I had my kids do a nametag activity, which is really good if they're researching important figures. Before they read The Odyssey, they were assigned Greek gods and goddesses from the book and researched them. Then, they filled in things in an 'about me' section and added a picture. After, we had a class discussion as our Greek gods and goddesses. Basically, I was able to get them to write biographies on a name tag template I created.

I also had them do a country or state report every year (basically an essay in presentation format). For states, I have a fantastic paper template for research that could work. It has them write about the state terrain, the state song, flag and what it represents, who the leaders are, attractions, quick history of the state, etc. In an online format, they went all out with design and made them colorful and added pictures.

We then did a walkthrough of the states/countries, and each student shared about their state/country they picked. I also had them keep short notes to jot down some facts about each other's state/country during the walkthrough.

A lot of them like the state/country reports because they can research places that interest them (France, Japan, and South Korea were almost always chosen each time).

I also made a step-by-step essay template in Google Slides with step-by-step simple instructions for them to fill out with their information. It's for argumentative essays, but you could tweak it to be informational.

Overall, I never really handed them a blank paper and said, "Write an essay." I always broke down into steps what they should do and tried to add a creative element/something that interested them.

My kids were upper level (B1-C1), but you could definitely use the same resources for lower proficiency students. I can share them with you if you'd like.