creative english assignments for high school

22 Creative English Activities For Students in High School

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Beyond textbooks: Fuel student passion with innovative and joyful English activities.

Creative English Activities For Students: Tired of textbooks leaving your students snoring? Ditch the dull and ignite a fire of English learning with these creative activities! From rewriting classic stories to creating comic strips, these ideas will have your students laughing, engaged, and mastering the language  in no time. So, grab your imagination and get ready to  transform your classroom into a language playground!

Let’s see the first Ten Creative English Activities For Students:

Table of Contents

#1 Creative English Activity for Students – Hangman

Enhance vocabulary and spelling skills by guessing words.

• Provide clues for players to guess letters.
• Encourage collaboration and strategic thinking.

Conduct surveys to gather and analyze data on various topics. Surveys  are a good activity to use with advanced students or with larger groups of learners. Students can use  surveys  to ask questions in English

• Design survey questions.
• Collect, analyze, and present survey results.

#3 Creative English Activity for Students –  Alphabet Relay

Reinforce alphabet recognition and teamwork skills.

• Divide students into teams.
• Each team races to recite the alphabet in order.

#4 Board Race

Foster quick thinking and knowledge recall.

• Divide the board into sections with different topics.
• Students race to answer questions or complete tasks.

#5 Categories

Enhance vocabulary and quick thinking skills.

• Choose a category (e.g., animals, countries, foods).
• Students take turns naming items within the category.

#6  Creative English Activity for Students –  Creative Writing

Spark imagination and storytelling skills.

• Provide prompts or story starters.
• Encourage students to write creatively and share their stories.

 Develop critical thinking and argumentation skills.

• Assign topics and teams for debates.
• Research, prepare arguments, and engage in structured debates.

#8  Creative English Activity for Students –  Role-playing

Encourage empathy and communication skills.

• Assign roles or scenarios for students to act out.
• Promote improvisation and creative problem-solving.

#9 Literary Magazine Publication

Collaborate to produce a literary magazine featuring original poetry, short stories, and artwork from students, showcasing creativity and fostering a sense of community.

• Solicit submissions, curate content, and design layouts for publication.

#10  Shakespearean Parody Plays

Rewrite scenes from Shakespearean plays with a modern twist, incorporating contemporary language and settings, fostering creativity and understanding of classic literature.

• Adapt and perform scenes in a comedic or dramatic manner.

More Creative English Activities For Students in High School

#11 Creative English Activity for Students – Mystery Mission

Solve hidden riddles around the classroom for teamwork and a hidden treasure.

• Hide riddles leading to a prize chest.
• Students solve the riddles in teams to find the next clue.

#12 Songwriting Showdown

Craft historical figure ballads in groups to express understanding musically.

• Research assigned figures and write catchy lyrics with historical details.
• Collaborate on melodies and choruses, then perform for the class.

#13 Creative English Activity for Students – News Flash!

Collaboratively produce a school newspaper to develop writing, communication, and design skills.

• Assign roles like reporters, editors, and designers.
• Cover school events, conduct interviews, and design the layout.

#14  Comic Capers

Create comic strips featuring favorite literary characters using imagination and humor.

• Use blank templates for students to draw characters in funny situations.
• Include dialogue bubbles and sound effects, then display finished strips.

#15 Movie Magic

Reenact book scenes as short films in groups to deepen comprehension and collaboration.

Choose a book and divide scenes for filming.

Write simple scripts, gather props, and film creatively using cameras or phones.

#16 Creative English Activity for Students – Time Travel Trek

Write h istorical figure correspondence letters to promote research and empathy.

• Research two contrasting figures and write letters from their perspectives.
• Respond with a letter from the other figure’s viewpoint.

#17  Debate Club Duel

Engage in structured debates on current issues to hone critical thinking skills.

• Research a controversial topic, form teams for opposing sides, and debate respectfully using evidence.

#18 Board Game Bonanza

Design novel-based board games in teams to analyze and recreate narratives.

• Choose a novel, brainstorm elements, and design the board, rules, and mechanics.
• Playtest and provide feedback on each other’s creations.

#19 Creative English Activity for Students – Mad Libs Mania

Fill story blanks with random words to reinforce grammar and have creative writing fun.

• Use Mad Libs templates with blank spaces for different parts of speech.
• Students provide random words without knowing the context, then read the completed stories aloud.

#20  Recipe Remix

Reimagine traditional recipes as poems to practice creative and descriptive language.

• Choose a recipe and guide students to use vivid descriptions for ingredients, textures, and cooking techniques.
• Incorporate figurative language for a poetic effect.

#21  Character Dossiers

Create detailed character profiles for literary figures, delving into their motivations, traits, and development throughout a story:

Analyze character arcs and relationships through written profiles and group discussions.

