For young ESL students, brainstorming as a class can generate ideas and help students formulate the structure of the essay. Imagine, for example, the class took a trip to the zoo, and the assignment is to write a five-paragraph expository essay about the experience. The brainstorming session can focus on creating a cluster graphic organizer, with a circle in the middle for the main idea -- a trip to the zoo -- and clusters of circles all around for subcategories about the trip. In this case, these subcategories might relate to the various animals encountered along with details for each one.
Once the class generates enough ideas, students can organize them into outline form to prepare for writing. The teacher can group the students into teams and they might work together on their outlines. Students can come up with a title for the essay that reflects the main idea, like "My Trip to the Zoo." The first paragraph will provide an introduction, including a thesis statement, like "I really enjoyed my trip to the zoo." Other introductory sentences might explain why the trip was enjoyable and preview the rest of the essay by mentioning animals that will be discussed. The first sentence should be an attention-grabbing opener, like "I could not believe how many different animals were at the zoo."
The three body paragraphs should each deal with a different animal to keep things clear for young learners. Teachers might instruct each team to choose three animals from their cluster graphic organizer. Students then produce an outline of the three body paragraphs with an introductory sentence introducing the animal and two or three details. For example, in the first paragraph they might say that the monkeys were their favorites because of their antics and how they interacted with people. The conclusion summarizes the essay and restates the main idea.
When the outline is completed, students are ready to produce a first draft. Teachers can instruct students to write the draft straight through without stopping to look up spelling or to make grammatical and mechanical changes. These corrections are made during the editing phase, when students make their own corrections, produce a second draft, and then share that draft with others on their team for further corrections.
Subsequent drafts are produced until the teacher steps in with corrections, and students produce a final draft. The finished essay is then "published" by reading it to the class or passing it around to others.