fun english homework ideas

10 entertaining homework ideas for online English Language Learners

Did hearing the words, “do your homework,” when you were a child excite you? 

For most of us, the word homework doesn’t conjure up exciting or fun memories. 

Homework was likely one of the last things you wanted to do as a student!

However, what if you could make homework fun for students? What if homework was entertaining? 

In this article, we share some entertaining homework ideas for English language learners to help them improve their English while having fun!

You might be familiar with lots of ESL games and activities for your students , but assigning the right homework can feel overwhelming. 

This is particularly true if you don’t want to burden your students with a tremendous amount of information. 

Have you ever thought about combining games with homework? 

There are many alternative ways to create memorable lessons, such as incorporating karaoke songs to learn English. 

Here are 10 fun and entertaining homework ideas for your ESL students:

• Cafe hopper
• Tiktok star
• Let’s go to the movies
• Hello Mr. Teacher
• Interview a stranger
• Shine like a Karaoke star
• Expert on the loose
• 24 hour challenge
• It’s a wrap!
• Masterchef in the making

1. Cafe hopper

Most people love checking out cafes and this is an easy homework task to assign to your students.  

Have your students visit a variety of cafes as part of their homework. 

Then, consider what they could do for homework in a cafe of their choice.

Here are some fun ideas for turning cafe-hopping into homework:

• Practice ordering in English off of the menu.
• Take a photo of the cafe’s and share the differences and similarities with you in class.
• Speak to a stranger in each cafe in English and ask them some interesting questions about their life.
• Interview the barista about their favorite kind of coffee or beverage.

This is a stress-free homework idea that your students will love, especially if they are coffee or tea lovers!

2. TikTok star

Tiktok is a fun social media application where you can watch videos and songs from creators. You can also watch creators lip-synching to catchy tunes.

Show some fun examples in your class of some famous TikTok songs being lip-synched to by others and practice doing one together.

• For homework, have them choose their favorite song on TikTok.
• They can lip-synch to the song and download the song to their camera album without having to actually post it to TikTok.
• Have them share their creation with you in the next class!

Depending on the age and location of your student, TikTok might not be an option for them. If you are teaching older students or adults , then it might be easier for them to use social media for this homework assignment rather than young children.

If they are too young to use the app, have them find an online video of their favorite song and ask a parent to record them singing!

3. Let’s go to the movies

Going to the movies doesn’t sound like homework, does it? Well, as you might already be discovering, homework doesn’t have to be conventional!

Find some interesting movies that are playing in your students’ area or ask them to watch a movie of their choice in English. 

Tell them that their homework is going to be based on the movie they watch.

Here are some ideas for making going to the movies part of their homework:

• Have them write a summary of the movie or their favorite part.
• Tell them that they have to give you a movie review in your next class.
• Have them act out their favorite part of the movie with a sibling or family member and record it (in English of course!).
• Ask them to make a poster advertising the movie with captions, titles and text to accompany any drawings.

If you are struggling to find movies they can go and watch in the cinema, you can always use these ESL movies and TV shows as a resource. 

Students can also watch movies from the comforts of their homes. 

4. Hello Mr. Teacher!

Students love playing the role of the teacher! 

This can work for in-person or online ESL classes.  

Tell them that as part of the next classroom activity, the first 5 – 10 minutes will be their time to shine as the teacher!

For homework, ask them to:

• Think of one topic that they know a lot about (This could be a sport, musical instrument, game, topic, etc…).
• Have them prepare 5 important things that someone needs to know about their topic.
• Tell them that in their next class they will be the teacher and share their knowledge! (They can even give you homework!).

Have fun with this homework idea and role-play the student where you ask them questions after they finish. 

Your students will love this one!

5. Interview a stranger

This one might need some parent support and guidance if you are teaching children, but having them interview someone is an entertaining homework idea for English language learners.

• It encourages their own voice as they come up with ideas.
• It helps with writing skills as they write out their questions.
• Interviewing encourages conversation and role playing which is a fun way to learn English.

You could have your younger students interview a family member and ask questions related to that family member’s childhood. 

Here are some sample questions you could help your students form:

• What kind of things did you like to do when you were my age?
• What was your favorite thing about school?
• What types of sports did you play when you were young?
• Tell me about what life was like when you were a child.

Have them choose and write out 5-10 questions and come back to class to report on their findings!

6. Shine like a Karaoke star

Who doesn’t like a bit of karaoke? Imagine….singing your heart out to “I love rock n roll” in the privacy of your own home!

You don’t need to go to a karaoke place to actually sing karaoke songs. There are lots of great karaoke songs available online to learn English with your students.

YouTube is a great place to start, just by searching for your favorite song + “karaoke lyrics” in the search bar.

In class, help your student(s) choose a song and task them with finding the online karaoke lyrics to sing along.

Have them sing this for homework! You could even ask a parent to help them record it if they are comfortable with that.

Here are some fun and popular karaoke songs online to learn English:

• “I Will Survive” with Gloria Gaynor
• “Livin’ on a Prayer” with Bon Jovi
• “Summer Nights” with John Travolta and Olivia Newton John
• “Don’t Stop Believin’” with Journey

7. Expert on the loose

There is an expert in all of us, including your students!

In this fun and entertaining homework idea, have your student share their expertise on something!

To add a different dimension to the homework idea, “Hello Mr. Teacher,” task your students to dress up as the expert and make a short speech on their topic of choice.

Here are some examples:

• Harry Potter
• Michael Jordan (to talk about basketball)
• Favorite sports athlete
• Insect scientist
• Astronaut (if your student knows a lot about space)
• Presidential candidate
• Pilot (for students who know a lot about countries)

Even if they are not an expert on the topic, part of the homework assignment could be to do some research and learn more about their chosen field.

You could even ask them to dress up and come to class in the role, ready to share their knowledge with you! 

8. 24 hour English challenge

This one is self-explanatory and incredibly fun!

Set a challenge for your student to only speak in English for 24 hours. 

This means that you might need to get parents involved with the homework assignment, so that they can help out.

The idea is that they have to speak only in English (as much as is possible given their situation) when interacting with family, friends and at school.

Your students might already be immersed in English environments, but, oftentimes, they are speaking their native language at home with family and friends.

Having your students force themselves to only speak in English is challenging and a great way to encourage English outside the classroom.

9. It’s a wrap!

Lots of students love to rap! Rap music is poetic and encourages a lot of ESL language skills that we want to build in our students.

This is an activity that you can model with your students in class and assign it for homework for them to create their own rap.

Again, they can come back to class and rap their new song to you! It might, however, work better with older students who have a good base level of English, to begin with.

Here are some fun homework assignments incorporating rap:

• Create their own rap if they are the creative type
• Find a well known rap online and practice it to present in class
• Assign your students to find a rap online that they sing and record with their friends

10. Masterchef extraordinaire

For the food lovers, creating a homework assignment that includes cooking can be really fun.

Most kids love the idea of cooking, especially if it centers around cooking their favorite food!

When considering this as a homework idea, consider these possible assignments:

• Create and write out a recipe for a unique culinary dish.
• Make a video about the cooking experience.
• Record a tutorial of how to cook something.
• Turn it into a competition if you have multiple students.

Plus, this works with physical and online classrooms. 

Of course, if you have a physical classroom with multiple students, this could be a really fun in-class experience with some homework assignments to accompany it.

Who doesn’t love a food-related assignment? 

If you choose Masterchef extraordinaire, allow your students to share the food they make with the class and encourage lots of conversations in English.

Homework doesn’t have to be boring!

As you can see, homework doesn’t have to be boring! 

Most of your ESL students have a lot to do even outside class, and that’s why assigning homework that doesn’t feel like homework is ideal!

This is an opportunity to get creative, creating excitement for your students to learn English.

If you use some of the homework ideas mentioned here, make sure you document the experience and continue to discover new activities that bring laughter and joy to the classroom. 

And when you are applying to online teaching jobs , be sure to share how you plan to creatively incorporate class assignments and homework for your students!

Enjoy the process and make learning an enjoyable experience for everyone. 

Enjoyed this article? Don't forget to share.

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20+ creative alternative homework ideas for teachers

When giving homework, it must always be based on learning goals your students have to reach, just like in your lessons. But it’s sad to see that lots of teachers are using homework as extra lesson time. Of course, as a teacher, you’re on a clock. But that doesn’t mean your students have to suffer from it and keep working on those boring textbooks and worksheets at home.

Consider goals like attitudes, real-life experiences, and practice, physical exercise, social encounters, creative solutions, and philanthropy as crucial as your lesson goals. These are things students don’t just pick up in your classroom. These are things they pick up in life.

In this blog post, I’ll give you some innovative homework ideas that will engage your students more. These alternatives to traditional homework will thereby also teach your students new things that can’t be taught in the classroom. You will find a variety of homework ideas: online and offline.

I will mention homework alternatives for primary school and high school. Some of these ideas can be changed a little bit, so they are the perfect fit for the right audience.

20 Creative homework ideas

You can divide homework tasks into the following themes or categories:

• Crafts & arts
• Outdoor activities & outings
• Games and activities
• Physical activities
• Digital or computer activities
• Philanthropy & social work

💡 Good to know : all the ready-to-use homework activities are created with BookWidgets . You can easily create activities like these yourself or duplicate an activity below for free, edit it if needed, and share it with your students. You can do so in the examples separately, or you can find all the homework examples in the BookWidgets Blog group folder .

Crafts and arts homework

1. prepare a dish from a recipe book.

2. Make a board game

3. Create a birdhouse

4. Transform a fictional book character into a hand puppet

Outdoor homework activities and outings

5. coupon game.

Students can also go grocery shopping with their parents. Here, they have to read the ingredients of the products and help their parents choose the healthiest products for the best prices, figure out the best deal between the sizes of items, …

6. Visit the zoo

7. Visit the local dumping ground or container park

8. Build a tree house

Games and activities as homework

9. bookwidgets games.

10. Minecraft

11. Play Cards

12. Play Zoo Tycoon or Rollercoaster Tycoon

Physical homework activities

13. rope skipping.

Many rope-skipping songs let your students do different tricks while rope-skipping. This is an excellent opportunity for homework as well. Ask your students to transform a rope skipping song into a song with lesson content. Let them count or spell or even sum up the different states or capitals. To engage their lifestyles even harder, you can additionally give them the assignment to create a TikTok in which they are jumping and singing.

Click here to see how you can get Tiktok more involved in the classroom.

14. Walking quest

If there aren’t any walking quests in the neighborhood, you could ask your students to create a walking quest like this for their fellow students. What a fun day it will be!

15. Obstacle Quiz

In order for students to answer the questions, they have to run and pass a challenging parkour. This is a fun homework exercise, and in the end, it’s a great lesson starter or lesson end.

16. Swimming games

After the activity, they can fill out an Exit Slip:

Digital or computer homework activities

17. create a picture album.

This teaches them to handle the online software, add pictures and write without spelling mistakes. And of course, creating memories is so much fun!

18. Video job application

19. Your life in 10 minutes - video

20. Email pen-pals

Is it still too complicated? Read the messages from your students, before they send them, and provide them with some feedback.

Philanthropy and social homework

21. grow a community garden.

22. Help in a retirement home

23. Help at a homeless shelter

24. Collect litter

Here’s another homework tip: Don’t call homework “homework”. Call it a challenge. Homework has become a negative word for students, and I bet they start rolling their eyes as you even mention the word.

Still looking for more inspiration? Check out the blog on short films and lesson activities that spice up your Google Classroom . Tip: even if you don’t use Google Classroom, there is a lot of inspiration back here.

Above you have read single assignments. But, you also have the option to involve your homework in a project. Find out more here .

So, as I mentioned earlier, there are many fun alternatives to traditional homework. Now it’s up to you to apply this in the classroom as well. In this folder , you will find all the examples you have come across.

Which idea do you or perhaps your students like the most? Let us know on Twitter . Of course, there are many more alternatives. If you have other ideas, you are always welcome to share it with other teachers in our Facebook group .

One more thing: don’t forget to say hi👋 on LikedIn .

Join hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and get the best content on technology in education.

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Homework for ESL Students – 10 Ideas for Teachers

Meet  David De’ Ath , founder, editor, and writer at Wonderful World English. With his extensive background as an English teacher, David provides valuable insights and practical tips on ESL for students and teachers alike.

Learning English as a Second Language (ESL) is an enriching venture and offers students the ability to access global opportunities.

Homework in ESL is crucial, serving as a bridge between classroom theory and practical language use.

It’s essential for reinforcing learned concepts and enhancing general language proficiency.

To make this learning journey both effective and enjoyable, it’s important to craft homework tasks that are engaging and tailored to diverse learning styles.

This approach helps to maintain students’ interest and motivation, which are key to successful language acquisition.

These ESL homework ideas are designed to enhance language learning and engage students both in and out of the classroom: Daily journaling, vocabulary flashcards, reading comprehension, listening to podcasts/songs, video diaries, role-play scenarios, grammar worksheets, online games, book club discussions, and a pen pal program.

I am an experienced ESL teacher, and I can attest first-hand to the importance of self-study, homework, and review.

Our carefully selected ten homework ideas aim to transform routine learning into an exciting adventure.

These activities are more than just assignments; they’re interactive experiences designed to deepen students’ understanding of English.

From creative writing to practical exercises, these tasks are intended to make learning English a dynamic and enjoyable process, paving the way for a richer, more confident use of the language.

Homework Ideas for ESL Students

ESL students need more than just traditional classroom lessons.

Homework is a vital part of their language development and serves as a bridge between acquired knowledge and practical application.

The following homework ideas are designed to captivate students’ interest, deepen their understanding, and enhance their fluency in English in the classroom and real-life situations.

Let’s dive into these creative and effective homework strategies that promise a richer, more interactive language learning experience:

1. Daily Journaling

This is a great idea to engage students by embracing the habit of maintaining a daily journal.

Writing about their daily experiences, emotions, thoughts, or selected topics can sharpen their writing skills while learning to articulate their feelings and ideas in English.

This journaling process serves a dual purpose: it strengthens their grasp of the language and provides a personal space for self-expression.

As they regularly engage with this practice, English becomes an integral part of their daily routine and will facilitate a more natural and fluent use of the language in their everyday lives.

This activity bolsters their linguistic abilities and fosters a deeper connection with English as a medium of personal reflection and expression.

Writing is a huge aspect of mastering a language.

For a guide on how to improve writing skills for yourself or your students, click the link below!

Related Article: How to Sharpen Writing Skills – Full Guide

2. Making Flashcards

Students can develop their vocabulary skills through the classic and effective method of creating flashcards.

This exercise involves students writing down new words and their meanings on individual cards.

They can add illustrations or use words in sentences to make the learning process more engaging and impactful.

This visual and contextual approach helps better retain and understand new vocabulary.

By regularly reviewing these flashcards, students can gradually build a robust vocabulary base, which is essential for fluency in English.

This method will reinforce their word knowledge and encourage active engagement with the language, making vocabulary learning a more interactive and enjoyable experience.

Flashcards are suitable for students of all ages and can be fun.

For some great insights on effectively teaching ESL students vocabulary, the guide below is for you!

Related Article: How to Teach Vocabulary to ESL Students – The Guide

3. Reading Comprehension Exercises

Immerse more advanced students in the world of English reading by assigning short stories or articles complemented by comprehension questions.

This exercise is pivotal in enhancing their reading skills and deepening their understanding of various contexts in English.