#22 Creative English Activity for Students –  Literary Tea Parties

Host themed literary tea parties where students dress up as characters from books, engage in discussions about literature, and enjoy tea and snacks, promoting socialization and appreciation for literature:

• Plan themed decorations, activities, and discussion topics related to chosen books or authors.

Creative English Activities for Adults

Expand your understanding of language and explore new ways to express yourself through these engaging activities. From lively discussions to creative expression, these options cater to different interests and skill levels.

Dive into book discussion groups. Host discussions about books, short stories, or thought-provoking articles.

• Share insights and interpretations.
• Debate different perspectives.

Join writing workshops. Explore writing prompts and exercises to improve your writing skills and unleash your creativity.

• Experiment with different writing styles.
• Give and receive constructive feedback.

Enjoy poetry readings. Share and discuss favorite poems or even your own writing with fellow enthusiasts.

• Analyze poetic techniques and devices.
• Perform and interpret poems expressively.

Connect through language exchange programs. Pair up with other students or international learners to practice speaking and writing in English together.

• Improve English fluency.
• Learn about different cultures.

English Activities for Kids

Make learning English fun and engaging for young children with these interactive activities! Whether it’s searching for hidden treasures or acting out stories, these activities encourage exploration, creativity, and language development while fostering a love for learning.

Embark on an alphabet scavenger hunt! Children search for objects in their environment that begin with each letter of the alphabet, aiding letter recognition and vocabulary development.

Try story sequencing with picture cards! Children arrange picture cards representing a story in the correct order, boosting comprehension and encouraging them to retell the story in their own words.

Play rhyming games! Kids participate in word games or sing familiar nursery rhymes, developing their phonemic awareness (the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words).

Let’s put on puppet shows! Children design their own puppets and act out short plays or stories. This sparks their imagination, builds confidence, and promotes oral language skills.

Creative English Activities For Students – FAQ

How to teach english to young learners: 4 fun methods to try.

• Turn Lessons into Songs. Every English learner, both native and not, is familiar with, at the very least, one classic jingle. …
• Encourage Mnemonic Devices to Memorize Grammar Rules. …
• Include Games. …
• Review Vocabulary Through Role Playing.

How can I make my English class more fun?

What is the game that helps you learn english, what activity is useful for learning english, how do you engage students in an english lesson, how do you gamify an english lesson.

• The story, plot, setting, characters, and role-play. The first step to gamifying your classroom is deciding on the topic or theme. …
• Goals, badges, progress bars and leaderboards. …
• Competition, cooperation and challenges. …
• Rewards, points and second chances. …
• Choice. …

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50 Creative Writing Prompts for Secondary ELA: Teaching Creative Writing in Middle and High School

Creative writing prompts are a great way to get students’ imaginations flowing and to help them develop their writing skills. Having fun and engaging prompts is a key element in teaching creative writing. These prompts can take many forms, from simple prompts that ask students to describe a character or setting, to more complex prompts that challenge students to explore a particular theme or idea.

You can use these prompts in your classroom in a number of ways. They can be used for micro writing assignments; this would be perfect for a bell ringer. They can also be used for collaborative writing, or even for a complete writing assignment.

Many of these creative writing prompts will work perfectly with my Narrative Writing Unit , which is tailored to students in grades 7-10!

Here are 50 creative writing prompts for secondary ELA:

• Write a short story about a character who discovers a hidden room in their house.
• Write a poem about the changing of the seasons.
• Write a journal entry from the perspective of a tree.
• Write a story about a character who travels to a faraway land.
• Write a poem about a particular emotion (e.g. love, anger, fear)
• Write a diary entry from the perspective of a character who is stuck in a time loop.
• Write a story about a character who discovers a secret about their family.
• Write a poem about the beauty of nature.
• Write a story about a character who has a magical ability.

• Write a story about a character who is forced to confront their greatest fear.
• Write a poem about friendship.
• Write a story about a character who finds a mysterious object.
• Write a diary entry from the perspective of a character who is lost in a forest.
• Write a story about a character who has to make a difficult decision.
• Write a poem about the ocean.
• Write a story about a character who discovers a hidden talent.
• Write a diary entry from the perspective of a character who is living in a post-apocalyptic world.
• Write a story about a character who is transported to another dimension.
• Write a poem about the power of words.
• Write a story about a character who has to solve a mystery.
• Write a diary entry from the perspective of a character who is stuck in a dream.
• Write a story about a character who has to confront their inner demons.
• Write a poem about the passage of time.
• Write a story about a character who has to make a difficult choice between two paths.
• Write a diary entry from the perspective of a character who is living in a future society.
• Write a story about a character who has to overcome a great obstacle.
• Write a poem about your favorite season.
• Write a story about a character who must choose between two paths.
• Write a poem about a significant moment in your life.
• Write a story about a character who is dealing with a major change.
• Write a poem about your hometown.
• Write a story about a character who is trying to overcome a fear.

