ESL writing activities that start from a model, not a blank page

"Write an email to your manager asking for a day off." The learner nods, opens a document, and twenty minutes later you get three sentences, one of which starts "Dear Sir, I am writing for to ask you".

The prompt was fine. What was missing was everything between the prompt and the finished text: what an email like this looks like, which parts it has, and which phrases do the work. Most lists of ESL writing activities are lists of prompts. This post is about the steps that come before the prompt, with a full example you can use tomorrow.

Why does the blank page stall adult learners?

A blank page asks a learner to do three things at once: decide what to say, decide how to organise it, and find the English for it. A native speaker does the first two without thinking. A B1 learner is spending most of their effort on the third, so the first two collapse.

Giving them a model to work from removes two of the three jobs, so their attention goes to the language. A cook learns from a recipe before improvising for the same reason.

A look from teaching kids to code

Anyone who has taught children to code knows this one: open a blank editor, say "make a game", and they freeze. Hand them a working program and ask them to change the colour, then the speed, then add a score, and within twenty minutes they are building. A model email is the working program, and the learner's own email is the first change.

Cognitive load researchers call this the worked-example effect. In John Sweller and Graham Cooper's algebra experiments, worked examples took considerably less time to process than conventional problems, and similar problems afterwards were solved faster and with fewer errors. A later review drew design rules from the research, including that examples should be presented in close proximity to matched practice problems. A model email followed straight away by the learner's own email is that rule, applied to writing.

How does the four-step fade work?

The learner reads a model, names its moves, fills a frame, then writes alone, and each step takes a little support away. The model and the topic stay the same throughout, so the learner is never starting from nothing.

Step	What the learner does	Support left	Time (one-to-one)
1. Read the model	Reads a short text of the same type they will write	Full text	3 min
2. Name the moves	Labels what each part of the text does	Full text, now analysed	4 min
3. Fill the frame	Completes a gapped version for their own situation	Structure and key phrases	8 min
4. Write it alone	Writes a new text of the same type, different situation	The moves list only	15 min, often homework

Step 2 is the easiest to skip and, in our view, the one that transfers. A learner who can say "first you give the reason, then you offer a solution" can write the next email without the model.

What does a full worked example look like?

Here is the fade for one email, asking to swap a shift. It works for any adult learner with a job, from B1. Swap the details for your learner's workplace.

Step 1: the model

Hi Sara,

I'm writing to ask if I could swap my shift on Friday. I have a medical appointment that morning that I can't move.

Tomás has said he can work my Friday shift if I take his on Sunday. Would that be OK with you?

Please let me know if you need anything else from me.

Thanks, Ana

Step 2: the moves

Ask the learner to match each part of the email to its job. They can do this aloud on a call or by labelling the text.

Move	Phrase that does it
Say why you are writing	I'm writing to ask if I could...
Give the reason	I have a... that I can't move.
Offer a solution	...has said he can... if I...
Ask for a decision	Would that be OK with you?
Close politely	Please let me know if you need anything else.

Step 3: the frame

Same moves, the learner's own situation, the key phrases kept:

Hi [manager's name],

I'm writing to ask if I could [what you need] on [day]. I have [reason] that I can't move.

[colleague] has said [he / she] can [what they will do] if I [what you will do]. Would that be OK with you?

Please let me know if you need anything else from me.

Thanks, [your name]

Step 4: the free write

A new situation, same type of text, no frame: "Your child's school has called a meeting on Thursday afternoon. Write to your manager asking to leave two hours early. Offer a way to make up the time."

The learner now has to apply the moves without seeing them. If the email has a reason, a solution and a request, the moves transferred. If it doesn't, go back to step 2 with a second model.

That last step is a plain writing task, and it is the step you can send as a link. Here is what one looks like from the learner's side.

Open a Writing Prompt: job application emails

A Writing Prompt sets the task, the learner answers in their own words, and the text comes back to you to review. Built around your learner's real situation, such as the shift swap or the school meeting, it becomes homework they have a reason to do.

When should the support come off?

The same frame that rescues an A2 writer can hold back a B2 one. Kalyuga and colleagues called this the expertise reversal effect: instructional techniques that are highly effective with inexperienced learners can lose their effectiveness and even have negative consequences when used with more experienced learners.

In writing, the signs are easy to spot. A B2 learner given a frame often writes exactly the frame, and every email starts "I'm writing to ask if I could". The fix is to skip steps. A stronger learner might read the model, name the moves, and go straight to the free write.

Which ESL writing activities suit each level?

Match the text type to the level and remove more of the scaffold as the level rises:

Level	Text type	Example prompt	Scaffold
A2	Short message	"Text your colleague: you are late, say why and when you will arrive."	Model, moves, frame, then free write
A2	Form or note	"Leave a note for your flatmate: the plumber is coming tomorrow at 10."	Model and frame
B1	Request email	The shift swap above	All four steps
B1	Short review	"Review a restaurant you went to recently in 80 words: food, service, would you go back?"	Model, moves, free write
B2	Complaint email	"Your order arrived damaged and the company hasn't replied. Write a second email."	Moves list, free write
B2	Opinion paragraph	"Should people be able to work from home if their job allows it? Give two reasons."	Moves list only

For learners with a job or an exam ahead of them, keep the text types real. A nurse writes a handover note. A job seeker writes a cover email. Neither writes a story about a magic door.

What should you do with the mistakes?

Correct one thing per text, not everything. A learner who gets back an email covered in red tends to learn that writing is where they fail. A learner who gets back "nice structure, and look at your verbs after he and she" learns one thing they can fix.

Then turn the most common error into practice. If three emails in a row drop third-person -s, that is a grammar activity for the next lesson. This guide to ESL grammar games maps that kind of error to the format that fixes it. And if a learner's writing is stronger than their speaking, the same moves work aloud: the speaking activities post covers how to get them talking.

Sources & further reading

• The Use of Worked Examples as a Substitute for Problem Solving in Learning Algebra (Sweller and Cooper, 1985). Cognition and Instruction. The original worked-example experiments.
• Learning from Examples: Instructional Principles from the Worked Examples Research (Atkinson, Derry, Renkl and Wortham, 2000). Review of Educational Research. Design rules for using examples well.
• The Expertise Reversal Effect (Kalyuga, Ayres, Chandler and Sweller, 2003). Educational Psychologist. Why support that helps beginners can hurt more experienced learners.