I work with an extremely low-level rural group of middle schoolers whom I challenge to write for 10 minutes a week, based upon images I find online.  My aim is to get them a) just writing in English so they learn to form whole sentences and b) to help them write creatively.

Without knowing what you have done this semester, or in the past, it's hard to give you any real guidance, but one of the things I can't stress enough for my students is the idea of being creative and autonomous. I encourage my students to think for themselves, write their own opinions and to be creative with them.

Perhaps you could use the idea I use, and build upon it, giving students images to create stories from. If you have a series of images, then they can build upon what they wrote last time, or perhaps you can do a series of stand-alone images. Have them focus on one form of writing per image - Past, Present, Future and any aspect of language within each of those categories too. Have them focus on using correct structures and on expression of themselves through their writing.

I write for 10 minutes a day in Korean, and have challenged these students to write in English for 10 minutes a day, but they only do the mandatory 10 minutes a week in class, and most can manage only 3 or 4 lines in 10 minutes because they are hung up on translating from Korean to English. My aim is to have them just write in English and use words they know.