Students encounter different writing styles, vocabularies, and themes by engaging with diverse texts, enriching their language experience.

The follow-up questions serve to test their understanding and encourage critical thinking about the content.

This approach bolsters their ability to comprehend English texts and stimulates their analytical skills, making them more adept at interpreting and engaging with the language in its written form.

Such reading exercises are fundamental in helping students gain confidence and proficiency in navigating English literature and media.

4. Podcasts and Songs

Teachers can offer listening exercises in their curriculums by using English podcasts and songs.

This method exposes students to a variety of accents, speaking speeds, and vocabulary in a natural context.

After listening, students can engage in activities like writing summaries or answering questions about what they heard.

These post-listening tasks are crucial for enhancing their comprehension and retention.

This approach is great at improving listening skills while making the learning process more enjoyable and relatable.

By regularly interacting with authentic English content, students develop a better ear for the language and learn to appreciate its rhythm and nuances in different forms of media.

This not only aids in language acquisition but also connects them culturally to the English-speaking world.

Check out the guide below for a list of the BEST English podcasts!

Related Article: Best Podcasts to Learn the English Language in 2024 (Top 10)

5. Video Diaries

This one encourages students to create short video diaries as a regular assignment.

This task provides them with a platform to practice speaking about a variety of topics in English.

Whether they choose to talk about their daily life, share opinions on current events, or discuss their hobbies, these video diaries offer a unique opportunity for students to engage actively with the language.

This activity not only improves their spoken English skills but also significantly boosts their confidence in using the language.

It helps them to overcome any hesitation or fear of speaking by providing a safe, personal space to express themselves.

The process of recording and watching their own videos can also be a powerful tool for self-evaluation and progress tracking.

This innovative approach to language learning empowers students to become more fluent and self-assured English speakers.

6. Role-play in Real-world Scenarios

Ask your students to prepare role-plays that mimic real-world scenarios, such as shopping, ordering food, or making appointments.

This practical approach to learning takes them beyond the confines of traditional classroom exercises and immerses them in everyday situations. T

Through role-playing, students get to practice conversational English in a structured yet dynamic context.

It allows them to apply their language skills in practical situations, enhancing their ability to communicate effectively in real-life settings.

This method is particularly effective in familiarizing them with common phrases and vocabulary used in daily interactions.

Additionally, role-playing can be a fun and interactive way to learn, helping to reduce the anxiety often associated with speaking a new language.

By engaging in these simulated experiences, students gain confidence and fluency, which are crucial for their overall language development.

7. Grammar Worksheets

This is a classic form of homework for ESL students, to offer them worksheets that concentrate on specific grammar points, such as verb tenses, sentence structure, or prepositions.

Regular practice with these worksheets is instrumental in solidifying their understanding of English grammar.

This methodical approach allows students to focus on one aspect of grammar at a time, ensuring a thorough grasp of each concept.

Such targeted exercises help correct common mistakes and deepen their comprehension of the language’s structure.

By consistently working through these grammar worksheets, students build a strong grammatical foundation, which is vital for effective English communication.

This foundational knowledge enhances their writing and speaking skills and boosts their confidence in correctly using the language in various contexts.

For some tips on how to teach grammar to ESL students, we’ve put together a guide to help teachers everywhere!

Related Article: How to Teach Grammar to ESL Students – Teacher’s Guide

8. Online Games

Motivate your students to engage with educational language games available online.

These games offer a fun, interactive way to learn and practice English.

Students can improve various language skills through game-based learning, including vocabulary, grammar, reading, and even listening comprehension.

The interactive nature of these games makes the learning process more enjoyable and less intimidating, especially for younger learners or beginners.

As students play, they receive immediate feedback on their performance, which helps reinforce correct usage and understanding.

This approach enhances their language skills and keeps them motivated and engaged in their learning.

Online language games provide a dynamic and enjoyable way to supplement traditional learning methods, making language practice an activity that students can look forward to.

For some ideas of classroom games, both traditional and digital, check out the guide below!

Related Article: Fun Classroom Games to Play – Teacher’s Guide

9. Book Club

Another great idea is to start a book club in your class, where students can read and discuss a common book.

This collaborative activity enhances their reading skills and promotes critical thinking and group discussion skills in English.

Choosing books that are appropriate for their language level, the book club encourages students to dive into stories and themes, expanding their vocabulary and comprehension.

Discussing the book with their peers allows them to share perspectives, articulate their thoughts, and engage in meaningful conversations in English.

This interactive and social approach to learning also builds a sense of community among the students, making English learning a shared and enjoyable experience.

The book club thus becomes a platform for growth, not just in language proficiency but also in cognitive and social skills.

10. Pen Pal Program

The tenth great homework idea for ESL students is to start a pen pal program with English-speaking individuals from different parts of the world.

This initiative provides a unique opportunity for students to engage in regular written communication with native English speakers.

Through exchanging letters or emails, students practice their writing skills in a real-world context, learning to express their thoughts and ideas clearly in English.

This regular interaction not only improves their language proficiency but also offers valuable insights into different cultures and lifestyles, enhancing their cultural understanding and global awareness.

The pen pal program is more than just a language exercise; it’s a bridge that connects students across cultures, promoting international friendships and broadening their perspectives.

This kind of cultural exchange can be a highly rewarding and motivating experience, encouraging students to apply their language skills in meaningful and authentic interactions.

You can reach out to other teachers on platforms like LinkedIn and see if they would be willing to start a pen pal initiative for both them and your students.

The homework ideas presented for ESL students transcend the traditional concept of assignments.

They are designed as interactive learning experiences that not only build language skills but do so in a way that is practical, enjoyable, and highly effective.

Integrating these varied activities into the ESL curriculum allows teachers to cultivate a dynamic and nurturing learning environment.

Such an approach encourages students to actively engage with the English language, not just within the confines of the classroom but in their everyday lives as well.

Promoting this kind of immersive learning experience makes students more likely to develop a lasting proficiency and a genuine appreciation for the language.

These activities, therefore, play a crucial role in shaping confident, competent English speakers who are prepared to navigate the global landscape.

We hope you find value in this article; let us know if you require any assistance.

Have a wonderful day!

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StoryLearning

Learn A Language Through Stories

11 ESL Homework Ideas To Engage Your Learners & Simplify Lesson Planning 

Are you looking for ESL homework ideas for your classes? If you’re thinking about setting homework you’re onto a good thing. Learning a language requires a lot of exposure and practice. And much of that happens outside of class. 

The more students make contact with English outside the classroom, the faster they’ll progress. And if you can connect their homework assignments to what you’re teaching in class, you’ll make lesson planning a lot easier for yourself. 

So, without further ado, here are 11 ESL homework ideas for adults that you can use with groups, individuals, in-person or online.

If you want to become a qualified online language teacher and earn a living from home, I recommend checking out CeOLT (Certificate of Online Language Teaching).

Click here to find out more .

How To Make Homework Work For You &Your Students 

Many ESL teachers are wary of setting homework because students often don’t do it! You may remember being set useless homework in language classes that you weren't motivated to do, such as learning lists of words for a test. 

The problem is, if ESL learners rely too much on you or on coming to lessons, they will make slow progress because so much language learning takes place outside of the classroom. 

The trick then is to integrate homework assignments into what happens in class so that it becomes non-negotiable. In the list of ESL homework ideas below, you’ll find tasks that are fun and motivating to do as well as ways to fit them into your class time. 

1.Read A Short Story Or Short Book Chapter 

Reading is the foundation of the StoryLearning method and makes for the perfect ESL homework idea.

Instead of spending time reading in class, get the students to do it between classes. 

They can find a quiet time to read the story or chapter as many times as they like.

In my short story books , they’ll find tools to help them understand the material such as glossaries and comprehension questions. 

In class, students can then discuss the chapter or story together. If you’re teaching 1:1, you can ask them to present a summary and show you new words they learned from the chapter. You can then discuss it together.  

For more ideas on how to use my short story books for teaching check out my Short Stories teacher’s Guide .

2. Listen To A Short Podcast Episode 

Many ESL students struggle with English listening skills so they need as much practice as possible. 

If you teach conversation classes then this activity will also mean fewer lesson planning headaches. And you won’t waste any class time on listening. 

Tell your student to listen to a short ESL podcast such as the BBC’s 6-Minute English podcast. Ask them to prepare a summary of it to present to you in class. If the episode includes show notes, they can compare their summary with those notes. 

You can also adapt this homework activity for groups and ask them to discuss the podcast in pairs in class. This is also a great opportunity to use class time to clarify and new words, or structures that came up in the episode. 

If you’re feeling ambitious or your students have a high level, you could plan a whole series of lessons or a semester around a particular podcast such as a true crime or other investigative journalism show. 

3. Presentation About A Passion 

Not everyone is passionate about learning English and many ESL students come to class because they have to. But even if they’re not interested in English, they must be interested in something, right? 

You can harness their hobbies and passions and generate some excitement for the English language by asking them to present a special object to the rest of the class. 

This can also work well in a 1:1 online lesson. You can ask your student to prepare a short talk about an object that they hold up to the webcam to show you. 

You can use time in class to work on presentation and storytelling skills. You can model this type of presentation by telling them about your own significant object so they know what to aim for.

4. Write A Review 

Who doesn’t love sharing their opinion whether it’s about the latest movie they’ve seen or the hot new restaurant they had dinner at? 

You can harness this desire and get your student to practice useful language by getting them to write reviews as homework. These could be movie reviews, product reviews, restaurant reviews etc. 

In class, you can take a look at the structure of reviews in English plus the language used such as colourful adjectives or phrases for giving opinions. 

That way, your students will have a model they can use to write their own reviews at home. Back in class, students can share their reviews with each other and discuss them – would they see this movie, buy this product etc or not based on the review. 

You can also give feedback both about the content of the reviews as well as any language points to improve. 

5. Get Creative 

Creativity requires constraints and there’s no greater one than writing a story in your second, third or fourth language. 

You can challenge students to write a short story based on words they’ve learned recently in class or on a particular topic you’ve been discussing. Give them a word count to respect as well. 

Again, you can use class time to read stories together and analyse their structure so that they know what to aim for. 

After they’ve written a short story at home, they can come back to class to read and discuss each others’ stories. 

6. Share Amazing Anecdotes 

Telling an interesting anecdote is a real skill in any language, especially in a new one that you're learning. But it's a great way to work on your speaking skills. 

You can use your class time to read or listen to anecdotes in English. You could even tell your learners a funny or sad story about yourself. Once they’ve understood what makes a great anecdote, it’s time to create their own one for homework. 

At home, learners can write their anecdotes, or even better, can prepare and rehearse them orally, so they’re ready to tell them in class. 

During the lesson, you and the other students can react to the anecdotes and ask follow-up questions. 

7. Blogs And Blogging 

Did you know that blogs are an incredibly rich resource for language learning and teaching? You can use blogs in many ways both inside and outside of the classroom. 

As a homework activity you could ask students to read a blog post of their choice and leave a comment for the writer. 

If your students prefer watching YouTube videos, they can watch videos and leave comments underneath them. 

In both cases, in class time, students can report back on the blog they read, why they chose it and what comment they left and why. 

If you and your students are feeling really ambitious, you could start a class blog or they could start writing their own individual blogs about their English learning journeys. 

For even more inspiration for your teaching, check out these best ESL bloggers .

8. Start A Podcast 

This one is a bit more ambitious, but as well as listening to podcasts, learners can also consider starting their own! 

In fact, English learner Daniel Goodson from Switzerland started his podcast, My Fluent Podcast , to develop his speaking skills and gain confidence. He interviews other learners who have similar projects. 

Of course, your students don’t have to make the podcast public. It can simply be a project between you and the members of the class. They could interview each other or otherwise upload short episodes on a topic of their choice. 

Again, if they do this outside of class as homework you can use time in class to give them feedback on their work. Their episodes can also be a springboard for further discussion as well as a listening comprehension activity for the other students. 

9. Class WhatsApp Group 

Another way for students to use English outside the classroom thanks to digital tools is to create a class WhatsApp group.

Other chat apps like Telegram or Voxer would work just as well. 

In this group, you can ask your students questions or share material for them to discuss.

Their homework in this case could be as simple as sending at least one message per week in the group. For more ideas about using apps check out this post about English teaching apps.

10. Write A Letter 

Do you remember writing letters to a pen friend when you were learning languages at school? 

Instead of writing letters to someone else, your students can try some creative writing activities that involve writing letters to themselves. 

That’s right, you can ask them to write a letter to their younger self with advice or to their future self about goals and dreams. There’s even a website where you can write and schedule a letter to your future self called FutureMe . 

This activity is quite a personal one so you’d need to be willing to get vulnerable yourself and share your letter before encouraging your students to talk to each other about the content of their letters. 

11. The Student Becomes The Teacher 

Here’s an interesting reversal of classroom roles that works well with groups. For homework, you can ask your students to teach the rest of the class some new vocabulary or a spelling or grammar rule. 

You won’t expect them to give a whole class on the topic. But they could do a short presentation of the topic in the format they prefer – through song or story or in a more traditional way.

As long as you keep expectations clear, they’ll benefit from peer teaching this way. After all, you can only teach what you’ve understood well yourself. 

11 ESL Homework Ideas 

So there you have it – 11 engaging ESL homework ideas that your students will actually want to do outside of class! 

As you can see, these ESL homework ideas are a million miles away from the types of boring worksheets that you had to fill in for language classes at school. 

Thanks to these engaging ideas, you’ll make your lesson planning easier and your students will be excited to do their homework. And they’ll start to become more independent learners who make faster progress. 

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6th September 2020

Creative Homework Ideas

How can you create homework assignments that build on the day’s lessons and encourage creative, student-led learning? It’s a challenge for most teachers, especially as motivating pupils to complete homework can add a whole extra layer to your lesson plans. But it’s essential to bridge the gap between teacher and student learning –  the skills gained through independent study reinforces knowledge from your class, as well as a host of other benefits:

• Extended learning time – outside of the constraints of the school day, students are free to learn at their own pace and in their own environment.
• Independent learning – vital skills for exam preparation and higher education
• Teaches students to be resourceful and to overcome challenges independently.
• Gives students the freedom to be creative in their learning, gain valuable problem-solving skills and confidence in their own abilities.

Tips For Setting Creative Homework

• Plan independent learning both in and out of the classroom – you can monitor students effectiveness and address issues that may arise in the classroom before they become problematic for pupils at home.
• Don’t leave homework assignment to the end of the lesson, rushing through the task might leave some students confused which inevitably leads to a lower homework completion rate. Write plenty of time for explaining homework assignments into your lesson planning – read our Beginner’s Guide To Lesson Planning here
• Homework should to not too easy nor not too hard, offering pupils a challenge that reinforced the topics learnt during the day
• Give room for creative expression – allowing students to add their own diagrams, decorations or chose their own project topics from a selection. 
• Try using peer or self-assessment to mark homework – a double whammy of reducing your workload and allowing pupils to take control of their own learning.
• Include timings and explicit steps for completing more complicated assignments, especially for pupils that you anticipate might struggle. Comprehension of the task is the biggest hurdle in getting pupils to work on an independent basis.
• Self-driven projects, posters, creative tasks and research are more exciting than standard comprehension tasks and might encourage pupils that find sitting and writing dull or hard to complete the homework set – give students the freedom to learn and be creative in their home study.
• Provide specific instructions and internet safety reminders for research-led assignments. It’s very easy for children to find research overwhelming with a vast amount of information available online. Provide suggested websites and links in your homework to keep things on track!
• Don’t introduce a new topic for homework – keep it to topics that you’ve already covered in class
• Taking note of the subjects that excite and engage your class and set homework accordingly – try keeping dryer topics and  for the classroom so that you can monitor engagement
• Mark work promptly – essential to keep students motivated to complete work in their own time!
• Offering students the opportunity to select the homework that they would like to do from a selection guarantees a higher rate of completion. We’ve seen some teachers create grids or sheets of homework assignments for the pupils to select, or offer baskets of activities for younger children to take home and complete with an adult.

