Practising writing outside the classroom

You can help your child improve their English by giving them lots of opportunities to write in English. This will help your child to feel more confident and prepared for their English exams.

Here are some ideas you can try at home.

Label drawings and make posters

When your child does drawings, takes photos or cuts interesting pictures out of magazines, encourage them to label their pictures using English words and phrases.

If possible, display your child’s work afterwards – it’s a great way to remind your child of English words and phrases.

Learning tip
There are lots of great learning tips and activities in our article Learn English through drawing.

Write an English-language diary

Regular practice really helps children to learn a language. A daily or weekly diary is a great way to have regular writing practice.

Whenever your child has some ‘news’, they could write a short diary entry.

Learning tip
Your child might enjoy having an English diary blog. Blogs are like an online journal. Your child can write about their news, interests, ideas, wishes, humour and anything else they think about.

Research suggests that blogging helps schoolchildren practise writing. Children tend to write more in blogs – they are writing for a real audience and a real purpose.

Find out more in our article: Learn English through social media.

Write stories

Help your child to find a picture that interests them. Ask them to write a short story about it. They could create their own collection of short picture stories.

Learning tip for 5–12 year olds
Your child might enjoy creating their own ‘movie’ – this is a really creative way to practise writing skills.

Ask your child to shoot a silent video (your child is not allowed to talk!). Keep the video short – 1 minute at the most. You might like to have a theme, for example, my favourite place or my favourite things. Ask your child to write 10–20 English words to describe their video.

With older children, you could then ask them to write a short story/description for their video, using as many of the words as possible from their list.

Free online learning activities

Encourage your child to try some of our fun learning activities, available on a computer or a tablet.

Learning tip for 5–12 year olds
Your child can practise their English with these fun learning activities and games.

Learning tip for 13–18 year olds
Encourage your child to try some of our free pronunciation activities and games.

Practise with English-speaking friends

Having a real reason to communicate in English is one of the best motivators. Encourage your child to write to/email English-speaking penfriends, English-speaking grandparents or other relatives.

Learning tip for 5–12 year olds
Ask your child’s school to join Cambridge English Penfriends.

Learning tip for 13–18 year olds
The Cambridge English Facebook page is updated every day, giving your child regular opportunities to practise English. 

Your child can communicate with other English language learners and take part in fun language activities to practise English. Like our page and join millions of learners from around the world!

Practise English in your daily life

English can be part of your child’s everyday life, not just something they study at school. The more they use English, the more confident they will become. 

For example, you could ask your child to help you write your food shopping lists in English. 

Learning tip
Learning activities that are meaningful and fun are great for motivating children. For example, tell your child they can have a party, if they write the invitations in English.

In their party plan they could answer the following types of question:

• How many people do you want to invite?
• When do you want the party? 
• Where do you want the party?
• What food/music/activities do you want?

Prepare for the Writing test

Here are some ways you can help your child prepare.

Learning tip for 5–12 year olds
Practise spelling new words that your child has learned at school. 

Find simple cartoon strips (or encourage your child to create their own cartoon strip). Ask your child to look at the pictures and write a short story.

Learning tip for 13–18 year olds
Encourage your child to regularly write in English, wherever possible. In our exams, children may be asked to write letters, emails, messages, short stories, articles or reviews.

If your child is writing an article, the main purpose is to interest the reader. Make sure to include some opinion or comment about the topic.

Don’t worry if your child goes over the word limit for writing tasks a little bit.

There is an essay question in the B2 First for Schools Writing test. Encourage your child to plan their essay by thinking about what they will put in the introduction, the middle paragraph(s) and the conclusion. Our examiners will check that an essay:

• is organised into paragraphs
• answers the question fully
• communicates ideas clearly
• contains a range of vocabulary and grammatical structures.

When your child writes an essay for homework, encourage them to go through it using this checklist. 

Test preparation resources

Your child will feel much more prepared and confident about their exam if they know exactly what they need to do.

It’s really useful to do some practice exams. It will help your child to become more familiar and confident with the different types of tasks. Your child should be able to work their way through these with encouragement and careful guidance. 

If your child is anxious about any of their English classwork, discuss it with your child’s teacher and ask them what you can work on at home.