• Write a poem about your favorite memory.
• Write a story about a character who is trying to solve a mystery.
• Write a poem about your favorite person.
• Write a poem about a dream you had.
• Write a story about a character who has to face their worst nightmare.
• Write a poem about your favorite time of day.
• Write a story about a character who has to make a choice between two people they love.
• Write a poem about your favorite hobby.
• Write a story about a character who discovers a secret about themselves.
• Write a poem about your favorite food.
• Write a story about a character who must save someone they care about.
• Write a story about a character who must travel to a new and unfamiliar place.
• Write a story about a character who must confront their past.

Looking for Resources for Teaching Creative Writing?

Check out my Narrative Writing Unit ! This unit includes everything you need to teach creative writing in your classroom. With materials for both a personal and a fictional narrative, this ELA instructional unit helps you guide your students through the entire writing process!

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20 Fun English Activities for High School

• High School

1. Vocabulary Charades: Divide the class into two teams and have them act out vocabulary words for their teammates to guess. This helps students learn new words in an engaging and entertaining way.

2. Chain Storytelling: Have each student contribute a sentence or two to a collaborative story. This encourages creativity, teamwork, and helps improve writing skills.

3. Debate Club: Organize debates on various topics, allowing students to practice their speaking, listening, and critical thinking skills.

4. Poetry Slam: Host a poetry slam event where students can showcase their original poems or read their favorite pieces by established poets.

5. Book Club: Start a book club where students can discuss novels, short stories, or plays and share their thoughts and insights with fellow classmates.

6. Skits and Role-plays: Encourage students to write and perform short skits or role-plays, giving them an opportunity to improve their speaking and acting abilities.

7. Collaborative Dictionary: Have students work together to create a class dictionary of new or challenging words they have encountered in their reading.

8. Write Your Own Satire: Have students write satirical articles on current events or popular culture, helping them develop humor and critical thinking skills.

9. Movie Comparison: Watch film adaptations of books or plays and compare the differences between the two mediums.

10. Creative Writing Prompts: Provide students with daily creative writing prompts to help them develop their imagination and writing skills.

11. News Broadcasts: Assign groups of students different news topics and have them create mock news broadcasts for the class to watch.

12. Speech Tournament: Organize a speech tournament where students present on assigned topics, developing their public speaking abilities.

13. Literary Scavenger Hunt: Create a scavenger hunt using literary devices, themes, or motifs found within assigned readings as clues for the class to solve together.

14. Spelling Bee: Host a class spelling bee, allowing students to review and expand their vocabulary.

15. Group Presentations: Assign groups of students to research and present on various topics related to English language arts, such as famous authors, literary periods, or writing techniques.

16. Journal Exchange : Have students keep a journal for a week and then swap with classmates to read each other’s entries and give constructive feedback.

17. Writing Contests: Organize writing contests for short stories, essays, or poems and have students critique and vote for their favorites.

18. Diorama Projects: Have students create dioramas based on scenes from books or plays, incorporating visual arts into the English curriculum.

19. Grammar Jeopardy: Play a game of Grammar Jeopardy, quizzing students on parts of speech, punctuation, and sentence structure.

20. Themed Dress-Up Days: Celebrate literature by dressing up as favorite characters or authors, fostering enthusiasm and school spirit for English class.

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12 Fun ESL Speaking Activities for Teens or Adults

Every language teacher knows that speaking is a core skill to teach and practice, but sometimes it can be challenging coming up with creative or engaging ESL speaking activities and games. You can use them to improve the community feeling inside the classroom , too.

Let’s dive into nine quick, easy, and fun ESL speaking activities for teenagers and adults you can integrate into your lessons or use in speaking clubs.

They are designed to be high-quality and enjoyable – and mostly suitable for online lessons, too.

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They don’t need much preparation, but will get your students talking and help them to hone their conversational skills without even thinking about it.

1. Interview Pop

2. word racing, 3. guess who or what i am, 4. would you rather…, 5. how-to presentation, 6. living memory, 7. video talk, 8. talk about your weekend, 9. timed discussion, 10. debating club, 11. taboo words, 12. story chain.

Student level:  Pre-Intermediate to Advanced Type of Lesson:  Group or Individual

This is a great one for students to have fun and be creative. Put students in pairs, or you could also carry this one out in a one-one lesson.

Students choose one person they want to interview. It can be anybody of their choice, and the person doesn’t necessarily have to be alive still.