Creative Homework Ideas For All Ages

Coming up with innovative ways for students to reinforce their knowledge at home can be difficult – many of these ideas would be suitable for lots of subjects with a little tweaking!

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13 Exciting Homework Ideas for EFL/ESL: No worksheets!

Who likes homework? Nobody, right? Especially not if it’s the same dreary worksheets and textbook exercises every time.

Well, some students actually do like homework! That’s because their teachers give them engaging, interesting and unique activities to do.

I used to find setting homework a challenge in EFL/ESL classes. What can you do to give them good practice and develop confidence without boring them to tears?

Simple – do one of the activities on this list!

• Narrative Telephone
• What Do You See?
• Write a blog
• Record a vlog
• Scavenger photos
• Watch films & series
• Write a journal
• Listen to podcasts
• Write to a pen pal
• Prepare a mini-presentation
• Read the news
• Enjoy some English music

The first six entries are creative and unique, suitable for classes where you really want to get students active and involved. The following seven are just as engaging, but a little more focused and “normal”.

1. Word Hunts

A Word Hunt is a vocab acquisition activity (a technique I describe in my article How to Elicit Vocabulary ).

You can do it in class, with students searching for things they don’t know the word for in English. They take a photo and add it to a list of vocabulary to learn.

The home version is similar. Students go around their house and photograph things they’d like to learn the name for in English. They bring the pictures to class and start learning the words.

It doesn’t have to be restricted to things in their home, either. If they go shopping, to the park, on holiday, etc. they can take photos of things they see and share them with their classmates.

Any student who has their own phone can do this activity. For younger kids, you’ll need the support of the parents.

For more on vocab learning techniques, check out my article Ultimate ESL Vocab Teaching Guide: Revolutionary system .

2. Narrative Telephone

This game features in my 9 EFL/ESL Games and Activities for Advanced Learners article, so it’s an advanced activity. You can adapt it for intermediate students, but it won’t work well with beginners. It requires everyone to have email or a messenger app on their phone. So not ideal for young kids.

You can play it in the classroom, but the homework version is just as fun, if not more so. It’s like the Telephone/Whispers game, but with stories instead of words.

The way it works is the teacher records themself reading a short story and sends it to one of their students. That student listens ONCE. Then they record themself re-telling the story and send it on to the next student who does the same.

This continues until the last student, who records themself re-telling it. They can send the final audio to everyone, or keep it until the next class to share the hilarity.

Here’s a video I made on my YouTube channel that explains how it works:

With a large class, you can set off multiple telephone chains. If you have 30 students, instead of having the chain go all the way around the 30, have three chains which go through 10. Then see which chain transmitted the story the best.

When choosing a story, keep it relatively short (a couple of paragraphs at most) and use it to introduce or consolidate new vocab and grammar.

3. What Do You See?

What Do You See? is another great activity for expanding students’ breadth of language.

They should go somewhere: to the street, the park, into the countryside, etc. You can tell them where to go if you want to direct their learning, for example if you’re learning about transport, they should go near a busy road.

With a pencil and paper, they find a comfortable place and write what they see.

For beginners, this can just be individual words. For intermediates it could be sentences like “I see a woman jogging with her dog.” And for advanced students, challenge them to create a full description of the place, taking into account all the senses.

While they are doing it, they are allowed to look up individual words. In this way they learn language that is immediately relevant. However, they shouldn’t translate sentences. By writing what they see, they develop sentence formation skills.

If you want to avoid making them writing, or want to repeat the activity in a different way, get students to record themselves talking about what they see.

4. Write a Blog

Blogs are a fun way of getting students to explore their interests while using English.

This one isn’t great for young kids who aren’t used to using tech yet, although if their parents are on board, they can help get things set up.

It’s super easy to set up a blog nowadays, and students can post articles from home or from their phone while travelling.

The way you set up the homework really depends on your class. With an individual student, you could get them to write one short article a week, then you can take a look at it in the next class.

With a small group, you might want to alternate who posts an article each week. And with a large class, you may want to choose a few students each week to post their article, or get everyone to write something short every week.

The content of the articles is up to you, or up to your students!

You could make it an account of what they did that week, an explanation of something they know a lot about, or a review of a film or series they recently watched.

5. Record a vlog

Recording a vlog is just like writing a blog, but challenges students speaking skills while on camera.

Yes, it requires students to have access to video recording technology, but let’s be honest, even 10-year-olds nowadays have powerful cameras on their phones.

If you really want to push your students, challenge them to record a short post every day for a full week. Maybe when they’re on the way to school/work or in their free time afterwards.

Again, the content can be whatever you or your students decide.

A word on privacy and safety. If you’re going to do this with students under 18, DEFINITELY get their parents’ permission. Most will be perfectly fine with this.

And if you’re worried about privacy concerns, you can keep the videos private – only for those in the class to watch. Most video content platforms like YouTube and TikTok have this option now.

6. Scavenger photos

A fun challenge for kids and adults alike, scavenger hunts with photos are great fun. Give students a list of things and over the week they have to take a photo of one.

With beginners, this can be household items, food, common things in the city, etc. It’s a great way to introduce new vocabulary.

Challenge students with more abstract things, like “something that is squishy” or “something that you can’t break”.

And go a step further: “something you couldn’t live without” or “something which terrifies you”, or “something worth over a million dollars”.

In the next class, students can share the things they photographed and, with the more abstract ones, talk about why they chose that thing.

7. Watch films & series

Everyone loves watching films and series. Since most of the famous ones are in English, they’re a great resource for fun homework.

You can make things as structured as you like – focus on specific words and grammar that appear in dialogue, or just have a chat about what happened in the film/episode in the next class.

I like to let students recount the events. Older students can even make predictions about what will happen in the next episode.

A word on subtitles: Advanced students should try to watch the English version without subtitles. For most, though, this is too difficult. Just make sure subtitles are in English, not their native language, otherwise you lose all benefits of the activity.

8. Write a journal

Either at the start of the day or before they go to bed, writing a short English entry into a journal is a powerful way of embedding English in students’ day-to-day lives. This activity is for most ages, except the youngest kids.

As a journal is a private endeavour, I would never expect to see it. Just encourage them to write a few sentences, not worrying too much about accuracy.

When they’re writing, they’ll come across words they don’t know. They’ll be motivated to learn this vocabulary, as it’s immediately relevant to their lives. It’s valuable .

This is an example of organic acquisition, something you can learn about in my article What Vocab Should You Teach in EFL/ESL .

9. Listen to podcasts

Podcasts get more and more popular with every year. You can find them on pretty much any topic, and they provide excellent listening practice.

Advanced students can attempt to listen to natural English podcasts in their original form.

For beginners/intermediates, there are some podcasts designed for EFL/ESL learners, podcastsinenglish.com being one example, with British English, and Effortless English for those wanting to learn the American way of speaking.

10. Write to a pen pal

Writing homework is always a tough sell. Pen pals can provide the kind of motivation which is impossible to get from the usual writing assignments.

The challenge is finding pen pals who will write back consistently. PenPal World is a good option to connect with people online, although there are plenty of other sites which do the same.

Alternatively, write the responses yourself. Have an ongoing back and forth of letters between you and your students, where you can get to know each other (and give some helpful corrections!)

11. Prepare a mini-presentation

Mini-presentations are a great peer-teaching activity. Give students a topic (can be anything: grammar, a famous person, a favourite hobby, etc.) and have them do a 1-minute presentation on it in the next class.

Scripts are optional. Personally, I prefer my students to speak without a script, but for those who aren’t as confident, encourage them to make brief notes.

12. Read the news

Reading the news is a more advanced activity. Most newspapers and websites require a fairly high level of English to understand, and the content isn’t interesting for most children.

However, there are websites designed for EFL/ESL students, such as News in Levels and Simple English News . Also, try CBBC Newsround . It’s not specifically for EFL/ESL students, but it is perfect for kids.

For more advanced learners, any news network is great. I prefer BBC News for the quality and clarity of writing.

News-based homework can be formal, with a conversation and questions about specific articles in the next class, or you can allow your students to pick what they read and share their findings.

13. Enjoy some English Music

This one applies to learners of all ages and levels. Many students will already listen to music in English, as it’s popular around the world.

You can make this a structured homework, assigning specific songs, with the aim of recognising certain words or grammar structures. Supplement this by studying the lyrics in class.

Or keep it relaxed. Introduce your students to some new artists, and encourage them to share songs they’ve enjoyed over the week. Ask them why they like the music, how it makes them feel, etc.

With younger kids, just having them listen to English songs is enough. Give parents a playlist to put on in the car or when they wake up in the morning.

Homework can be fun. In fact, I’d argue it should be fun to get the best results.

The important thing is to know your students and keep things varied – that way you won’t have to chase your students up every week.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you use these ideas for wonderful teaching. If you’re looking for ideas of what to do in the classroom, check out my article on Why All EFL/ESL Teachers Should Use Role Play Activities

If you’re looking for more games and activities, check out my other lists: 9 EFL/ESL Speaking Games & Activities Perfect for Beginners 9 EFL/ESL Games & Activities for Intermediate Learners 9 EFL/ESL Games and Activities for Advanced Learners 9 High Energy EFL/ESL Games for Boosting Vocabulary 9 Engaging Homework Ideas for EFL/ESL: No worksheets! 9 Exciting EFL/ESL Activities for Writing & Spelling 9 Fun EFL/ESL Games & Ideas With Standard Playing Cards 9 EFL/ESL Games With No Materials or Preparation Needed 9 EFL/ESL 5 Minute Games Every Teacher Needs to Know 9 Superb EFL/ESL Games & Activities Using Just Pen & Paper 9 Classy EFL/ESL Games & Activities for Adults (+ tips) 9 Confidence-Boosting EFL/ESL Speaking Games for All Levels 9 Exciting Flashcard Games for EFL/ESL Classes

I’m Will, a teacher, blogger, and fantasy author. I grew up in England, but now I live in Spain where I teach private English classes to dozens of wonderful students.

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73 ESL Writing Activities to Spark Your Students’ Creativity and Imagination

From a student’s point of view, writing assignments are something to dread.

But from an ESL teacher’s point of view, they should be a challenge worth accepting.

The challenge for you is to motivate your students enough to actually be excited about writing.

Sounds impossible? It’s actually quite simple.

The key is a strong pre-writing activity that boosts their confidence and adds to their vocabulary at the same time.

So, how do you get your students’ writing off to a great start?

In this post, we’ll look at some different ESL writing activities that will transform your students from hesitant writers to confident wordsmiths in their own right.

Writing Assignments Based on Stories

Writing activities prompted by music, writing practice exercises based on images or pictures, writing assignments based on food, writing activities based on mysteries, exercises to practice writing emails, activities to practice writing advertisements, assignments to practice writing reports, creative writing activity: class newsletter/newspaper.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

People of all ages love a well-told story, and using stories to teach ESL is a sure winner.

A story for a pre-writing activity could be in the form of:

• A  movie . It could be a biography, sci-fi film, thriller, action-packed adventure, fairy tale or even a cartoon.
• A  story read aloud from a book. If you’re using this, read in a way that brings the characters’ voices to life (including the narrator’s), hold the book up to show any pictures within or scan them and project onto a screen as you read. You can also search YouTube videos of famous authors or celebrities reading a book aloud, and show these in class.
• A  story from the news . It could be from the TV, radio, newspaper or an online news site .
• A story read by your students. In this case, you could let them read a story silently or with a partner, and take as long as they like to think about the important parts.

No matter what you choose, it’ll be a great lead-in to the ESL writing exercises below.

1. Re-tell the story as is, or summarize it. (This works best for beginners, who are still getting their feet wet in the waters of English comprehension.)

2. After watching “Finding Nemo” : Tell the story from the point of view of the whale, the dentist’s daughter or Bruce the shark.

3. Explain to Marlin how he should take care of Nemo better.

4. Make up a story about a farm animal/zoo animal/jungle animal. What if a baby ___ was lost? What if a child was lost in the city? What if you found a lost child?

5. After the story of “Goldilocks” : Tell the story from the baby bear’s point of view.

6. What if the baby bear and Goldilocks became best buds? What would happen?

7. After discussing “The Gingerbread Man” : Tell the story from the fox’s or gingerbread man’s point of view.

8. What did the old woman do wrong that made the gingerbread man run away?

9. How do you make a gingerbread man? What other shapes could be made instead?

10. After “Little Red Riding Hood” : Write the story in the first person—from the point of view of either Red Riding Hood or the wolf.

11. What should Red Riding Hood have done when she met the wolf?

12. After watching a “Lord of the Rings” movie: What would you do if you had the One Ring? Write about a magical quest you and several friends would have if you could.

13. After watching a “Pirates of the Caribbean”  movie: What if you were a pirate? What adventures would you have if you were a pirate?

14. After watching “Titanic” : Write about what you discover when you dive onto the wreck. Or imagine you were on the ship when it sank, and talk about how you escaped.

15. Whose fault was it that so many people drowned on the Titanic? What should they have done?

16. After watching a “Star Wars”  movie: Imagine you’re a space explorer and write about what happens when you meet some characters from “Star Wars.”

17. After watching a “Terminator”  movie: Imagine your teacher is a robot that has come back from the future. Or imagine you have come back from the future—what would it be like?

18. After watching a “Harry Potter” movie: Make up some magic spells and explain how you’d use them.

Everybody loves music! Watch your students’ faces light up as soon as they realize that they’re about to be treated to some songs rather than chalk-and-talk. Music stirs the emotions, after all, and can get your students excited about writing.

Here are some ideas for music you can incorporate into ESL writing activities:

• Classical music. There are some pieces of well-known classical music that specifically tell a story , and many of these are available on YouTube.
• “Fantasia 2000,” particularly “Rhapsody in Blue.” This wonderful, wordless animated story can kick off so much great writing!
• Movie music. The music that goes with a movie tells watchers how they should be feeling, and could be a good jumping-off point for some writing.
• Popular songs and music. Self-explanatory. Check out the most popular or trending artists on YouTube or Spotify for ideas.
• Kids’ songs . There’s something about singing a catchy little tune that makes the words stick in your mind more than just saying them. These can lead to some interesting writing, too.

19. After Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” : Tell the story from Peter’s point of view.

20. After Saint-Saëns’ “The Carnival of the Animals” : Imagine walking through the scenes with the animals and interacting with them. Write a story from the point of view of one of the animals.

21. Describe the animals in “The Carnival of the Animals.”

22. After Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” : Re-tell this classic Shakespeare story, adding a twist.

23. After watching and listening to “Rhapsody in Blue” : Tell all/part of the story.

24. If you were the main character in “Rhapsody in Blue,” what would you do?

25. Listen to a piece of classical/instrumental music and tell the story that it might be a background to. Imagine that it’s the background music for a movie.

26. Tell the story (real or made up) behind some popular songs like Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams.”

