Writing assignments are, ideally, relatively short and very focused. Teachers should generally avoid setting large, vague essay titles as homework. Pick topics and styles that address a particular issue. For example, if you have recently covered giving advice, ask students to write an answer to a problem page question. If you are reviewing past tenses, ask students to write a news report on a real or imaginary issue, specifying how many tenses students should use. Set word limits and be precise about exactly what you want students to do. When correcting assignments, circle a few of the major errors in each assignment and ask students to do the first set of corrections themselves.
Writing exercises can be incorporated into games. Because of the need to keep games fast paced and stimulating, it is usually best to use exercises that concentrate on very specific spelling, punctuation or grammar topics and only require a little writing. If you have a basic board game prepared--such as a snakes and ladders game with "question" squares--create question cards that require adding prepositions, punctuation, or the correct form and spelling of a verb. Include a few cards that require the student to write an entire sentence, such as merging two short sentences into one. Putting the answers on the back of the cards allows groups to continue with the game without the need for feedback on each answer, although you should move around the groups helping as necessary.
Asking groups of four to five students to complete writing exercises in class allows them to learn from each other and pick up their own mistakes. Advanced students can complete short written pieces within 10 to 15 minutes. An example of a suitable exercise is to ask each member of a group to note his star sign on a piece of paper. The group can and pass this information onto the next group . Each group writes horoscopes for the signs they receive, before passing the paper back to the previous group for review. Move between the groups correcting, helping and prompting during the exercise.
Activities that involve the entire class let the teacher address technical writing issues. The whiteboard is the basic prop for most such activities. One simple writing exercise is to write the first line of a narrative or descriptive paragraph and ask students to take turns adding a single sentence. Circle or underline all the major spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors or select a few sentences that need reconstruction. Elicit suggestions from the entire class on how to correct or improve sentences.