I tell students to choose someone they know a lot about or who they admire because then they’ll have more material to talk about when the speaking part of the activity comes around.

Give each student a list of ten to fifteen verbs. (Can be the same list or different) See the example:

Each student has to choose five verbs from their list.

They make a different question using one of their five verbs in each question; these questions are made for the person they want to interview.

Each question will have a different verb.

For example, let’s say a student chooses Barack Obama. They have to make five interview questions for Barack Obama, each question using a different verb from their list.

Here are some examples:

• How did you decide you want to become president?
• Did you want to continue being president after your term finished?
• What did you love about being the president?
• What would you change about the USA?
• What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment as president?

While I usually just come up with the verbs myself, you can also find  some verb lists  online, along with a list of people for your students to choose from.

While the students are making their questions, go through the class and help students fix the grammatical mistakes.

This is a great activity if you are practicing  question formation  as a grammar topic with your students.

The students then give their partner the questions that they wrote and then assume the role of the person they wanted to interview, while their partner asks them the questions they just made.

So this means that each student answers the questions from the perspective of the person they wanted to interview, as their partner asks them the questions.

Go around and listen for mistakes.

You could also then have students report to the class the person their partner chose and how they responded to the questions.

Student level:  Pre-Intermediate to Advanced Type of Lesson:  Group

A very interactive and high-energy ESL speaking activity. Many students get so into it and excited that they won’t even notice they are speaking in a foreign language and won’t even have time to think about making mistakes.

All you need to prepare for the game is to write down 15-20 vocabulary terms you want to practice with your students, each term is written on a different small slip of paper. Give a stack of these slips to each group.

You can also let the students write down the vocabulary (for example on the last topic they’ve learned) but then some words might be double and they also might not think of the words you want them to practice.

Divide your students into groups of three or four and explain the rules of the game.

One player from the first group starts. This student then has one minute to explain or define as many words written on their slips to their own group as they can, without saying the word they have on the card.

They want their group to guess as many words as possible in one minute.

Each time the members of the group guess a word, they put the card down, which gets them a point, and then they take a new card and repeat the same thing.

Once the minute is over, the next group takes their turn.

After the minute is up, each group counts their points and the group with the most points wins that round.

If you have time to play more rounds, after all, words are guessed, put them back in the basket and let them play again, although this time they can only use one word to explain the word on the card, for example, a synonym or a word they associate with the word on the card.

An example might be that if the word on the card is ‘handcuff’ then they say the word ‘police’ and the other students have to guess the word ‘handcuff’.

Students only get one guess. Once a student guesses, the student must move on to the next card, whether the word was guessed correctly or not.

In the last round, they act out or pantomime the words on their cards.

Here’s a list with even more fun ESL vocabulary games for adults and kids.

While there are many other good vocabulary-charades type games that can be done with both younger and older students, this one has been my favorite.

Student level:  Pre-Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate Type of Lesson:  Group

This is a very simple but effective activity with no preparation needed and can be played in two versions.

It’s usually more suitable for lower-level students but can also be used in intermediate or upper-intermediate students, especially for the other variation of the activity described below.

In version one, one student thinks of a person – it could be someone in the class or a famous person, someone that everyone is likely to know – and the rest of the class asks them yes or no questions about the person until they can guess who it is.

The student who guesses the person with the least amount of questions wins.

In version two, one student goes in front of the door, while the rest of the class decides on a person. Then the student comes back in and has to ask the class yes or no questions until they can guess who the person is.

Another variation of this game is to put students in groups and describe themselves from the perspective of an object, and the other students must guess what that object is in the quickest time possible.

Each student in the group writes down an object and then speaks from the perspective of that object as if they were actually that object.

For example, if one student chooses ‘handcuffs’ they would say something like:

• “The police put me around somebody’s wrists when they break the law.”
• “I have two round rings with chains connected them.”
• “I am on a person on their way to prison.”

Students shouldn’t do any gesturing or acting on this one because that will give it away. The student who is able to guess the most objects correctly wins.

The reason I like this one more is that the students have to get a little bit more creative about expressing their ideas and they also tend to have more fun with this one.

Student level:  Intermediate to Advanced Type of Lesson:  Group or Individual

This is a great way to practice ‘would’ in the conditional form.

There’s a lot of different ways you can organize this one. One of the easiest ways is to just come up with some of your own ideas (5-10 should be enough), type them out, and cut them up into cards.

Go around the class and have a student draw a card, read it aloud, and then call on another student to answer it.

The goal is to make the “Would you rather”  questions funny, crazy, interesting, or controversial. Think about what kind of questions you think would be fun to discuss if you were learning a foreign language.

Bookmark our list of 110 “would you rather” questions, and you will never run out of great questions to discuss.

