ESL writing practice tips:

• ANSWER THE QUESTION
• PLAN your story.
• REVISE your story to correct mistakes.
• Give your story a title.
• Make sure you have at least 4 paragraphs.
• Paragraph 1 – background information.
• Paragraphs 2 and 3 the main part of the story.
• Paragraph 4 – EITHER the climax or key moment of the story OR what happened after the climax.
• Don't change the words you are given at all.
• Read the words you are given carefully. Sometimes you can choose whether to start or finish with the words. At other times you have no choice.
• Use past continuous for background information. For example – It was raining heavily as we left the house….
• Use past perfect before the main events of the story. but Anne had kindly lent me her umbrella.
• Use simple past for the main events. There wasn't a single person on the street.
• Try to include some direct speech.
• You can use contraction (haven't, couldn't etc). But a story should not be as informal as an email to a friend, for example.

Useful phrases for ESL Writing Practice - Stories

Time phrases:

• It all began
• Shortly afterwards

• Meanwhile
• Not long afterwards
• Some time later
• Later that day
• A little later
• Finally
• In the end
• Eventually

ESL story writing practice - Phrases for dramatic effect:

• Suddenly
• All of a sudden

• Without warning
• Out of the blue
• Just at that moment
• Quite unexpectedly
• As if from nowhere

ESL story writing practice – Direct speech:

• “…..”, said Fred
• “…..”, shouted Fred
• “…..”, screamed Fred
• “…..”, whispered Fred
• “…..”, announced Fred.
• ”…..”, thought Fred
• “…..”, cried Fred
• “…..”, promised Fred

ESL writing practice – concluding stories:

• When it was all over
• Looking back now

• In retrospect
• In the end
• After all that had happened

Also for Cambridge Advanced and Proficiency and Escuela de Idiomas Intermedio and Avanzado.

ESL WRITING PRACTICE – STORY 1

Your teacher has asked you to write a story for a student magazine. The story must begin with the following words.

Susan closed the door and knew immediately she had made a mistake.

Write your story in 120-180 words for intermediate students and 250-400 for advanced students in an appropriate style.

WRITING PRACTICE – STORY 2

Your teacher has asked you to write a story for a competition. The story must begin with the following words.

It was five o'clock in the morning when the phone rang.

Write your story in 120-180 words for intermediate students and 250-400 for advanced students in an appropriate style.

ESL WRITING – STORY 3

Your teacher has asked you to write a story for a college magazine. The story must begin with the following words.

It was very dangerous but I knew I had to do it.

Write your story in 120-180 words for intermediate students and 250-400 for advanced students in an appropriate style.

ESL WRITING PRACTICE – STORY 4

Your teacher has asked you to write a story for a student magazine. The story must begin with the following words.

I knew I had to leave that city as soon as I possibly could.

Write your story in 120-180 words for intermediate students and 250-400 for advanced students in an appropriate style.

If you are a Student of Bray's Santander you can copy and paste your story in the space below. Alternatively you can attach a Word document and forward it to the email address you have been given in class.

NOTE - You can access pages for practising other forms of writing on ENGLISH WRITING CLASS in the menu above.