ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I look at how the question of word choice is often left to the revision stage in traditional creative writing teaching, but in ESL teaching, word choice comes early because it is connected with cliché and vocabulary. ESL studies show that vocabulary must be actively expanded and challenged by both the instructor and assignments, and we do that by having students reflect and become more active in their word choices. I go through exercises for using highly technical vocabulary in poetry to rewriting scenes from a story while considering the roots of different English words. I end by having my students write cliché poems that reinvent the clichés that they engage with.