Here are a few examples:

• Would you rather give up your mobile phone or your pet?
• Would you rather have $50,000 that is legal or $150,000 that is illegal?
• Would you rather be the funniest person in the room or the most intelligent?
• Would you rather have your first child when you are 19 years old or when you are 45?

As stated before, you can make up your own. If you are doing a specific topic for your lesson, then you can try to make them as closely related to the topic as possible.

For example, if the topic for your lesson is  Meet the World’s Oldest Ice Hockey Player , then you might want to prepare some ‘would you rather’ questions about age or about hockey:

• Would you rather stop aging at 17 or 35?
• Would you rather date someone ten years older or ten younger?
• Would you rather be a famous football player or a famous hockey player?

Give each group or pair of students the same card and have each of them state their opinion about the topic on the card.

You can give them a few minutes to take notes on their opinion and what they want to say before starting. Then students go around and say their opinion and support their argument.

This is one is sure to bring some good conversations and even laughs in your class.

You can also teach phrases on how to express opinions, such as:

• “In my opinion…”
• “I believe that…”
• “In my eyes…”
• “From my point of view…”

In addition to this, you could also assign students to make their own “Would you rather…” topics for the class or other groups. Make sure they keep them appropriate!

Help facilitate the conversations and ask follow-up questions while students are speaking.

This activity is great for a number of reasons: it’s simple to assign and explain, effective for students to develop speaking, and fun because it’s on a topic they’re interested in.

It’s also practical because they’re teaching the class how to do something or how something works.

Basically, all you need to do for ESL speaking activities like this one is have students choose some topic. It can be any appropriate topic according to their wishes.

Then they give a five-minute presentation on that How-to topic.

In order to get students cooperating together, you could also put them in pairs and have them decide on and organize the speech together.

Here are some of the ones my students have done before and they turned out to be great:

• How to cook [a food]
• How to play [a sport]
• How to travel cheap
• How to do a magic trick
• How to live healthily

There are some  great tips  you can share with your students on giving a presentation in a foreign language.

Have students prepare the speech at home or during the lesson, and then have them present their topic during the next lesson.

You could take notes on their speaking or pronunciation mistakes while they present and go over them after the presentation.

Student level:  Pre-Intermediate Type of Lesson:  Group

This is a game based on the classic board game “memory” designed for lower-level students.

Two students go out of the room (Student A and Student B). The rest of the class gets together in pairs.

If you have an uneven number of students, one group can be in three.

Each pair chooses a word according to the learning objective.

For example, if your students are learning about food, then in pairs they will mutually agree on a meal or a food they both like. Then the two students come back into the classroom and these two students play against each other to gain points.

To gain points, Student A starts off and asks any student in the class “What do you like eating?” and that student answers “I like eating…”, and then Student A asks another student what they like to eat.

If the second student likes the same thing, then Student A gets one point. Then Student B goes and tries to match the pairs based on the food they mutually chose together.

This is a fun game to practice vocabulary and simple phrases.

You can make the game more interactive if students make gestures and movement demonstrating the type of food. For example, they gesture peeling a banana if the food they chose is ‘banana’.

Other good questions are:

• What is your favorite subject?
• What do you like doing in your free time?
• What time is it?

Student level:  Pre-Intermediate to Advanced Type of Lesson:  Group or Individual

Find a YouTube video topic that you think would be interesting for your students. I would choose a relatively short video (two to five minutes), or something like a TedTalk.

Make some preview discussion questions about the topic presented in the video, go through them with students before watching, and then watch the video together.

You can then have some questions prepared based on the video content and some post-discussion activities while going through some of the important vocabulary terms from the video.

Students tend to love working with videos and there are so many good ones out there nowadays.

Using video is effective because it brings the outside world to your students, and they can generate some great discussions in class, inspiring students to speak their mind and share their opinions and ideas.

Browse our full archive of ESL resources and printables.

Student level:  Beginner to Intermediate Type of Lesson:  Group

This activity is a better choice if your students are happy talking but maybe are a bit nervous speaking in front of a class:

Split the class into pairs.

Students need to discuss their weekend with their partner.

Use only English!

You need to be observant with this type of activity. Keep an eye on each student’s talk time. 

If you are finding some students are much more talkative than their partners, maybe set a time limit for how long each student can talk for before switching. This ensures that everyone gets a fair chance to practise.

Information gap activities are great to practice conversation; get more ideas here.

This is another simple yet great activity for building confidence in speaking!

Give the student a topic card, for instance, “Talk about your favorite place.” or “What’s your favorite band or artist?”

The student has a certain amount of time to prepare some ideas for what they will say.

The student then has to talk about that topic for a chosen amount of time.