27. Describe meeting someone special like in the aforementioned Taylor Swift song.

28. What happens in your wildest dreams?

29. What if you were a famous pop star or musician? What would it be like? What would you do?

30. Give instructions on how to find your favorite song on the Internet, both music and lyrics.

31. If you play an instrument, or have a relative who plays one, write about some of the basics of how to play. (This could also work as a speaking and listening activity, and then the whole class could write about it.)

32. What is your favorite genre of music, and why? (Be sure to explain what “genre” means !)

33. Do you think young children should be allowed to freely watch music videos?

Some pictures you can use for ESL writing activities include:

• Pictures from social media. If you use social media at all, you doubtless have a barrage of amazing photos and videos on your feed, all of which make for excellent writing prompts.
• Pictures from Google Images . A quick Google search on any (classroom-safe) image will turn up plenty.
• Cartoons . If you have young students, they’ll definitely enjoy this one.
• Pictures selected by your students. Not sure what to choose? Have your students pick their own pictures to write about. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how vibrant their writing can be when they’re writing about subjects they actually care about.

Regardless of the picture you (or your students) choose, here are some writing prompts you can consider.

34. Tell a story—real or imagined—of what is happening in the picture.

35. Write about what happens next from the pictured moment.

36. Write about what was happening just before the pictured incident.

37. What if that was you in the picture?

38. What if you were the person who took the picture?

39. What if you knew the people in the picture? What would you say to them?

40. Describe all of the elements in the picture. This is great for vocabulary practice.

41. Describe how someone in the picture might be feeling.

42. Explain how to get into  a pictured predicament (for example, in the picture here , how did he get into the boat without the crocodile eating him?) as well as how to get out of it.

43. Express an opinion about the rights and wrongs of the pictured situation. For example, for the same picture above: Should crocodiles be hunted and killed? What should happen if a crocodile kills someone?

Many of your students likely enjoy thinking and talking about food. So why wouldn’t they be motivated to write about it?

How you integrate food into your ESL writing assignments depends on your classroom arrangements and the amount of time you’re willing to put into preparation.

In any case, here are some ideas:

• Start with the preparation and sharing of food before writing about it.
• Look at pictures of food, and talk about them before moving on to writing.
• Have students research food-related topics on the internet.
• Start with a story about food.

Here are the specific food writing prompts:

44. After the story of “The Gingerbread Man”: Think about food that develops a life of its own, and what would happen with it. (This can also open up a discussion about cultural foods.) For example, make up a similar story about another piece of food (e.g., spaghetti or rice that comes alive). What if you felt something moving in your mouth after you bit into your burger?

45. Write a story (real or imagined) about being very hungry and/or finding/buying/stealing food to meet a desperate need.

46. Write a story about trying a new, unfamiliar kind of food—maybe in a (relevant) cross-cultural setting.

47. Write a story about finding and eating a food that has magical properties. (Maybe read or watch some or all of “Alice in Wonderland”  first.)

48. Describe interesting/disgusting/unusual/delicious/colorful foods, especially after a class tasting lesson. (Prepare students first with suitable taste vocabulary .)

49. Describe a food that’s unfamiliar to most students in the class. (This is particularly helpful for classes where there are students belonging to minority groups who hesitate to speak up.)

50. Describe an imaginary magical food.

51. Give instructions for preparing a particular recipe.

52. After a class activity or demonstration involving food: Write down what you have learned.

53. Give instructions for producing food—growing vegetables, keeping animals, etc.

54. Give instructions for buying the best food—what to look for, looking at labels, checking prices and the like.

55. Write about your opinion on food and health in First World and Third World countries. (Explain what makes a country “First,” “Second” or “Third World” first.)

56. Write about your opinion on the cost of food.

57. Write about your opinion on GMOs or genetically engineered foods .

There’s nothing quite like a good “whodunnit,” and students will always enjoy a good puzzle. You can base various pre-writing activities around the two games below to get the class warmed up for ESL writing practice.

• Conundrum. This is an example of a game that can be played as a speaking and listening activity, and can lead into some good writing. The game starts with a simple statement or description of a situation like the ones described in situation puzzles . Students ask questions and receive yes/no answers until they work out the explanation for the situation.

After Conundrum, here are some of the activities your students can do:

58. Write a story about the sequence of events involved in a situation brought up in the game.

59. Devise and describe your own situation puzzle.

• Putting their hands inside a cloth bag (or just feeling the outside) to guess what an object is.
• Smelling substances in opaque jars with perforated lids, and trying to guess what they are.
• Tasting mystery foods on plastic spoons (with blindfolds).
• Looking at pictures of mysterious objects from obscure angles.
• Listening to and guessing the origins of sound effects. (You can record your own, or use some from the Internet .)

(Important: Make sure that whatever you’re using for your guessing game is safe for your students, especially if they involve having to touch, taste or smell the object.)

After a guessing game, your students can:

60. Write about a possible mystery object and a magical quality it could possess.

61. Describe what you thought you saw, heard, felt, tasted or smelled.

For both games, here are some writing prompts you can do:

62. Give instructions for playing one of the games.

63. Give instructions for the perfect crime.

64. Give your opinion about a recent crime and the punishment for it.

Emailing can often be a scary task for your students, especially if they’re using a new, strange language like English. You can utilize an email writing activity to help your students build confidence and get more comfortable writing in English.

Email can also teach your students things like proper language (formal or informal), structure and format. Email-related writing activities for ESL students can offer ample opportunities to teach all of these three aspects.

Since emails involve two parties (the sender and the receiver), you’ll need to pair your students up for this activity. Here’s how to prepare for it:

• Create one set of worksheets explaining details relevant to the sender. For example, it could contain information about a sender’s upcoming birthday party that they want to invite the receiver to.
• Create another set of worksheets with the receiver’s details. The worksheets could contain questions about food dishes or gifts, or it could say that the receiver can’t make it for one reason or other.

Once the above has been done, give one set of worksheets to the “senders” and the other to the “receivers.” Then, here’s what your students will do:

65. Based on the senders’ worksheets, write an email inviting the receiver and explaining the key aspects of the event featured in the worksheet.

66. Based on the receivers’ worksheets, write an email explaining why you can or cannot make it to the party, and/or what other information you need about the event.

Advertisements are everywhere, and you can bet that your students have a few favorite ads of their own. Advertisement-related writing activities work across age groups and can be adapted to most students and their needs.

This great ESL writing assignment can help your students put the adjectives they’ve learned into good use, as well as showcase their creative writing and persuasion skills.

You can find advertisements everywhere, including:

• YouTube videos
• Newspapers and magazines

You can also bring an object (or handful of objects) to class that your students can write ads about.

67. After your students carefully examine the object(s) you brought into class: Write all the adjectives you can think of about it.

68. For a more challenging writing exercise: Write an ad about the object. How would you persuade someone who knows nothing about the object whatsoever to buy it? (Your students may or may not use the adjectives they wrote down earlier. Encourage them to be creative!)

Your students have likely already done some kind of report during the course of their studies. Also, writing reports is a skill that’ll be useful to them once they enter college or the corporate world (if they aren’t in it already). If you feel that they need a little more practice in this area, use this ESL writing assignment.

First, discuss how research and structure matter to reports—and perhaps show them a few samples. Then, give them a few questions to base their reports on, like:

69. What can you say about (insert topic here) in terms of (insert specific angle here)? (For example, “What can you say about the government’s efforts to improve the local park in terms of its impact on the general public?” Of course, you should adapt this question to the level of your students.)

70. After talking about a YouTube video on bears eating salmon : What would happen to the bears if the salmon ran out? 

This ESL writing activity is a bit more intensive and will allow your students to employ many different aspects of their ESL knowledge. Crafting a class newsletter will build collaboration, communication, listening, speaking and, of course, writing skills. If they’re not sure how to build a newsletter or newspaper from scratch, they can always swipe from premade templates like this one .

The newsletter/newspaper can follow a specific theme, or the articles can consist of a hodgepodge of random topics based on questions like:

71. What is the most interesting thing that happened in school this year? It can be the funniest/scariest/most heartwarming incident. Write a feature article about it. (Make sure to explain what a “feature article” is .)

72. Write a report highlighting the key events in some recent local festivals or concerts.

73. Going off of the last exercise, write an ad inviting the reader to buy a product or attend an event.

Once all of the articles are done, you can start putting them together. Make sure to walk your students through these newspaper layout tips . And when the newsletter/newspaper is finally published and circulated out there for the world to see, remember to congratulate your students for a job well done!

No matter what writing assignments you choose, make sure to keep the excitement level high so that your students are enthusiastic for your next writing session.

Whether they write by hand or type on a computer, remember to encourage them as much as you can by focusing on the good points rather than just running all over their mistakes with a red pen.

Lastly, find ways for them to share their efforts—whether online, on the classroom wall, bound together in a book to be passed around, etc.

They can also read aloud to each other, share with their parents and siblings and even share with other classes!

For more ESL assignment ideas, check out this post: 

Great ESL homework ideas can be difficult to come up with. So check out these 13 great ideas for ESL homework assignments that your students will love. Not only are they…

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Outside-the-box ESL homework ideas 

Are your students reluctant to do homework? Do they think that doing it is time-consuming and not worth the effort? If that is the case, it’s not because the idea of homework itself is boring or useless, but because students often spend too much time doing meaningless activities and at some point realize that they prefer to manage their free time differently. Let’s face it: they are probably right. But there are ways to make students like homework again. Why? Because the role of an English teacher is not only to teach English, but also to teach how to learn English , to equip students with the necessary tools to become independent English users. You can tell your students how to use grammar, or explain what words mean, but it’s up to them to actually ‘make language [their] own, … assert [themselves] through it’ , as the linguist Henry Widdowson puts it. 1 So instead of giving your students pages of exercises and getting irritated because they don’t do them, use some of the ESL homework ideas below. They will help your students make English their own. 

Students choose what they need

Start with a question for your students: In what situations do you use English outside the classroom? Then ask them to choose two or three words covered in the lesson which they think will be of use to them. Give them a minute to think what words might come in handy in the everyday situations THEY often find themselves in. The words might be different for a student who uses English at work, or who has friends they chat with in English, or who lives in an English-speaking country, or who doesn’t speak or write in English outside the classroom, but watches American series or reads celebrities’ posts on Instagram. Once they have chosen the words, ask them to use each of them at least once before the next lesson. They can use them in a conversation, an email or a message. They should simply be on the lookout for situations where the words might be used, e.g. while watching a film, they might want to respond to what an actor says using the word ‘hilarious’.

In the following lesson, ask your students to report how the task went: Did they achieve it (partly or fully)? What situations did they use them in? 

Students use and listen for grammar in context

The same goes for grammatical structures. For instance, after introducing and practising Present Perfect Continuous, ask your students to think of out-of-the-classroom situations in which they are likely to use it. Thinking about a new tense for a couple of days might prompt students to say (if only to themselves): ‘I have been cleaning for an hour’, or ‘I’ve been waiting here for too long’. 

If you think this might be too challenging to start with, make the structure more approachable first by asking your students to notice the new language while they hear people talk (at work, in films) or when they read something in English (a post, a blog entry, the news). When they’re back in the lesson, ask them to tell you what they were listening to or reading when they recognized the structure. They could take notes on it before the lesson, but they might also talk about it on the spot. As it doesn’t require much preparation, it is probably the easiest of the ESL homework ideas presented here, so you might choose to try it first. 

Students use functional language

Lower-level students often struggle to start speaking English, first in the classroom, then outside of it. To help them open up and get accustomed to using the language in different situations , their homework could be going to a café and ordering something. They could also ask someone for directions, or have a chat with an English-speaking colleague. Back in the classroom, ask them to report how it went, what they ordered, etc. Give your students a couple of weeks to do the task – some may not get the immediate opportunity to do it, others might need time to pluck up the courage. 

This idea works especially well when students either live in an English-speaking country, or are going on holiday abroad. If the latter is the case, make the task more demanding, as they will probably be forced to speak English anyway. They could ask detailed questions about a menu in a restaurant or haggle over a price.

Students predict and plan 

The flipped classroom approach will give your students plenty of opportunities to ‘own’ English. Tell them what the topic of the next lesson will be (e.g. recycling) and give them the following homework: look up five words that they think will be useful to talk about recycling. They will then have to use them in the next lesson. This task will make students research the topic and plan what they might say, which is a great step on the way to becoming an independent learner.

For this to work, students need to be honest with themselves and choose words that are actually new for them, not just come up with some they are already using. But if they truly want to learn, tasks like this one will provide strong motivation. 

Once the lesson has finished, ask your students what words they had prepared and whether they were able to use them all.

You can also use one of our Flipped Classroom lesson plans and ask students to use the tasks as a guide to get ready for the conversation you are going to have in the lesson. 

Students read, listen and watch to create their own ESL homework ideas

If your students are not used to reading online articles in English or watching authentic videos, you should definitely encourage them to do so. A simple idea to start with would be to ask them to find an article, a video or a podcast (in English) on a topic they are interested in, and report to you what they found out about the topic. You and the rest of the group could then ask some follow-up questions, or it could be the student who prepares some talking points for the group. Nothing motivates a student more than talking about what they like, and not what the course book dictates. 

You could also choose one of our Critical Reading Club lesson plans . Ask your students to read an online article at home and have a discussion about it in the lesson. This will help them become independent readers and will maximise the student speaking time.  If you study a foreign language yourself, try to use some of the ideas first, in order to better understand what they are about and to pick those which your students would benefit from most. And don’t forget to let us know what you think about these outside-the-box ESL homework ideas in the comments below!

1 This idea is nicely exemplified by the author and teacher trainer Scott Thornbury in his blog entry about motivation in language learning .

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The best ESL / EFL homework ideas that require no marking 2021

April 9th, 2018 / Materials

Homework is an important part of study, but it can be overwhelming for a TEFL teacher with a mountain of exercise books to mark.

To avoid this, smart ESL teachers should set some (if not, the bulk) of their ESL homework assignments as independent study which the teacher does not have to correct.

Why set no-marking ESL homework?

First of all, you are not short-changing your students by asking them to go out and learn some English themselves.

Languages are an enormous subject ; there is no way that you could teach your students everything they need to know in the few hours a week they have with you.

In reality, if your students want to get good at English, they must listen, read, watch and practice the language in their own time.

No-marking assignments have benefits for class time also. Students can recap on the last class or prepare for the next one by watching grammar videos.

Teachers can use material from a podcast or video as the basis of a speaking activity.

This is why, I believe, that TEFL teachers set a no-marking study assignment at least once a week. It’s better for your students, your classes and your own sanity.

The following assignments have been divided into: Listening, Reading, Writing Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation . First up, listening

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Listening assignments

Podcasts are a great way to practice comprehension. In additional, the material can be used for speaking practice the following lesson as students share with each other what they have learnt from the episode.  

Mistakes to avoid when choosing a podcast

  Do not choose a podcast that is too long. Four to 10 minutes is the sweet spot – anything longer your students will get confused and the task will become a chore.

  Do not choose a podcast which speaks unnaturally slowly or with a childish topic. Students need to get used to the normal pace of speaking and how native speakers actually use the language. OK, so granted, ESL podcasts do have to be simpler but anything that is overly contrived is a waste of your students’ time.

  Do not use a website that requires flash player to play an MP3. Access to any homework material should be really, really easy or you’ll find that half your students won’t complete the assignment.

