Make your writing activities epic! (3 no-prep ideas + bonus)

Since I’ve been writing here for years now, it’s rather obvious that I enjoy writing. However, what may come as a surprise, I also like reading my students’ compositions (well maybe except for Academic IELTS Writing 1).

I’ve always thought speaking and creative writing is the best way not only to unlock my students’ creativity but also assess their language development. After all, learning the language should be an interesting experience where you can see your progress – and one of the ways we can enjoy it is actually writing about something we like. And creative writing is all about the things we like!

I remember my uni days and my writing activities. Being under the influence of HPL and his sophisticated vocabulary, most of my writing compositions were full of abominable atrocities, unnameable cults and the unavoidable apocalypse. To be honest, I got my little hallmark out of it and even though my teachers were like Monika’s writing is full of horrors, again. I always passed, as I made sure my composition was coherent, engaging and with a twist.

Needless to say, I’ve always given my students an opportunity to write about the things they find interesting – computer games, stories, personal experiences, politics, history. It not only makes them feel better and open up a bit, but also helps me learn something more about them, and then focus my lessons on their interests and make the whole educational process more engaged and fun.

I also believe creative writing is an adorable thing to assess. Since students are more engaged, they are more likely to go with the flow instead of focusing on grammar and spelling. This helps me see their real level of the proficiency, their real areas to improve and contexts they feel comfortable with (formal/informal registers etc.).

As you can see, I have my reasons for using creative writing in the classroom. But once my students get in the mood, once they unlock their creative potential, they crave more creative stimuli (don’t we all, huh) – hence my ideas to make creative writing not only, well, creative, but also epic! So, I want to share my top three no-prep ideas for creative writing with an unexpected epic bonus.

My manifesto

Age: 13+ (the older the better)
Level: A2+
Perfect for practising orders and commands, 1st conditional etc.

I, the Evil Empress of the World in the Making, graciously allow my students to think they can make an impact as well. The task is simple: imagine you’re taking part in the final vote to become the ultimate ruler of the Earth. All you need to do, is to prepare a short manifesto, so that your supporters know what to expect from you.

This could be a short exercise where your students write 5-10 ideas and then present them in the class pretending they’re aspiring politicians, but you can make a whole lesson out of it, thinking about a detailed proposal outlining the ideas for the whole planet etc. Of course, the older the students, the more engaged they are, but I’ve had a lot of fun with my younger students trying to come up with silly yet catchy ideas (free frozen strawberries!).

More drama!

Age: 10+
Level: A2+
Perfect for practising writing dialogues and past tenses

If you work with teenagers, you’re quite familiar with drama, amirite? It seems, however, not many coursebook authors are – my students have often claimed that reading texts were boring (apart from the wonderful Global series by Macmillan, the only coursebook genuinely appreciated by my students). What could I do? Of course: ask them to rewrite the texts but add some drama, some real life, something they would like to find in such text.

It’s a great idea for a pair- or groupwork. You can ask your students to write short stories based on the coursebook text, make copies of their stories, share with the classroom and choose the most creative story. This exercise is also a good moment to introduce peer review.

Sounds of music

Age: 13+
Level: A2+
Perfect for practising descriptions, order of adjectives etc.

This exercise requires some serious creativity, so I’d rather recommend it to the students who enjoy improvised activities and are comfortable expressing themselves. What you need to do is brainstorm the ideas relevant to the lesson topic, set up a descriptive task, e.g. describe the tribe/country/world not knowing the concept of money, or describe the apocalyptic world from the perspective of a cockroach… And find an appropriate piece of epic music for the background. You’ll see how music affects your students’ mood and creativity.

And here’s the bonus: If you don’t want to prepare any epic music, you can use my Spotify list full of epic music and songs.

Enjoy!