Creative writing exercises for English language learners

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Reading time: 3.5 minutes

Engaging in creative writing is one effective way to improve your English language skills. It allows for artistic expression and personal flair, making it a unique way to put your imagination into words. Additionally, creative writing can draw from the author’s life and experiences, providing a personal touch to the narrative. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner, creative writing can help you enhance your vocabulary, grammar and overall language proficiency.

Creative writing exercises can also benefit other forms of writing, such as business writing and technical writing, even though these are not typically considered creative writing. In this post, we’ll explore various creative writing exercises that are designed to make learning English fun and engaging, as well as improve writing skills.

Creative writing exercises to help your English skills
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Exercise 1: Picture prompts

Using images as prompts for writing can spark your imagination, aid in character development, and help you come up with interesting stories.

  1. Choose an image that interests you.
  2. Look at the picture carefully and note down what you see.
  3. Write a story based on the image.

Example

A picture of a peaceful beach.

Prompt: What happens when a message in a bottle washes ashore?

Exercise 2: Short stories and story starters

Story starters are sentences or phrases that help kick-start your fiction writing and develop your storytelling skills.

  1. Choose a story starter from the list below.
  2. Continue the story from where the starter leaves off. Free writing can be a great method to let your imagination run wild and get the creative juices flowing.
  3. Be creative and develop the plot, characters and setting.

Example

  • “It was a dark and stormy night when…”
  • “She couldn’t believe what she saw when she opened the door…”
  • “The old man had a mysterious look in his eyes as he handed over the ancient book…”

Exercise 3: Dialogue creation

Creating dialogues between characters is a common practice among creative writers, which can improve your conversational skills and help you understand the nuances of spoken English.

  1. Think of two characters and a situation where they might interact.
  2. Write a dialogue between the characters, focusing on making it as natural as possible.
  3. These exercises can teach students to write better dialogues.
  4. Practice reading the dialogue out loud to improve your speaking skills.

Example

Prompt: Two friends discussing their plans for the weekend.

  • Friend 1: “What are you up to this weekend?”
  • Friend 2: “I’m thinking of going hiking. Want to join?”

Exercise 4: Collaborative storytelling

Collaborative storytelling involves writing a story with others, which can be a fun and interactive way to practice English.

It can also be used to create personal essays that reflect shared experiences.

  1. Gather a group of friends or classmates.
  2. Start a story with one sentence, then pass it along to the next person to continue.
  3. Keep passing the story around until everyone has contributed, then read the final story together.

Example

First sentence: "Once upon a time, in a small village surrounded by mountains, there lived a curious cat named Whiskers."

Exercise 5: Rewrite the ending

Rewriting the ending of a familiar story, including those in creative nonfiction, can help you think creatively and explore different possibilities.

  1. Choose a story you know well.
  2. Read the original ending and think about how you could change it.
  3. Write a new ending for the story, making it as imaginative as you like.

Example

Original story: "Cinderella".

New ending prompt: What if Cinderella decided not to marry the prince and instead pursued her dream of becoming a world-renowned chef?

Keep working on and improving your writing skills

These creative writing exercises offer a fun and effective way to improve your English language skills. By regularly practicing these exercises, you’ll enhance your vocabulary, grammar and overall proficiency while boosting your confidence in using English. Utilizing various writing tools, such as resources, guides and courses, can significantly improve your writing techniques.

So, don’t be afraid to let your imagination run wild and use these exercises as a tool for self-expression and language development. Remember, the more you practice, the better you will become at creative writing in English. Keep exploring new ideas and techniques to improve your writing skills, because there is always room for growth and improvement.

Read our blog post 'How novel writing can help your English skills'.

Explore more of our blog posts for language-learning tips

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  • A Parent reading to his two children from a book with all three of them laying on the floor

    How can teachers encourage parents to get kids reading at home?

    Por Donatella Fitzgerald MBE

    “Sharing a story with your child is one of the most incredible things you can do for them.” – .

    Research shows that getting kids reading at home can increase their reading ability at school – and improve their overall well-being. Parents and guardians can make a big difference. But how can teachers encourage parents to get their children to read more at home? We explore some strategies you can use.

    Tell parents about the benefits

    Reading can give children a break from technology-centered activities. It can help them to relax and unwind; reading a book can make children laugh and feel happier! Through hearing stories, children are also exposed to a rich and broad vocabulary.

    “It is important for teachers to establish contact with parents as much as possible and give very clear guidelines on the benefits of reading, and how they can create a reading routine and help their children read at home,” says Kasia Janitz-De La Rue, Product Development Director at app.

    So, encourage parents to find time for a reading routine. Just before bedtime is a great time, as .

    Give parents practical ideas for reading strategies

    Encourage parents to read with and not to their child. It doesn’t matter how long they set aside to read – just 10 minutes of quality reading time can make a big difference.

    Here are a few tips concrete reading tips for teachers to share with parents:

    • Ask children lots of questions while reading.
    • Use encouragement and praise to keep children engaged. Saying things like “what fantastic ideas” or “you thought so carefully about that, what might happen now?"will keep their minds working.
    • Use their past experiences to talk about what’s being read. Things like “have you learnt about…at school?” or “do you remember when we watched…and found out about…?” are good conversation starters.
    • Tune in and listen to children, and be curious about their interests. “I didn’t know you knew so much about…” or “I love reading stories about…with you,” are good phrases to keep in mind.

    It’s also a great idea to share online resources with parents. You can also suggest that parents look up read-aloud YouTube videos featuring authors, teachers or librarians reading their favorite stories. This way, children can watch and listen as often as they like.

    Recommend graded readers

    Graded readers are books that use language in line with a child‘s learning level. They can help children build confidence, and help slowly expose them to authentic reading levels.

    Encourage parents to identify what genre their child is interested in and show them the readers available. Each time parents see their children move up a level, they’re sure to see their children’s love for reading grow.

    Suggest before, during, and after reading activities

    Before reading

    Parents can take turns with their children to predict what the story is about – or what will happen next. Here is an activity teachers may suggest they try:

    “Start with the cover of the book and the blurb on the back cover. Reveal the cover slowly to ask the child what they can see. Ask them to guess what is on the cover. Once they have seen the cover, ask them questions about the images on the cover – who, what, why, where and how?”

    While reading

    Remind parents to focus on their children’s reading comprehension by using strategies like prediction, questioning, clarifying, and summarising. Teachers can ask parents to:

    • check ideas and understanding as the child reads: ‘So, you think that….’ ‘Did you expect…to happen?’ ‘Why do you think that happened?’
    • use the pictures in the book to help with comprehension
    • describe what is happening and talk about the characters.

    After reading

    Don’t forget: parents can continue to explore the book’s topic once reading time is done! A few ideas to share with parents include:

    • organising a puppet show for family members and siblings after making puppets of the characters in the book
    • having children draw a picture of their favorite character or their favorite page in the story
    • encouraging children to express their opinion on the book.