The best ESL Podcasts

BBC 6 Minute English

 Lower-intermediate to upper-intermediate  British

This is without doubt the best EFL podcast on the list and the one that I use time and time again. Updated weekly, Six minute English provides fun and interesting ESL podcasts on topics such as culture, technology, travel, business and more. They’ll always include at least three new phrases to learn and after listening, students can check their understanding with the transcript.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english

Podcasts in English

Elementary to Intermediate British

The first homework is www.podcastsinenglish .com. This site provides free three to five minute podcasts for English learners for beginner, intermediate and upper-intermediate level. To practice comprehension and expand vocabulary, tell your students to listen to two podcasts a week and write a summary of what they hear. To do this effectively, they’ll have to listen a few times.

Negative: The podcasts are free but to read the transcript students must pay for the premium version.

https://www.podcastsinenglish.com

 Upper-intermediate-advanced  American

CNN 10 is not an TEFL podcast, it is a real news show which condenses world news for that day down to 10 minutes. Despite this, it provides a great way for higher-level students to practice their listening skills while keeping abreast or world news. The video can be accessed in the CNN app and students can read the full transcript afterwards to check their understanding.

Negative: Not made for ESL and so speech can be fast.

https://edition.cnn.com/cnn10

Elementary to Intermediate Variable

Elllo provides thousands of free English video lessons and ESL podcasts on everyday English conversation. The podcasts consist of a dialogue between two people about an everyday topic. They are short and sweet but there are thousands of them and so you could ask your students to do one a day without much time commitment from them.

The best thing about ELLLO podcasts is that students can check their understanding with the transcript AND a quiz.

Negative: Podcasts are under three minutes.

http://www.elllo.org

 Upper intermediate-advanced  Variable

TED provides thousands of videos about technology, education, politics, science and culture.

In my experience setting a TED talk for homework can be hit and miss. Sometimes I’d set a TED video and everyone would love it and other times they’d complain that it was too long, too fast or too confusing to understand.

TED is still a great resource but when choosing a talk for homework this is my advice:

Choose a video which is no more than 10 minutes long. You can separate talks by duration, topic and language in the talk tab.

Check that the speaker isn’t speaking too fast and the accent isn’t too thick (native speakers are best).

Another way to do this is to choose a theme such as ‘business’ ‘finance’ ‘or ‘crime’ and ask your students to select and watch a TED video on the subject. Centre your following class around this theme and give your students 10 to 15 minutes to recount their video to their partners. This is a great way to reinforce the lesson vocabulary and engage your students with the topic.

https://www.ted.com

TED ED: A much better choice!

A much better choice of listening is TED ED. TED Ed is full of short educational videos about science, culture and history. You’re students will be able to follow the listening much better because along with the speaker’s voice there are animations to help tell the story.

Best of all the videos are only five minutes long and so it’s a homework activity that everyone has time to do.

https://ed.ted.com/

ESL Lounge provides short readings and gap fill exercises divided into elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced. Students can check their understanding with a quiz at the end.

http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/reading.php

Five Minute English

Five minute English also provides short reading exercises. All activities come with a glossary of new words and a quiz at the end so your students can check their understanding. The only drawback is that the readings are not defined by level.

http://www.5minuteenglish.com/reading.htm

Grammar review

Viewing video lessons to either recap on the last grammar class or prepare for the next one is another highly productive no-marking homework activity.

Here are the best grammar video resources.

ENGVID Provides bite-sized video lessons on most aspects of English grammar and lots of vocabulary points. Students can also read a transcript of the lesson and check their understanding with a quiz on their website.

https://www.engvid.com

Let’s Talk: Youtube

You need it, you’ll find it here. This Youtube channel has hundreds of videos on every aspect of the English language.

Grammar and vocabulary quizzes

If you’ve just finished a grammar topic, setting your students a few grammar quizzes is a good way to review the lesson. There are dozens of grammar quiz sites out there, but proceed with caution: many of these sites are spammy with annoying adverts and pop ups all over the page. They are difficult to navigate for a native speaker never mind a student.

The BBC also offers a comprehensive library of grammar resources and quizzes for English learners. However, I haven’t included them in the list because you need a flash player to use them.

The websites I have selected also have adverts but they are not invasive. They have also established sites within the TEFL community.

Dave’s ESL Café (grammar)

This site provides a meeting point for TEFL teachers to ask and answer questions and share resources. A little known fact is that Dave’s ESL Café also boasts hundreds of quizzes on various grammar and vocabulary points, written by teachers.

http://www.eslcafe.com/quiz

ESL-lounge (grammar)

ESL-lounge is another well-known site for TEFL resources, it also has a library of grammar quizzes for students.

http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/

British Council Teens (vocabulary)

The best vocabulary quiz I have found comes from The British Council Teens site. Here users must match pictures and words together to learn vocabulary. All words come with an audio so students can check their pronunciation.

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/vocabulary-exercises

Writing is an essential skill and, as a TEFL teacher, you must set and mark writing assignments.

But what if there were a way for students to practice writing independently as well?

Well, there is.

Do you remember when you were learning French or Spanish at school and your teachers encouraged you to start a correspondence with a foreign pen pal to improve your language skills?

Well, the concept still exists. If a few of the class take it up, it can also become an interesting weekly speaking practice as you catch up on the news from their pen friends, and as a group, correct the grammar and spelling on their next correspondence.

Popular Pen Pal sites

http://www.penpalworld.com

https://www.globalpenfriends.com

https://www.penpalsnow.com/index.html

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is often the blight of an ESL class. Bad pronunciation should be corrected , but if you have a large class it is often difficult to give that one-on-one attention to a student who is really struggling to improve.

This is why asking your students to watch pronunciation videos and practice in their own time is a worthwhile homework exercise. Here are some of the best sites to learn.

Rachel’s English: Accent American

Rachel’s English undoubtedly provides one of the most comprehensive pronunciation resources on the web. Rachel will walk your students through all of the sounds in the English language. In addition, she has videos on the rhythm of English, elision (when speakers drop vowel sounds as they link words together in a sentence) and common idioms.

http://rachelsenglish.com

Youglish: Accent International

Youglish uses YouTube to teach the pronunciation of any English word. Simply write the word into the search bar and Youglish will bring up a snippet of a video with someone using it. It is truly brilliant.

https://youglish.com

BBC Learning English Pronunciation Guide: Accent British

Teacher Jamie teaches students all the common sounds in the English language.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/pronunciation

For more on pronunciation, check out our pronunciation http://bilinguanation.com/english-pronunciation-activities-for-your-esl-class/ guide.

Cambridge PET, FCE, CAE Exam

If your students want to sit the Cambridge English exam then they can find everything they need to prepare with Flo-Joe.com.  Here students will find a rich archive of free listening, reading, speaking and writing papers from each exam level. Listening and reading exams come with their own answer keys for self-correction. The writing paper, however, will have to be corrected by the teacher and speaking practice done in class.

https://www.flo-joe.co.uk

If your students are taking the IELTS exam, here are three resource sites where students can practice with past papers, complete with an answer key. Again any writing practice will have to be corrected by the teacher and speaking practice done in class.

https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-test/british-council-online-resources

https://www.ieltsbuddy.com

https://ieltsforfree.com/

So these are my go-to sites for no-marking TEFL assignments. Have a I missed one? Do you know of an amazing podcast or ESL resource site that could benefit your fellow ESL teachers? Write it in the comments below and if it’s good I’ll include it in the list.

For more resource sites check out  Free TEFL resource sites for your ESL students.  Good luck and happy teaching!

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Top 7 English Homework Tips for Teachers, Students and Parents

7 ways to create meaningful English homework. Tips for teachers, parents and students

Homework. The bane of student life everywhere. And teachers too! Won’t someone please think of the teachers?

It has been one of the hottest debates among progressives and traditionalists in education circles for many years now; is homework help or a hindrance?

Millions of student hours per year are wasted on busy work, which adds little to student learning. But that doesn’t mean that the judicious use of homework can’t add greatly to student learning, particularly in an area as complex as literacy.

Regarding reading and writing homework, there are good points to be made on both sides. But, as with many hot-button issues, the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle.

In this article, we will look at what we need to consider when we set homework to ensure it provides value to our students’ learning. We will look at what to do, what not to do, and just how much of it to do.

ENGLISH HOMEWORK TIP 1: Bin the Busy Work!

Ask your average student what their pet peeve is regarding their current station in life, and more often than not, homework will be mentioned in the reply. It is just as much a fixture in the life of a student as an oven is in the life of a baker. Unfortunately, as many students robotically complete their homework as teachers that robotically set the tasks. And here lies our first problem – busy work!

Homework should ALWAYS be focused. It should be carefully designed and purposeful. Without clear objectives built-in, the homework serves little to no pedagogical purpose. It is more likely to be a waste of the student’s time and the time of the teacher who is doomed to mark it.

The first rule of Homework Club is Bin the Busy Work!

ENGLISH HOMEWORK TIP 2: Make The Homework Fit for Purpose

It may seem obvious, but homework must be suited to the ability of the student. How often have diligent students pulled their hair out struggling over a problem all night, press-ganging parents into the effort, only to be soundly trounced by a problem Einstein himself would need his morning coffee before attempting.

Avoid setting homework that will stretch the student to the elastic limits of their abilities. We don’t want anyone ‘snapping’ here. The material chosen for reading or writing homework should, however, challenge the student to some degree. Just as with strength training, some resistance is required to build ‘muscle’ here.

As in Rule #1 above, homework should be carefully designed to achieve a certain objective. But, one size most certainly doesn’t fit all. Be sure to differentiate homework appropriately for the different abilities of different students. Often, you won’t need to set different tasks, a slight tweak in the instructions given will be enough to make it suitable for the various ability levels.

YEAR LONG DIGITAL READING LOG / DIARY

Leap into the CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE and ditch your paper-based reading logs or journals FOREVER. This dynamic BUNDLE OF RESOURCES allows you to track and assess your students reading with far more efficiency and effectiveness than ever before. INCLUDING: ✔ A dynamic DIGITAL READING SURVEY which AUTOMATICALLY ADAPTS based upon the genre of book your students are reading and what point of the text they are up to ✔ A pre-written LETTER FOR PARENTS AND STUDENTS explaining how it all works and the clear benefits it offers teachers, students and parents. ✔ A set of POSTERS AND BOOKMARKS matched to your class reading log so you kids can access this ANYTIME, ANYWHERE on ANY DEVICE ✔ A VIDEO TUTORIAL explaining how to edit, customize and deliver this to parents and students with ease, as well as how to sort, filter and manage your student data

ENGLISH HOMEWORK TIP 3: Set Time Limits

We all have both good days and bad days, and all sorts of days in between. Regardless of what sort of day you had, one thing is for sure, there were 24 hours in it. One of the more difficult things as a teacher, especially in a school with a vague homework policy, is just how much homework to set. The answer is, of course, it depends , and while time is certainly an imperfect means of gauging this, it at least provides some guidelines.

Just how much time depends on quite a few things. The time of year, for example. If exams are ongoing, you may want to avoid heaping extra pressure on your students. Perhaps too, your school has a very prescriptive homework policy that restricts your flexibility in terms of how much time you can set for homework tasks.

All that aside, the general wisdom on setting homework is that it should start at around 10 minutes for grade 1 and gradually increase by around ten minutes per grade, up to a maximum of 2 hours per day for the oldest students.

Like most things in teaching, however, this is more of an art than a cold, hard science. Pay attention to your students and how they are bearing up under the workload. Your priority here should always be to maximize the learning done in the classroom, so don’t overdo it.

ENGLISH HOMEWORK TIP 4: Give Timely Feedback

For feedback to be useful, it must be timely. If a student has spent hours composing an essay; researching their material, drafting an outline, organising their structure, writing and rewriting to submit their finished piece only to be told 4 weeks later that the third paragraph lacks purpose, the third paragraph will not be the only thing that lacks purpose.

If feedback is to be of any value, you must strike while the mental forge is still hot. Our students’ lives are most likely busy and interesting. Often their focus will be transient, if not downright fickle. If you want your feedback to stick – it must be delivered while the smoke still hangs in the air.

ENGLISH HOMEWORK TIP 5: Get Creative with the Tasks

Many of our students hate homework. Perhaps ‘despise’ would be a better word. And is it any wonder? Especially when it comes to reading and writing. Learning to read and write well requires lots of practice, and a certain amount of repetition is inescapable. But, I would argue, there should be no reason for homework to be boring. There isn’t a more wondrous subject in the world than literacy, after all!

Reading and writing are very broad areas of learning. Ample opportunities are afforded to allow you to come up with engaging and creative ways for your students to reinforce their learning. You just need to begin with your learning objective and reverse engineer unique ways to get there.

Let’s take instruction writing as an example. Say you have already taught the key criteria of instruction writing: a title, a resource list, some diagrams with captions, bullet or numbered points, use of transition words and imperatives etc. You now want the students to consolidate their understanding of the genre by writing their own set of instructions at home, but how to do it in an interesting fashion?

Well, let’s brainstorm and see if we can’t make things a little more interesting for our students. Recipes are a type of instruction writing. You could set them the task of writing a recipe for their favorite sandwich, but that’s kind of, well, lame!

How about writing a recipe for the most disgusting sandwich in the world? Yes, now that’s much better. Maybe they could word process it too and include Creative Commons images to support the text, Or, they could even make a script and record a video instructional, sharpening up their video-editing skills along the way.

Regardless of which of these methods you choose, your students would still be fulfilling the original objective of reinforcing their understanding of the criteria of the genre.

Bear in mind, however, you should not set homework that requires students to use resources that they don’t have access to, so be sure to give this due consideration when getting creative with your homework tasks.

ENGLISH HOMEWORK TIP 6: Leverage Interest

“ You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink ”, as the old saying goes – and it certainly applies to homework.

This rule relies heavily on the relationship you build with your students over time. Allied to the point above, there are a million different ways to teach an objective, but try to engineer activities that leverage the specific interests of your students.

If you are setting a homework task to reinforce reading comprehension skills, for example, are there opportunities for you to select, or allow your students to select, material that they are interested in?

The same applies when selecting topics for writing. Where student interest is engaged, learning often becomes effortless.

ENGLISH HOMEWORK TIP 7: Give Homework At The Start of the Lesson

It is general practice to give homework at the end of the lesson. By then, you will have introduced a lesson objective, worked through some examples during class, and now you can set homework for the students to further consolidate their understanding at home.

It makes sense, right? Well, yes, but there is another option.

Sharing the homework task with your students at the start of class may, at times, be preferable. There are several benefits to this. Often, at the end of class, our students are worn out. They are like greyhounds at the starting gate, raring to go home, to the next class, or for lunch. The last place their attention is is on more of the topic they have just been working on. Setting homework at the start of the class avoids the feeling like you are trying to herd cats at the end of class.

Another strong benefit to setting the homework at the start of the class is that it focuses the students on specific learning goals for the lesson to come. Students will be motivated to engage more with their learning as it will make their homework much easier to do that evening. Give it a go with your class and see!

The Takeaways

Homework should be used as a means of consolidating learning done in the classroom. Tasks should be focused and offer opportunities for students to improve their understanding of important concepts or develop specific skills.

Homework should be designed in such a way that it is manageable by students. It should not be beyond the limits of their abilities and time limits should be set to prevent student frustration from boiling over if they struggle to complete it.

Feedback needs to be given in a timely fashion for it to serve any useful purpose. This means that consideration must be given to your workload when assigning homework. Will you have enough time to mark the students’ work and provide the necessary feedback in a timely manner?