When starting out with this activity, make sure to give more time for preparation and less time for the presentation. 5 minutes of preparation time and 1 minute of the presentation should be plenty. 

With time, you can reduce the preparation time or increase the presentation time.

Prepare a list of controversial topics, and two opposing views about each topic.

Split your students into pairs or small groups (each with an even number of students). Split each groups into two parties. Assign a topic to each group: each party has to hold an opposite view.

Give them some time to prepare arguments for their standpoint. 5 to 10 Minutes should be enough.

Then let each group debate their topic in front of the class. One party starts voicing their first argument, then the other answers.

Each statement shouldn’t exceed 30 seconds – use a stopwatch with a countdown, so students know when they have to stop.

The debate is over after a set time – for example 5 minutes – or when the parties stated all their arguments.

After each debate, the whole class votes which party was more convincing and won the debate.

If it’s an individual lesson, you and the student play the opposite parties – no final vote then.

Make sure to prepare topics according to the fluency level of your students. The topics can be rather serious and controversial, or fun and weird.

Here are a couple of examples:

Current and serious topics:

• Classroom instruction vs. Homeschooling
• Self-driving cars: smart or dangerous
• Buy local vs. buy online
• Death sentence: yes or no
• iOS vs. Android

Fun and weird topics:

• Vanilla vs. chocolate ice-cream
• Get up early vs. go to bed late
• Have no kids vs. have 5 kids
• Travel to Mars vs. to the earth’s core
• Sommer vs. Winter

Student level:  Beginner to Intermediate Type of Lesson:  Group

Finally, and absolute classic activity. Split your students into groups, each with at least 3 three students.

Prepare a list of words. For each word, think about 3-5 words which can be used to describe the original word. These can be synonyms, adjectives or any kind of related terms.

• Weather – rain, cloud, sun, forecast, outside
• hungry – food, stomach, eat, restaurant, thirsty
• to run – fast, quick, walk, race, legs

Write the words on cards.

Now, one student has to take one card and explain the word to the other in their group. Here’s the catch: He must not use one of the words on the card (also, no parts or variations of the words.). He must not use gestures, facial expressions or voices. He has to circumscribe the word using other verbal expressions.

The rest of the group have to guess the word. Set a time for each round, like one minute. One group has to guess as many words as possible within that time; each guess is one point.

When the explaining student uses one of the taboo words (or other taboo means), he has to skip the current word and continue with the next card.

Count the points after each round. Then, the next group has its turn. The game is over, when each student in each group had their turn to explain words. Sum up the points; the group with the most wins.

Other possible game modes: Let the groups guess one word alternating, and set a 30 seconds time limit for each guess. Or let a student explain a word to the whole class, and who guesses it first, gets a point.

Student level:  Intermediate to Advanced Type of Lesson:  Group

This activity does not only help students develop their speaking and listening skills, it also fosters critical thinking skills, creativity, and imagination.

Here’s how it works:

• Divide the group into small teams of 3–4 people each.
• Give each team a starting sentence, such as “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away.”
• Set a time limit, such as 5 minutes.
• Each team must take turns adding one sentence to the story, building from the previous sentence.
• The team that completes the most coherent story within the time limit wins.
• To make it more challenging, you can also include a specific vocabulary theme for the story, such as “animals” or “travel”, or you can include a twist, such as “the story must be a horror story”.
• After the activity, teams present their story to the class.
• Encourage the class to ask questions about the story to the teams.

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6 thoughts on “12 fun esl speaking activities for teens or adults”.

Thank you so much! Some of the suggestions I have already used with my students, but I did get new tips too! will try them out.

Great ideas to get my hgh school students speaking. Thanks so much

Great… These activities are really interesting ones and are helping me a lot. Thank You So Much for Uploading….

Great activities! Greeting from Mexico.

Thank you! This is very clearly written with a lot of additional ideas. Useful! :)

Thanks so much for sharing. Lots of new ideas for me.

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Teach Creative Writing In High School With 10 Fun Activities

Creative writing is a meaningful aspect of literature that mandates you to utilize your expertise, ingenuity, and story to depict a critical message, emotion, or plot. It defies the traditional bounds of other forms of writing and is completely subjective to our preferences and experiences. In creative writing, it’s all about imaginativeness!

Using creative imagination and originality to convey feelings and concepts in a unique way is at the heart of creative writing. Simply stated, it’s about infusing your own ‘flair’ into your writing, moving beyond academic or other technical kinds of literature. 

In this post, we will explore the various activities which would be advantageous for a high schooler who wishes to indulge in creative writing!

What Happens When Creative Writing Is Put To Use?

Creative writing is any form of writing that deviates from traditional professional, investigative journalism, educational, or technological forms of literature. It is typically distinguished by emphasizing narrative craft, character development, literary tropes, or various poetic traditions.

