This activity is great for elementary to advanced students. It will teach students how essays and stories are put together as well as the "clue words" that we find at the start of stories, paragraphs and sentences.
Divide students into groups of five and give each of them one paragraph of a story. Now, ask them to sit around in a large circle and all read their paragraph out loud. The students will have to use clues in the paragraphs to determine which part of the story it fits into. For example, words and phrases like "once upon a time," "however," "moreover." Let each student raise her hand and explain why her paragraph comes next.
At the end of the activity, ask them what words seem to come at the start of paragraphs and sentences and which ones do not.
There are many websites that have free interactive exercises for ESL reading. TEFL Games is full of printable worksheets and mini-quizzes to test grammar, spelling and reading ability. ESL Flow is a similar site with games and activities aimed at all levels. If the students do not have access to computers, these online sites can be adapted through the creation of worksheets and paper tests.
This is a fairly simple exercise that is great for the absolute beginner and beginner ESL students. In groups of five, give each student a piece of paper with one sentence on it. Tell the groups that the five sentences together will make a short story. They have to unscramble the sentences as fast as they can, and the fastest group wins. You can adapt this into single words and paragraphs for more advanced students. Get them to read and talk out loud, so that one student does not take over and do the activity alone.
For Copy and Paste, the students are put into pairs. One student has a paragraph from a news article or short story. The other student has a pen and paper. The first student will read out his paragraph, and the second student must write it down, relying only on hearing the words to copy them. You can also put a time limit on this, and the first group to finish wins. Tell the students they must go back and correct the spelling and grammar mistakes before they hand it in.