and add on to that story. The purpose is to make a cohesive story, not a bunch of random fragments of creativity. This should be repeated every ten minutes until about five paragraphs have been written. Lastly, the students will be given their stories back and may conclude them with their own words.

The Lying Game
The lying game begins with you writing three statements about yourself on the board. Two of these statements must be false. Then, the students should write down on a piece of paper which statement they think is true. After they write down their choice, tell them which one was in fact true. Those who guessed right will receive a point. Next, the students will take turns writing their own three statements on the board while the rest of the students guess which statement is true. Once everyone has finished taking turns, you tally up the points. The student with the most points wins.

Running Dictation
First, divide the class into two teams. Then put any words you choose up on the wall. Depending on the level of the class this can be a few sentences or a few paragraphs. You then assign a writer to each team who will be responsible for writing down what the runners read on the wall. The writer should be situated in a place where the text on the wall is too small to be read. The rest of the team will be the runners. The runners must take turns running to the wall, reading and memorizing part of the text, and then running back and dictating it to the writer. The runners cannot write and can only say the words out loud. The first team to have all of the text written and spelled correctly wins.