Here are the few ways how high schoolers can benefit from creative writing –

1. Imagination

When you write creatively, you expand your imagination by creating new environments, scenarios, and characters. This way, you are also boosting and stretching your imagination, as well as “thinking out of the box.” This allows you to concentrate your energy on many other things and improve your ability to find fresh ideas and alternatives to problems you’re having. Whether you’re a researcher or a businessman, creative writing will increase your imagination and help you think more creatively, and push the boundaries.

2. Empathy and Communications skills

When you create characters, you’ll be constructing emotions, personalities, behaviors, and world views that are distinct from your own. Writers must conceive personalities, emotions, places, and walks of life outside of their own lives while creating universes with fictional characters and settings.

This can give children a good dose of empathy and understanding for those who aren’t like them, who don’t live where they do or go through the same things they do daily. Writers are better equipped to communicate when they have a greater understanding of other points of view. They can come up with creative ways to explain and debate subjects from multiple perspectives. This ability is crucial in both professional and personal situations. 

3. Clarification of Thoughts 

Creating structures in creative writing allows you to organize your impressions and emotions into a logical procedure. You may express both your thoughts and your sentiments through creative writing. For example, if you’re a marketing executive, you could create a short tale in which your clientele reads your promotional emails. You can guess what they’re up to, where they’re seated, what’s around them, and so on.

This enables you to focus on the language and strategies you employ. Alternatively, if you’re a technical writer writing on a new desktop platform, you could create a creative scenario in which a user encounters a problem. 

4. Broadens Vocabulary and gets a better understanding of reading and writing

You’ll learn a larger vocabulary and a better understanding of the mechanics of reading and writing as you begin to practice writing exercises regularly. Even if you’re writing a budget report, you’ll know when rigid grammar standards work and when they don’t, and you’ll know what will make your writing flow better for your readers. Exploring different ways of expressing yourself when writing creatively allows you to extend your vocabulary.

You’ll notice a change in your use and range of language as you improve your writing over time, which will be useful in any professional route and social scenario. You’ll be able to bend and break the rules when you need to, to utilize your voice and make what you’re writing engaging without coming off as an amateur, dull, or inauthentic once you’ve grasped the fundamentals of writing professionally and creatively.

5. Building Self-Belief 

When you write creatively, you’re actively involved in an activity that allows you to fully develop your voice and point of view without being constrained. You have a better chance to investigate and express your feelings about various issues, opinions, ideas, and characters. And you’ll feel more at ease and secure stating your thoughts and perspectives in other things you write as a result of this.

Writers who don’t write creatively may be concerned about appearing authoritative or trustworthy. They accidentally lose their voice and sound like drones spouting statistics by omitting to include their perspective on the topics they’re writing about. As a result, they miss out on using their distinct voice and presenting themselves as an expert with real-world expertise.

Creative Writing Activities That Will Strengthen Your Writing Skills  

Short spurts of spontaneous writing make up creative writing activities. These writing exercises push a writer to tackle a familiar topic in a new way, ranging from one line to a lengthy tale. Short, spontaneous projects are common in creative writing programs, but any writer should make them a regular practice to extend their abilities and learn new tactics to approach a series of stories.

These activities must be performed for ten minutes at a time, several times a week – by creative writers. They’re designed to help you improve your writing abilities, generate fresh story ideas, and become a better writer.

1. Free Writing

Writing is the first and foremost activity that is going to give your creative writing a boost. Start with a blank page and let your stream of thoughts and emotions flow. Then simply begin writing. Don’t pause to think or alter what you’re expressing. This is known as “free writing.” This writing activity is referred to as “morning pages” by Julia Cameron, the author of ‘The Artist’s Way.’ She recommends that authors do this every day when they first wake up. Stream of consciousness writing can provide some intriguing concepts.

Allow your intellect to take the lead as your fingers type. Or write a letter to your younger self.  Consider a topic you’d like to discuss, such as a noteworthy event, and write it down. Give guidance or convey a message that you wish you had heard as a youngster or a young adult.

2. Modify a Storyline – Read

Most of us like to read. However, just reading won’t really help augment your creative writing skills. While reading bestows insight into the deeper meanings of numerous things, you need a more concrete approach to better your aptitude. To do this, you can modify any storyline. Take an episode from a chapter, if you’re feeling brave—from one of your favorite books and recreate it. Write it from the perspective of a different character. Swap out the main character in this exercise to examine how the story may be conveyed differently.

Take Percy Jackson’s thrilling conclusion, for instance, and rework it with Annabeth as the primary character. Another way to approach this creative activity is to keep the primary character but switch viewpoints. Rewrite a scene in the third person if the writer has told a story in the first person. 

