When I taught English-as-a-second-language (ESL) at the private school, usually, the first thing I asked my students was what aspect of the English language they needed most help on and all of them saidwriting.

“Okay,” I said, nodding my head in acknowledgement. Then I told them, “English writing is actually very simple.” They all raised their eyebrows. “To write an English essay, all you have to do is to follow this format.” I handed them red, yellow and green marker. “I call this ‘Traffic Light‘.”

“Traffic Light?” One of them asked. I nodded and began to teach the method as I have done 4 times that day. Then just before I even finish teaching, a student interrupted me and said, “You don’t have to say no more. I get it.”

“Really?” I asked speculating. “Fine, why don’t you practice? Write me an essay about yourself.”

One student would raise his hand, “Err, what is an essay?” That made me so furious I could break a white board marker to piece. They weren’t listening to a thing I said even though I taught the lesson in their native language.

I was not going to put this method on here because I think everyone’s probably familiar with how to write an essay but mom was talking about going back to that private school to teach Chinese after I said I quit. Anyway, because of her love for money, I have a hunch she’s going to drag me back to the school to teach ESL. Therefore, so I’d be prepared for the future, I’ve written this post  so I can use it for reference for possible future classes. I don’t know how useful you’ll find this post but just for amusement and entertainment, read on.

INTRODUCTION (GREEN LIGHT – GO!)

• Introduce topic (1-2 sentences)
• 2-3 main points (2-3 sentences)
• 1 sentence summing up the three points

BODY (YELLOW LIGHT – SLOW DOWN!)

Main Point 1

• Introduce main point 1
• 2-3 sentences detailing main point 1
• 1 sentence to sum up main point 1

Main Point 2

• Introduce main point 2
• 2-3 sentences detailing main point 2
• 1 sentence to sum up main point 2

Main Point 3 (OPTIONAL)

• Introduce main point 3
• 2-3 sentences detailing main point 3
• 1 sentence to sum up main point 3

CONCLUSION (RED LIGHT – STOP!)

• Sum up the main points in 2-3 sentences
• In one sentence, sum up the entire essay

Well, this is it, the outline to a simple English essay. Thank you for reading and have a great day!