If not, reconsider the tasks you are setting. Remember, you may also find value in peer assessment activities too.

Also, try setting homework at the start of class to motivate student participation in the lesson to come. And, you’ll avoid that tussle at lesson’s end as the students rush for the door!

Literacy is such a fascinating subject area that there will always be room to create interesting homework tasks. You just require a little space to allow your imagination to run freely. The personal interests of your students can provide a great starting point for the creation of engaging and fun homework tasks.

Remember too, there’s an upper limit to how much homework you should set, and it may not always be necessary to set homework. When you do set homework, set it judiciously, and you will undoubtedly add to the learning experience of your students.

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Creative Homework Ideas

Learn Bright Lessons include many creative ideas for classroom instruction and student learning. Students are asked to work independently or with their peers, fostering their collaboration skills. Of course, the lessons also include many traditional learning exercises. Such as, multiple-choice questions, matching, fill in the blank responses, and others. Since every school and classroom is different, any lesson used with students can be adapted.

Whether you are assigning homework based on Learn Bright lessons or your own school’s curriculum, the homework you assign is essential for learning. Some schools across the country have banned assigning homework to students while others limit the amount each night. If you do assign homework, there are several creative ideas you can use that will motivate your students to complete the homework you assign.

Creative hands-on learning activities and other similar learning ideas in the classroom are quite effective. They can be just as effective at home as well for a wide variety of subjects and assignments. In every student’s home, there is “stuff” and other resources that can be accessed to help students review a concept taught at school. Here are a few samples for different subjects:

MATH – Multiplication Facts

 Students use the numbers that appear on product labels and multiply them together. Not only do they get multiplication practice, but they may also be introduced to a food label in a new way. It encourages the students to read food and other product labels. In this way, they can relate what they learn in class to the real world. Showing them when they will use these concepts in their everyday lives.

SCIENCE – Solids, Liquids, Gases

Students conduct a home or neighborhood search for items that are solids, liquids, or gases. For example, they can open the refrigerator and list milk, juice, and other beverages as liquids. The containers, butter, veggies, and more as solids. Carbonated drinks can be listed as containing gas. You can ask them later about eggs or Jell-O and other items that may be both solid and liquid. This reinforces their learning by allowing them to explore and use their creativity to complete the assignment.

SOCIAL STUDIES – Older Adult Interviews

 Students may be studying topics in history from the past 50 to 100 years. With this exercise, they interview an older adult who lived through the event that they are studying. They obtain opinions and feelings related to the event. They also confirm (or dispute) facts the students have been taught. Finally, they discuss how the person was affected by the event. This gives them a deeper understanding of that event and shows them the value of primary sources.

LANGUAGE ARTS – Parts of Speech Search

Students practice identifying the seven parts of speech while at home. They do this by listing examples that are used during family conversations or those words found on product labels.

Describing Things

Students use each of the five senses to write descriptive sentences related to things at home or in the neighborhood. The aroma of dinner, the sound of cars passing on the street, the sight of moving tree branches, the feel of a parent’s hug, or the taste of a spicy meal. This allows them to connect the lesson to the real world. It allows them to think about their surroundings in a new and interesting way.

READING – Read and React

Students are asked to read aloud a passage from their favorite story or novel. Next, they ask family members or close neighbors for their reactions and opinions about a character/event from the passage. Students record the information and discuss it with the listener. This illustrates that different people may notice different things while reading. It gives the student a chance to practice discussing literature from a young age.

MUSIC – Favorite Music  

Students will listen to a parent or other family member’s favorite genre of music. Then, list the instruments they hear, share their opinions of the sound, and discuss other artists from a particular era. This encourages them to engage with the music on a level they normally would not.

ART – Art Critic

Nearly all homes include some type of painting, picture, or sculpture on display. Students take a photo of an art piece in their home and share their opinion of the art piece with a family member. They can discuss the age of the work of art, how it adds to the room’s décor, why it’s significant to their family, and more. Students will gain valuable practice analyzing images and thinking about art with this homework assignment.

HEALTH – Food Search

The students conduct a food search, identifying healthy versus unhealthy foods. Next, they list reasons why they may be considered healthy or unhealthy, and reviewing food labels. This teaches students to think about what they eat. Hence giving them a fun and interactive activity to do for homework.

There are many, many more creative homework ideas you can use for at-home assignments for your students. Think outside the box when assigning homework. Practice incorporating interactive elements so that students aren’t just sitting at their desk. Try to create and develop assignments that kids will want to do. Avoid the assignments that kids simply have to do. Think of the real-world applications for your lesson material as inspiration and build your homework assignments around that. Creative homework assignments can be fun and, at the same time, teach and enhance subjects introduced in the classroom.

For more creative homework ideas, be sure to check out our lesson plans and YouTube videos!

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Free Printable English Worksheets For ESL Teachers

Browse our archive of completely free quality English worksheets and lessons (PDF and Word documents). Download, customize and print the resources, incorporate them in your lessons or assign them as homework to your students.

Our Massive Library of Free ESL Worksheets by Category

If you are looking for ESL worksheets for different learning areas, select the matching category. You’ll find assorted lists of worksheets and other materials there, for all levels from beginner to advanced, for all ages from kids to adults.

Reading Comprehension Worksheets

Writing Worksheets

Grammar Worksheets

Listening Comprehension Worksheets

Idioms Worksheets

Phrasal Verbs Worksheets

Noun Worksheets

Vocabulary & Conversation Worksheets

Lesson Plans (coming soon)

Below, you’ll find all our worksheets sorted by student level.

ESL Worksheets for Adults and Teens (Intermediate to Advanced Students)

These are our available worksheets on different topics for higher-level students, like adults and teens. You can download, edit and print them all for free. When you open the worksheets, there is an option to download PDF and Word files.

Intermediate Level (B1-B2)

Esl writing worksheet: opinion essay about video games (intermediate), esl lesson plan: nature & environment (intermediate), esl listening comprehension worksheet: in the kitchen (intermediate), esl listening comprehension worksheet: travel and transportation (intermediate), esl lesson plan: summer activities (intermediate), esl reading comprehension worksheet: studies (intermediate), esl reading comprehension worksheet: global warming (intermediate), esl reading comprehension worksheet: at the workplace (intermediate), esl reading comprehension worksheet: job interview (intermediate), esl reading comprehension worksheet: holiday (intermediate), esl listening comprehension worksheet: school lunch (intermediate), intermediate-advanced level (b2-c1), dialogue/debate worksheet: fast fashion – the true cost of clothes (intermediate-advanced), esl listening comprehension worksheet: technology and relationships (intermediate-advanced), esl vocabulary & conversation worksheet: job interview (intermediate-advanced), esl grammar worksheet, future tenses: traveling (intermediate-advanced), esl writing practice worksheet: newspaper articles (intermediate-advanced), esl writing practice worksheet: creating concise sentences (intermediate-advanced), esl writing exercise: creating complex sentences: las vegas (intermediate-advanced), esl everyday idioms vocabulary exercises (intermediate-advanced), esl vocabulary worksheet: food idioms (intermediate-advanced), esl vocabulary worksheet: idioms & slang (intermediate-advanced), esl reading comprehension worksheet: raising children (intermediate-advanced), esl reading comprehension worksheet: dreams (intermediate-advanced), esl reading comprehension worksheet: giving advice (intermediate-advanced), esl grammar worksheet: phrasal verbs: office & business (intermediate-advanced), esl grammar worksheet: phrasal verbs: dating (intermediate-advanced), esl grammar worksheet: phrasal verbs: sports (intermediate-advanced), illustrated esl lesson packages for kids.

Exclusively available from JIMMYESL: The following bundles include illustrated vocabulary worksheets for various exercises, flashcards, and a certificate of achievement. They’re great to help young learners memorize new vocabulary with fun!

School & Classroom Objects – ESL Vocabulary Worksheets & Flashcards

Shape Names – ESL Vocabulary Worksheets & Flashcards

Body Parts – ESL Vocabulary Worksheets & Flashcards

Esl worksheets for beginners and elementary.

These are the ESL worksheets for young students, and for beginner and elementary level students. Again, you can download all worksheets in PDF and Word format, edit and print them for your lessons. Have fun teaching!

Beginner and Elementary Level (A1-A2)

Esl reading comprehension worksheet: in the restaurant (beginner-elementary), esl reading comprehension worksheet: france (beginner-elementary), esl reading comprehension worksheet: zoo animals (beginner-elementary), esl reading comprehension worksheet: playing football (beginner-elementary), listening comprehension worksheet: the pet competition (elementary), esl vocabulary worksheet: sports activities, action words (elementary), esl reading comprehension worksheet: the world of dinosaurs (elementary), list: prepositions of place: at, in & on (elementary), elementary-intermediate level (a2-b1), esl vocabulary worksheet: weather report & forecast (elementary-intermediate), esl vocabulary worksheet: let’s go shopping (elementary-intermediate), esl grammar worksheet: using articles (elementary-intermediate), esl grammar worksheet: -ed & -ing adjectives: describing feelings & situations (elementary-intermediate), esl vocabulary worksheet: describing people (elementary-intermediate), ideas to create your own esl lesson plans.

Check these ideas for engaging and fun ESL lesson activities which you can use to easily create customized worksheets. Or browse our full list of activity ideas to find tons of inspiration and materials.

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12 great esl listening activities & games.

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15 Speaking Projects And Activities For ESL Students

I don’t think I am sticking my neck out too much by saying that most ESL students enjoy speaking activities more than typical reading, writing and listening activities. Tending to be more dynamic, true to life and fun, a good speaking activity can really enhance an ESL student’s fluency and confidence.

Here, I am going to offer you a series of ESL speaking projects that you can adapt and use for your ESL students. Let’s go:

Infomercial Activities

This is one of my favorite speaking projects by far. Show students some typical adverts from a shopping channel; I like to show some of the funnier products just for giggles and to encourage students minds to wander, take a look at this compilation to see what I mean.

Next, I ask students usually in pairs to come up with their own completely original product to sell on an infomercial. If students struggle to come up with a completely new product you can suggest they add a new twist to arnold product, or make a new product based on a combination of two or more others.

For example, in the past I have had: microwave televisions, hair dryers that double as vacuum cleaners and laptops that double as portable stoves.

I tend to also do a language lesson based around the language of selling and persuasion so that when students make their infomercial they will send realistic and they often like to know some of the sales phrases, tactics and strategies that are used in real life.

Just for fun, you can tell students that they have a certain amount of money to spend and after they have seen all the infomercials they get to spend it. Sales can be recorded and you can see which idea/pair has made the most money and are the winner!

Presentations

Give students a presentation of a topic of your choosing, perhaps your own hobby and model the format and language that you want the students to use.

I tend to share slides with the student with the title of each slide already inserted. Students then have to fill the space with suitable information for that slide.

So, for example, if I wanted my students to present their own hobbies then I would probably have six slides titled with questions:

What is my favorite hobby? Why did I start this hobby? What have I achieved doing this hobby? Who do I do this hobby with? What will I do next in this hobby? Other interesting info about my hobby.

Students then fill the slides full of pictures that relate to the question and then they talk about these to the group and answer questions.

Some students always want to write out a script for a presentation which I let them do on the understanding that they can’t actually read it when they present. I allow them to write it out just so they can build up some confidence in what they are going to say and check the language accuracy of it. 

I do usually place sentence starters and linking words on posters behind the audience so that the presenter always has some support if needs be.

Of course, this could also be done as a recorded video task. I sometimes ask students to record a voice over on top of the slides. This can then be converted into a video format for sharing later.

A few other simple presentation topic titles for ESL students that could be used are: My Best Friend, Who Am I?, My Pets, My Future Career, My Family, The Last Celebration I want to, Why I am a fan of __________ (insert name of whatever they are a fan of).

At this point you might also want to read one of my popular article about how to make your students speak English , here

Hot Seat ing

Become an expert – As it sounds. Students spent a certain amount of time researching a topic that either they choose or that is given to them. They are then to become that character and the rest of the group has to ask them questions to find out as much as they can about them in a set amount of time.

You can award points for correct questions being asked and for grammatically correct sentences in response. Personally I like to do this at the beginning of a new topic and direct students to research different famous people.

For example, if we are going to be covering the topic of Travel as in the IGCSE ESL then I have students research characters, such as: Dr Livingstone, Joe Simpson, Ernest Shackleton, Amelia Earhart, Ranulf Fiennes, and so on. 

I often have students create a mini glossary for their characters as well which other students can refer to as they are quizzing the character.  

This activity is best for intermediate level and above students and even then you may need to provide texts at a suitable level for students to be able to access, otherwise students end up on Wikipedia reading very difficult text.

You can have the group make notes and write summaries of each character for homework if you also wish to work on summary writing skills.

Recommended reading: 15 Research Projects For ESL Students

The Detective Game

For this activity you make up a crime that occurred in a given location, the more gruesome the better and if you can personalise it to your location and environment more the better.

Divide the group into smaller groups of three or four people and then ask them to create their alibis for the morning, afternoon, or evening in question. These people are the suspects.

One group, however, is assigned as being the investigators and they individually quiz different suspects one to one to try and find inconsistencies in their group’s stories. This forces each group to consider exactly what they were doing, where and with whom very carefully and in great detail. 

After interviewing as many members of each group and making notes about inconsistencies between group members the investigators then confer with each other to decide upon which group’ alibi is the most inconsistent. This group are then sent to jail.

Whilst the investigators are discussing this, the suspects discuss which investigator was the best at questioning them and finding out the inconsistencies. The suspects will then announce who this person is, and they earn a promotion. Finally, the investigators announce the losing group which will go to prison.

This ‘game’ has got real legs and could go in so many different directions, so don’t be afraid to improvise and have fun with this one.  

Drama Activities

Acting out a chapter of a book. Pretty much as it sounds. Read through a chapter of a book with students or have them read it for homework before letting groups act out the chapter, or a scene from it.

This works well even if they all act out the same scene as each group will learn from the last and the acting/performance and language should get increasingly better throughout. Alternatively arrange it so that each group acts out the following scene to the last group and so the full story is told.

Storyboard and act out the student’s own story. Rather than act out a book, you could have students plan out a story, or at least part of a story on a storyboard. This can give a greater sense of ownership, achievement and ‘buy in’ from the students.

What happened next. Read the opening of a book and as a ‘cliffhanger is reached’ pause and have students work together to act out the ending of the story or the next scene at least.

This also works well with videos from YouTube, crime videos work well as do Walt Disney cartoons – even with adult learners for some reason!

You might also be interested in reading my helpful article on how to get your students speaking fluently , here.

Mind Map ping

Vocabulary relationships. Engage students in a subject which contains lots of relationships of cause and effect. Basically, you need to pick a topic and analyse what the different factors were that affected the main decision or characters involved.

In the centre of your mind map place the decision or a character that was made and then arrange influencing factors around this. 

The larger the circle each factor is in and the closer it is to the centre of the paper the stronger the influence is. Students then need to explain their mind map and the relationships to the group. Others can question and agree/ disagree with them. 

Topics can range from serious issues from history through to celebrity scandals, or even plots in a movie, such as, why did celebrity couple X and Y get divorced, or why did actor x decide to y in the movie xyz. Obviously, you can let the students self select these issues for greater interest. 