3. Add Creative Writing Prompts or Create Flash Fiction

Use writing prompts, often known as narrative starters, to produce writing ideas. A writing prompt is a sentence or short excerpt that a writer uses to start composing a story on the spot. You can look up writing prompts online, pick a sentence out of a magazine at random, or use a brilliant line from a well-known work as the start of your short scene.

Another thing you can do to accentuate your writing is to create flash fiction. Sit down at your desktop or pick up a pen and paper and write a 500-word story on the spur of the moment. This isn’t the same as just writing whatever comes to mind. With no fixed guidelines, free writing generates a stream of consciousness. All of the basic components of a story arc, such as plot, conflict, and character development, are required in flash fiction, albeit in a shortened form.

4. Create a Fictitious Advertisement

Pick a random word from a nearby book or newspaper and create a fictitious commercial for it. Write one ad in a formal, abbreviated newspaper classified format to require you to pay special attention to your word choice to sell the item. Then write one for an online marketplace that allows for longer, more casual text, such as Craigslist. Describe the item and persuade the reader to purchase it in each one.

5. Engage in Conversations 

Engaging in conversations with your friends/family – or simply communicating can help brush up your writing skills. Talk to your loved ones about their hobbies, career, views on societal issues – any suitable topic for that matter. This helps implement others’ points of view and expands your mental ability. Another useful thing that you can do is – make another person’s tale and create it by implementing your own thoughts. Then talk about it in an impeccable manner. Also, talk in complete sentences. This goes to show your Linguistic intelligence proficiency – and helps augment your creative writing skills.

6. Create Your Own Website/Blog

Start your search for blogging. There are a million writing suggestions out there, but they all boil down to the same thing: write. Blogging is excellent writing practice because it gives you a place to write regularly.

To keep your fingers and mind nimble, write a post every day. Like most bloggers, you’ll want to restrict your subject—perhaps you’ll focus on parenting or start a how-to site where you can tell stories from your point of view.

7. Participate in Debates/Extempores  

Participating in debates, extempores – anchoring for your school function, giving a speech, all of these activities help boost your creative spirit. These group events make you understand what other people are envisioning, which in turn helps you generate new ideas, approaches, and methods. Not only do they improve your articulation and research skills, but they also develop critical thinking and emotional control abilities. All of these promote a better creative writing aptitude.

8. Start a YouTube Channel or Podcast 

Starting a YouTube channel or podcast will definitely level up your creative game. YouTube is a never-ending platform, covering myriads of topics. Choose a particular niche for your channel.

Then do your topic research, create content, manage SEO, approach brands, talk to clients and influencers – do all the good stuff. Communicating with other influencers and creating content will take your creative writing skills to another level. Starting a podcast will have a similar impact. 

9. Love them? Say it with your words!

We have many festivals, occasions, birthdays, parties, anniversaries and whatnot! You can employ these special days and boost your creative writing skills. You can make a token of love for them – writing about your feelings. You can also make gift cards, birthday cards, dinner menus, and so on. So let’s say, it’s your mother’s birthday, you can write her a token of love, elucidating your feelings and letting her know what all she’s done for you and that you’re grateful. Do this for all your near and dear ones. This not only spreads positivity and love but helps you develop your creative aptitude.

10. The What-if Game

The What-If game is an incredible way to upgrade your creative abilities. You can play this game with your friends, cousins, relatives, or solo. Here, you need to find links to many interesting hypothetical questions. For instance, what if the sun doesn’t rise for a week? What if there’s no oxygen for one minute? Play it with your peeps, or ask these questions to yourself. It can be anything random but concrete. If you don’t know the answers to the questions, look them up on Google. This way, you’re training your mind to learn new concepts all the while enhancing your visualization process. 

We can conclude that creative writing encourages students to think creatively, use their imaginations, imply alternatives, expand their thinking processes, and improve their problem-solving skills. It also allows the child to express themselves and grow their voice. Besides, it enhances reasoning abilities. The principle behind the creative writing concept is that everyone can gain the qualities that are needed to become a successful writer or, rather become good at writing. Creative writing is all about using language in new and innovative ways.

Sananda Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of TheHighSchooler, is dedicated to enhancing operations and growth. With degrees in Literature and Asian Studies from Presidency University, Kolkata, she leverages her educational and innovative background to shape TheHighSchooler into a pivotal resource hub. Providing valuable insights, practical activities, and guidance on school life, graduation, scholarships, and more, Sananda’s leadership enriches the journey of high school students.

Explore a plethora of invaluable resources and insights tailored for high schoolers at TheHighSchooler, under the guidance of Sananda Bhattacharya’s expertise. You can follow her on Linkedin

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