Backs To The Board

A timeless classic not so much a speaking project but this can be developed into a full lesson’s worth of speaking and it works for groups of all sizes. It is excellent for reviewing vocabulary at the end of a project or to see what students know at the beginning of a topic.

Simply split the group into teams of no more than five and have one member of the group come to the front and sit with their back to the board.

The other members of the group form a ‘u’ shape around the person, or, rather than being sat literally against the board groups can be sat at tables with just one student having their back to the board. 

All you then need to do is to write a word on the board and the students facing the board have to get the person not facing the board to say the word without literally telling them the word. They should be encouraged to use definitions, synonyms and examples of the word where possible. 

Depending on numbers, students can just shout out when they think they have the answer, or with large groups I make the students raise their hand if they think they have the answer.

The danger with debates is that to the teacher they may seem boring, or at least they do to me but have to remind myself that just because I have done the debates dozens of times, they haven’t and even the most overdone/boring sounding debates may go down like fireworks with some groups.

With that in mind here are a few of the more traditional/boring debates for your students to get their teeth into:

Which is better, country life or city life?

Should animal testing be allowed?

Should school uniforms be gotten rid of

Are cats better than dogs?

Should women be paid as much as men?

Online learning is better than classroom learning

Does money equal success in life?

I also like to see if there is something going on in the students view of the world that is worth debating. For example, in Thailand the debate over whether Korean pop music is better than Thai pop music is a popular one. 

I have had colleagues dive into debates about serious political topics with higher level students which have worked really well.

However, some topics are just too hot to handle and you don’t know who you are upsetting so be careful what topics you do debate, you never know who is listening, or who is going to offense at any of your personal views that you may let slip!

Here is a good resource for more ESL debate ideas .

Book And Movie Review s

This is pretty much as it sounds. I like to set a reading task for students over a holiday break and when they return they have to submit a video review of the book or movie they watched/read. 

I usually show them a good movie review for ideas and ask them to follow the same format. Something like this review of Kung Fu Panda . This goes along the lines of: background information, main characters, plot explanation, favorite moments, final recommendation.

I’ve also done this with higher level groups for documentaries but with enough support and speaking frames pre intermediate students can engage well with this activity.

Conversation Question s

Don’t underestimate the value of pure lists of conversation questions. Students are often happy to just ‘have a chat’ and use the English that they do know.

It is great for their confidence and fluency, as well as requiring zero lesson prep, which is always a nice thing. Just be sure to rotate speaking partners to avoid students getting bored with the same partners and used to different accents.

Sometimes, depending on ability and interest levels I will teach three or four idioms at the beginning of the lesson and set the task of trying to naturally drop them into conversation later on.

There are lot of good sources of conversation questions, here are a couple: eslconversationquestions.com and esldiscussions.com .

ESL Exam Preparation Material

Some students are hugely motivated by doing well in exams such as the IELTS test, and IGCSE ESL speaking tests. Exam boards for tests such as these produce a plethora of practise material that is often available for free online and ready to be use.

My students particularly enjoy the IELTS speaking part 2 task where they are required to speak about a given topic and are given three bullet points to talk about. They are given one minute to prepare their ideas before they have to speak on their own for two minutes. 

If you think your students might enjoy this then here are some good sources of free IELTS style questions: IELTS IDP and ielts-exam.net , and for IGCSE ESL speaking questions check out the role play paper here.

The added bonus of these activities is that there is always a grading criteria ready to be used so you can grade students and give them real reasons why they scored a certain level and what they need to do to score higher in the future.

Here are the IELTS speaking criteria for example which clearly spells out what is expected of students at different levels.

Finger Puppet Shows

One really good way to get shy students speaking I have found to introduce sock puppets. As silly as it sounds, there is something about using a puppet that takes away the pressure on the speaker and frees them up to speak.

Whether it is the element of hilarity of  speaking sock or the fact that people are generally looking at the sock rather than the person it seems to work well.

Depending on the ability level I will either give pairs of students scripts to act out with puppets. They can introduce their own props as well to make it even more funny. Alternatively, I will do this as an improv.

I will read out a situation, for example, one of you has lost their passport at the airport. Then the students have to act out this scenes as best as they can.

Switch partners and introduce more situations and watch the energy level of the room pick up!

By the end of the lesson you may well notice previously shy students speaking confidently with other students having been drawn into the magic of sock puppets! A great little speaking project.

Role Plays With Idioms

I use this lesson pattern quite regularly and it works well. I start off with student matching idioms to meanings and then to example sentences with the idioms missing.

After going through these answers and doing any teaching necessary to aid understanding I will then hand out a dialogue but with all the sentences jumbled up.

Students then have to unjumble the conversation which contains one or more of the idioms being used in a natural way. Next, they read the dialogue through taking different roles each and then doing the dialogue again without looking at the words.

Next, students are given the task of creating their own dialogues using at least one of the idioms in an appropriate way. Students write out the dialogues, rehearse them and then act them out for the group.

You can also do this with phrasal verbs but either way it works out well and the routine can be used again when you are a bit short of material or are having a hangover day!

Barrier Activities

One favourite of mine that never fails to stimulate plenty of language use is to simply create your own barrier exercise. I like to get a nice chunky newspaper article related to what we are learning and then go through each paragraph and remove key details, such as: names, dates, place names, times, location etcetera…

I create two versions of this, the first one will have words missing from odd number paragraphs and the second copy will have words missing from even number paragraphs.

This prevents it from becoming confusing and make sure to keep one master version with no details missing and if you have time highlight the missing words in red so it is easy for students to check later.

Once the missing word copies are ready you can divide the class into two halves distributing sheet A to one half and sheet B to the other half. Allow them to work in groups at this point to work out what questions they need to ask the other half of the group in order to get the missing details filled in.

If you think this will be too difficult for them you can provide the questions in a jumbled up format so they have to rearrange them to make the questions,, or even give them the questions but they have to work out the order in which to ask them to correspond to the paragraph order.

After this preparation period students can then pair up with someone from the opposite half of the group to take turns asking and answering each other’s questions.

Make sure that students do not show each other their articles and simply just sit and copy the answers, clearly this simply defeats the whale point of the exercise.

Before starting this I also pre teach any tricky vocabulary that I know is going to come up in the article just to make sure the final questions and answer session goes without too much stopping and starting to ask about vocabulary.

After students have got the answers then you can either display the answers on an overhead projector, or send students back to their original half of the group to see if they have all gotten the same answers.

Jigsaw Reading

This is another easy way to get students involved in the language and speaking. Select a relevant article related to the topic you are studying and chop it up into paragraphs. Hand out A4 paper with a simple one column table with as many boxes as there are paragraphs.

Hand out the paragraphs to the students considering which paragraphs are more difficult and should go to the higher level learners and which are slightly easier and can go to the lower ability students. 

Individually, students now summarise in their own words as far as possible their paragraphs and write the summary in a box in the table. Following this students pair up with students who had a different paragraph and they then read out their summaries whilst the other students make notes of it.

Rotate partners so that everyone can get every paragraph and after the first couple of times students have read their summaries, force students to turn over their paper and explain their paragraph from memory.

After the first couple of goes they should be able to do this and by the time they have explained to everyone in the group they should be reeling off their summary very comfortably.

A Word On Differentiation …

There is a lot of fun to be had for the students in the above activities but it is important to not forget that some students will require more support than others. Just asking students to do a role play with no support may be too much for some. 

Always consider using speaking frames, having sentence starters placed around the room, ‘useful language’ handouts, and always show a clear model of what it is you are expecting the students to produce. 

If you can tick those boxes then your speaking lesson will go that bit more smoothly.

All the best with your ESL speaking projects!

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13 Fun Homework Ideas: The Best Ways To Make Homework Fun For Kids Quickly & Easily

Sophie Bartlett

Figuring out how to make homework fun can be a tricky task for parents.

Does it feel like you’re constantly nagging your kids to do their homework? If your answer is yes, know that we’ve all been there! It’s natural for parents to want their children to progress and do well in school, but after an entire day of paper, pencils, and books many youngsters will resist getting on with their homework – and that’s putting it mildly!

Top Tips To Make Homework Fun:

1. work together, 2. use rewards and incentives, 3. make them a snack, 4. make it visual, 5. try different learning apps, 6. set up a homework play date, 7. go outside, 8. turn it into a game, 9. let them play teacher, 10. use a timer, 11. create a special homework space, 12. remember to be positive, 13. get help if you need it.

Thankfully, there are ways of making homework less boring and that are a little bit more fun for your child. Whether they need to practice spelling, learn their times tables or revise for an important exam, our top fun homework ideas will help you magically take the ‘work’ out of homework.

Adults often work best in the company of others, and the same can be said of kids, so why not sit with your child while they’re studying and get on with some of your own work or life admin?

Whether you’re returning emails or doing your online banking, creating a shared workspace and modeling focused work is a great way to spend quality time together while they complete their homework. Win-win!

Quick win : While your child is tackling their fractions homework, you could sit down with them and take a look through your finances.

Rewards and incentives are great when it comes to getting your children to follow your household rules and routines, and homework is no different. Things like stickers or the promise of time on their iPad or games console for slightly older children can all work wonders in getting them to do their homework without a battle.

Quick win: For every few questions they answer they could get a minute of screen time!

Let’s face it: A hungry child is an unfocused, unmotivated and unhappy child.

Most children come out of school ravenous, so let them nibble on a nutritious after-school snack while they get on with homework; things like popcorn, apple slices, grapes, or crackers and cheese are all great snack options.

If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, Active for Life has a list of healthy after-school snack ideas and recipes to try.

Quick win: One of the best brain foods for kids is a nice and crispy apple! So when your child is craving something sweet just cut up an apple and let them munch away.

Help to eliminate the late night ‘Oh, I forgot to do that’, and create a weekly homework chart so your child can see what they have to do each day and check off each ‘to do’ task as it’s been completed.

Again, Pinterest has some great free printables to help keep kids organized. Get them involved by letting them color it, or decorate it with their favorite stickers, and pin it up somewhere at their height, where they will see it easily every day as a reminder. Some exciting new stationery and colorful pens might help too.

Quick win: An easy way to make homework fun is to grab a piece of paper and get your child to draw out and decorate a ‘homework chart’ consisting of 5 days. Stick it on the fridge and add a sticker to each day after they’ve done their homework, when they’ve collected 5 stickers they get a treat!

If your child prefers to be online, there are some great online apps around that children will have fun using, yet encourage learning too. Here are our favorite free math websites for example. Speak to your child’s teacher too and see which apps the children use in school so you can support what they’re doing at home.

Quick win: One of our favorite websites that makes homework fun is Tang Math !

Holding a homework playdate where your child can invite one of their best school buddies over to do homework together can be a great way for them to learn and make sure the work gets done, especially older children in elementary school.

Plus, it’s likely that their parents will be delighted!

Younger children may need a bit more support and guidance but can still gain a lot from the experience of learning together with a friend – think of this as a mini-educational play date for them.

Quick win: Let your child and their friend play for a while, and then get them to work through their homework with the incentive of a yummy ‘ice cream party’ when they’ve completed all of their homework.

If the weather allows, create a comfortable outside study space and allow your child to do their homework outdoors.

The fresh air can help kids with their concentration if they’ve been stuck in a classroom all day, and studies also show that being outside, closer to nature, can increase productivity. The reward of a quick game of Frisbee or a kick-around of a soccer ball between tasks will help them stay motivated too.

Who said home learning had to be boring? If children enjoy what they’re learning, they’re more likely to remember what they’re being taught, so turn their learning into a fun game. Using sweets like Smarties to help with math and number work can turn the experience from a chore into a treat. If they get the right answer, they get to eat some!

Another trick that you can use when your child is learning spellings is to write them in shaving cream or in magnetic letters. It sounds simple but we can guarantee that it will make homework a lot more fun for your child.

These math games for kids and times tables games are a great place to start.

Quick win: If you’re looking for some fun homework ideas then check out this simple multiplication activity you can do at home, it’ll even get in one of your child’s five a day!

Make another fun homework game by creating your own mini-classroom and letting your child step into the role of teacher.

Have your child explain a concept to you as a teacher, as you, or their sibling, play the role of the student. This game works particularly well with subjects that require theory, like Science for example, as it will improve their understanding of the concept and build logic and reasoning skills.

Quick win: Make homework fun by getting your child to choose their favorite teddies and toys and setting them up in their own mini- classroom. Start off with registration, ‘mom’ ‘present’, ‘mr teddy’ ‘here’ etc. You’ll soon notice that your child is growing in confidence regardless of the topic as children love playing teacher!

Some children may have difficulty working for prolonged periods of time without a break, so using a timer can be great for getting them to complete homework without whining. For example, if your child is given 20 math problems for homework, you can say “Complete the first 10 questions, then we’ll take a 5-minute break, then complete the next 10 questions”.

Many children will need a mental break and will work more effectively when given the opportunity to take one. At the end of the task, they get to pick an activity of their choice. If your child gets easily distracted, a timer game can work well to keep them focused on the task in hand.

Quick win: Put the timer on your phone so that your child can see the countdown while they’re working.

A special study space can make homework more fun and help motivate your child to get it done! Choose a space in your house that’s least likely to distract your child, and create simple, organized, and kid-friendly homework.

You could hang up some of their artwork above the desk, and have all their school essentials nearby so everything is close to hand.

Quick win: Make sure that they aren’t surrounded by things that will distract them. Televisions and iPads are a no go at homework time!

Remember to always be upbeat and positive about school and the importance of their homework. Give your child lots of praise and encouragement about how well they’re doing to help them stay motivated and on track.

Quick win: After every homework session, spend five minutes talking through what your child has accomplished. If you’re running out of activities to do, have a look at our list of home learning packs – all free to download.

Homework can be frustrating if your child doesn’t understand the material or gets bored easily. If your child is struggling, get them some expert help!

Quick win: Third Space Learning has plenty of advice on learning math for kids and parents but if you need more support, our primary school math tutors are easy to organize and very affordable.

Do you have students who need extra support in math? Give your students more opportunities to consolidate learning and practice skills through personalized math tutoring with their own dedicated online math tutor. Each student receives differentiated instruction designed to close their individual learning gaps, and scaffolded learning ensures every student learns at the right pace. Lessons are aligned with your state’s standards and assessments, plus you’ll receive regular reports every step of the way. Personalized one-on-one math tutoring programs are available for: – 2nd grade tutoring – 3rd grade tutoring – 4th grade tutoring – 5th grade tutoring – 6th grade tutoring – 7th grade tutoring – 8th grade tutoring Why not learn more about how it works ?

The content in this article was originally written by primary school teacher Sophie Bartlett and has since been revised and adapted for US schools by elementary math teacher Christi Kulesza.

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15 Innovative School Homework Ideas to Make Learning Fun

Aashita Pillai

Aashita is a writer here at Suraasa and has formerly worked as a Teacher Mentor for a couple of years. She wields words like weapons to help readers get clear and concise information.

Introduction

General tips to keep students hooked to school homework, 15 innovative school homework ideas to engage your students, theme a: arts and crafts, theme b: physical and outside activities, theme c: digital activities, theme d: games, theme e: entrepreneurship.

“Hi teachers! I am your old friend, School Homework. Over time as education changed, so have I— thanks to the endless innovations that happened to me.  Let me take you through my life and the various innovations that made me your best friend- I was born in the 1920s to help students reinforce what they learned in class. Until the 1980s, I was basically just pen-and-paper-based assignments.  The Internet was born in 1983. From there onwards, I made my stride into the ‘digital era’.

Until the beginning of 2020, I was slowly being integrated within online platforms and technology to help students learn better. Then at the onset of 2020, the world plunged into the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools shifted to a ‘remote learning’ mode of education. During this pandemic, you and I became very crucial in ensuring the continuity of our students’ learning. You all embraced creative approaches to keep the students engaged. You leveraged interactive games, virtual simulations, & more to make me engaging. Gone are the days when you, my dear teachers, would limit your homework to worksheets, textbook questions, literature reviews, and reports. Today as we stand here in 2023, there is no limit to innovative and exciting homework formats! Well, that’s from me. See you in the classrooms!”

So teachers, we heard from homework about how it has evolved over time. As it said, many innovative ways have come up to reinforce our students' learning. So, are you ready to make your students fall in love with these new school homework ideas? Let’s begin with understanding some general tips to keep your students engaged with their school homework.

1. Make it Relevant and Meaningful 

Connect the school homework to their lives, interests, or current events to make it more meaningful and relatable. For example, if it’s Christmas time, you can ask your students to explore the themes of charity, storytelling, etc.

2. Give Them a Choice

Allow students to have some choice and autonomy in their assignments. Ask them to select the format (e.g. written format in the online medium, oral format in the offline medium) in which they want to submit their homework. When they feel a sense of ownership, they are more likely to be motivated and engaged. This is how you become a 21st-century teacher who uses differentiated learning. 

3. Celebrate Their Achievements

When children get appreciated for their achievements or good behaviour, it boosts their self-confidence. It encourages them to repeat those actions. This creates a positive learning environment. They are more likely to deliver results when appreciated for their actions. Hence, you can celebrate their achievements via small rewards, recognition or a display of their work in class.

Let's move to the next part of this blog, where we will share innovative school homework ideas that will turn mundane homework into engaging learning sessions!  After assigning any of these innovative homework ideas, you might never hear students’ innovative excuses to avoid homework! To give you a quick run-through, these ideas have been grouped under some common themes. Under each theme, you will learn how to use 3 ideas listed alongside relevant examples to comprehend it completely. Come along as we give the ratty old homework a MAKEOVER!

By infusing the joy of arts and crafts into school homework, you can tap into the innate curiosity and imagination of your students. And you never know, you might end up being the person that shaped the next Da Vinci! So, let’s get right into it:

1. Create Your Storybook

We all have heard stories. We have loved them and adored them. So why not give our students a chance to write one?  After the students submit their storybooks, you can review their stories and give personalised feedback. Such feedback addresses each student’s individual needs, strengths, and areas for improvement. This fosters a student-centric learning environment.  Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

2. Make Your Own Board Game

Do you remember the joy of gathering around a table, rolling a dice, and playing Snakes & Ladders? As kids and even as adults, many of us love spending our time playing board games.  Now, picture becoming the teacher that integrates school homework with a board game! Students can design board games and incorporate artistic elements into their theme, board layout, cards, etc. They can become architects of fun and learning!

Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

3. Construct a Birdhouse

Now, let’s tap into the sweet nostalgia of DIY(Do it Yourself) Projects. It could be something as simple as bedsheet forts or something a little more complex like a birdhouse 🙂 Won’t it be wonderful to watch your students feel a sense of accomplishment when they build their own handmade creations?  Let’s focus on the idea of constructing a birdhouse. By assigning students this homework, you’ll additionally be encouraging kinesthetic learning . 

Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely: 

Students love spending their time outdoors. Assigning school homework that requires them to be outside is a big plus! It will also help them apply what’s taught in class in real-life situations and promote active learning.

4. Participate in a Scavenger Hunt

Everyone loves a good old mystery! Give your students the chance to be modern-day ‘Sherlock Holmes’ as they set out on scavenger hunts.  Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

5. Maintain a Physical Activity Journal

In this digital age, where mobile and laptop screens often dominate, the majority of the students lead sedentary lifestyles. School homework which encourages physical activity, can be a game-changer! And what better than maintaining a physical activity journal that helps with it? Additionally, it will also promote the healthy habit of having an active lifestyle among students.  Getting students to journal can seem tough, but with the right motivation & incentives, it can be done. Additionally, this can also be a fun summer holiday homework, where students can keep track of their activities all summer! Encourage them to document their daily exercise triumphs. Push them to go beyond their own records! Ask them to explore science concepts- BMI, heart and pulse rates, diet, and nutrition! Once you do this, exercise will not just be about breaking a sweat anymore. It will also be something that incorporates learning! Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

6. Conduct a Survey at a Local Supermarket

This outdoor activity is an extremely fun option for school homework. Most kids love running through the different aisles in a supermarket. Introducing a concept like surveys here gives them a chance to do some ‘real-life’ work and also provides much-needed relief to their parents!  Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely: 

In the age of tech-savvy students, we often find parents complaining about the excess screen time with their kids. But what if you could harness the untapped potential in technology? Today's kids are already immersed in the digital world, so why not tap into their enthusiasm and merge it with learning?  Let’s look at some innovative methods of assigning digital activities for school homework:

7. Record a Virtual Job Application

This can be a fun homework assignment for students of all grades. One thing that we often forget as teachers is that school is not just about the present; it's also about the future. But often, we don’t discuss the future. This results in students being almost lost when it comes to their future career opportunities.  This is exactly where this school homework activity helps. Assigning school homework related to professions is a great chance for students to explore their career options. This, in turn, will help them be better prepared for life after school.  Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

8. Participate in Online Collaborative Projects

Online projects are a catalyst for active learning and student engagement. They can be a tool for you to create a dynamic learning environment that goes beyond traditional classroom boundaries. Additionally, these activities enhance digital literacy and empower students to leverage technology for learning. Working on online collaborative projects will also help students learn how to function together as a team. This is something that also prepares them for life beyond school, where it’s crucial to learn to work together.

9. Virtual Cultural Exchange

Cultural exchange events open doors to new horizons, offering students a unique chance to explore diverse cultures. By immersing them in new traditions, you develop acceptance, and empathy in your students. You give them a chance to have a broad and more inclusive perspective of the world. Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

Game-based school homework is one of the best ways to engage your students. Integrating learning within games creates a powerful synergy where education and entertainment merge seamlessly.  It’s time to tap into your students’ natural love for games and leverage it!

10. Use Minecraft as a Learning Tool

Ah, Minecraft! A name that brings back memories of endless adventures in pixelated landscapes. It’s a game that is a nostalgic reminder of our childhood.  But did you know that Minecraft can be more than just a game? It can be a powerful learning tool to level up the educational experience of your students.  💡Learn how to leverage Minecraft to make your classrooms more engaging! Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

11. Encourage Role-Playing Games

Lights, camera, action! Role-playing games(RPGs) let students step into the shoes of a character and bring lessons to life. Even though RPGs are not typically classified as games, their unique blend of learning and fun makes them ideal for educational purposes.  You can assign students to act out roleplays based on a historical event, scientific concept or work of literature. They can develop characters, write dialogues, and present this to the class. Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

12. Online Challenges

You can introduce online challenges like coding of varying difficulties for different grade levels. Platforms like Scratch or Code.org can be helpful for this purpose. Coding challenges offer hands-on experience to students. It allows them to practice coding concepts and algorithms in a practical and engaging manner.  Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

In today's competitive world, students who embrace innovative thinking and an entrepreneurial mindset stand out. As a teacher, you can nurture these qualities in your students via thought-provoking school homework. Such assignments can ignite students' passion for problem-solving, creative thinking, and strategic planning. Let’s look at some of the ideas below.

13. Pitch Your Business Idea

Have you watched shows like Shark Tank or Billion Dollar Buyer? Have you been completely captivated by the business pitches on these shows? Now, imagine doing the same for your students— unleashing their entrepreneurial spirit. It’s time to bring the hustle of the business world into your classrooms! Encourage students to develop a business idea and create a persuasive pitch. They should research their target market, competitors, and unique selling points. In fact, students can present their pitch using multimedia tools, such as slides or videos, highlighting the problem they're solving and the value their business brings. Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

14. Design a Mobile App

Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives. Think about the countless hours that you spend on your smartphone, exploring different apps that make your life easier. This is a practice growing like fire amongst kids as well and is cause for serious concern! What if they spend time on their phone and learn at the same time? This homework assignment encourages students to apply their creativity and technical skills to develop a concept for a mobile application. Additionally, you can also assign this as a holiday homework assignment and let students go wild with learning during summer! Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

*Technologies like designing mobile applications can be too complex for the primary school. Hence, we focus on this idea only for middle and high school students.

15. Set up a Stall at the School Fair

This homework acts as an Introduction to Business 101 class for students of all grade levels. Students get to decide what stall to put up, then work on the logistics and finally manage the stall and finances on D-Day. This will teach students real-world skills and give them a feeling of ownership. Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely: 

Grade-Specific Tips to follow while Preparing School Homework ‍

1. primary school students ‍.

• Keep it Interactive and Hands-on Younger children thrive on tactile and interactive experiences. Incorporate more of arts and crafts, storytelling, etc., to make homework enjoyable for them.
• Use Visuals Vibrant colours will capture their attention and make tasks visually appealing.
• Keep it Short Primary school students have limited attention spans. Give them small tasks that they can accomplish in a limited timeframe. ‍

2. Middle School students ‍

• Offer More Choices Middle schoolers are often teenagers already on the precipice of changes beyond their control. They will appreciate having some control over their learning. Allow them to choose topics or formats that align with their interests.
• Incorporate Technology Middle school students are often technologically savvy. Utilise online resources, interactive platforms, and digital tools to make homework more engaging and relevant to their interests.
• Encourage Independent Research Foster their curiosity by assigning research-based projects. Encourage them to explore various sources and present their findings in creative ways. ‍

3. High School Students ‍

• Encourage Critical Thinking and Analysis High schoolers are capable of higher-order thinking skills. Assign tasks that require critical thinking, problem-solving and analytical thinking.
• Encourage Self-expression Offer creative assignments that allow them to express their thoughts, opinions and ideas. Remember that they are young adults finding their voice in a loud world. Encourage them to write essays, create multimedia presentations, or engage in spirited debates.
• Push for Practical Application Assign tasks that connect to real-world situations, allowing them to see the relevance and importance of their learning. ‍

How to Improve Your Homework and Other Teaching Strategies?

Do you want to learn about more strategies to improve school homework? What if you could upskill and improve all your teaching strategies- classroom management, assessment, and lesson planning, among many others? Book a call with a mentor to get dedicated teacher counselling on upskilling and improving your teaching strategies.

In a world where school homework is generally met with students’ whining, you can use these approaches to turn it into a gateway for innovation! By infusing ideas such as game-based learning, digital activities, and arts and crafts, you can help students engage with school homework meaningfully. This will foster a lifelong love for learning among your students, ultimately helping them succeed in and beyond the classroom. Want a short compilation of all the amazing school homework ideas? Click the button below

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• School Education /

11 Ideas for Creative Holiday Homework for Class 4 Students

• Updated on  
• Apr 18, 2024

Children studying in class 4 have a mind that needs to be nurtured. Holiday homework is always aimed at learning goals that students reach just in the lessons. There are a lot of valuable skills such as time management, confidence, creativity, strategizing, etc that students pick up along the way as they complete their holiday homework. This blog is packed with 11 ideas for creative holiday homework for class 4 that have been categorized as crafts and art homework, games and activities homework, etc. Teachers can use these ideas to shape young minds and develop them. To know more, keep reading this blog! 

Table of Contents

• 1.1 1. Make a Board Game 
• 1.2 2. Prepare a Dish from a Recipe Book 
• 1.3 3. Create a Birdhouse 
• 1.4 4. Transform a Fictional Book Character into a Hand Puppet 
• 2.1 5. Making a School Replica in Minecraft 
• 2.2 6. Play Zoo Tycoon or Rollercoaster Tycoon 
• 3.1 7. Walking Quest 
• 3.2 8. Rope Skipping 
• 3.3 9. Obstacle Quiz 
• 4.1 10. Create a Picture Album 
• 4.2 11. Describe it in 5 minute Video 

Here are 10 Fun Things You Can Do While Staying at Home

Art and Craft Creative Holiday Homework for Class 4 Students 

We have compiled a list of arts and crafts creative holiday homework for Class 4 students in this section. Let us look at them now. 

1. Make a Board Game 

This is one of the most creative ideas. Creating a board game with students’ own rules is a great way to allow them to be inventive and imaginative. 

2. Prepare a Dish from a Recipe Book 

There are many skills like reading, chemistry, math, etc that are covered in cooking. This is a great way to allow them to develop all this along with proper measurement and precision. 

3. Create a Birdhouse 

In this activity, students will have to create a blueprint of the birdhouse, measure all the sides, properly construct it, and then decorate it. This will add to their creativity and craft side. 

4. Transform a Fictional Book Character into a Hand Puppet 

Fictional stories become so much more fun when we can bring those characters to life. In this activity, students will explore their imagination to create puppets of their favourite fictional book characters. 

Also Read: Benefits of Clay Art for Children  

Games and Activities as Creative Holiday Homework for Class 4 Students

There are plenty of games and activities that can be assigned in the form of homework that will help develop young minds. Let us look at a few interesting games and activities as creative holiday homework for Class 4 students. 

5. Making a School Replica in Minecraft 

Minecraft is a computer game that replicates building blocks. Students can be asked to develop a replica of their own school in the said game. 

6. Play Zoo Tycoon or Rollercoaster Tycoon 

In these two games, students have to build a zoo or a theme park. And along with that, they have to solve problems all the time. They have to gather money to keep building and make the park profitable. This game teaches students how to handle money and how to solve problems. And it’s fun at the same time! 

Also Read: 5 Best Social-Emotional Learning Activities  

Physical Homework Activities as Creative Holiday Homework for Class 4 

Physical activities can also be assigned as creative holiday homework for Class 4 students. These will allow them to develop their fitness skills. Let us look at some of these activities now. 

7. Walking Quest 

In this activity, students have to go on a walking tour and get a paper with pictures on it. They have to find the points in pictures on their way and put them in the right order. This is a fun activity and will help develop their attention while at the same time making sure that students get their daily walk done. 

8. Rope Skipping 

Students can be asked to create a video of them skipping rope to attain a particular level of jumps. This is a perfect activity to promote agility and mindfulness in students. 

9. Obstacle Quiz 

In this activity, students must create a quiz from their lesson materials. This allows them to work with the lesson material and, hence, helps them remember it better. Apart from that, they have to make a game out of it. This will transform a normal quiz into a quiz with challenges. 

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Digital or Computer Holiday Homework for Class 4 Students 

These activities will not only allow the students to complete their homework, but at the same time, they enhance their computer learning. 

10. Create a Picture Album 

You can ask students to create a photo album of their vacation days along with sentences describing the pictures. This will allow them to use computer software to create the same. 

11. Describe it in 5 minute Video 

Students can 5-minute asked to describe any one of their interesting days in a video. This will allow the students to develop great speaking skills along with developing confidence. 

Ans: You can make holiday homework creative by giving students different activities like arts and crafts, quizzes, etc as homework. 

Ans: You can plan your holiday homework by creating a schedule giving equal importance to each aspect of your day. 

Ans: If you plan on completing your holiday homework in 2 days, then create a study plan for those two days dividing it across various subjects that you will have to cover in your holiday homework. 

Explore interesting ideas for school children here : 

To refer to interesting ideas related to childrens’ school education activities, follow Leverage Edu now!! 

Deepansh Gautam

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