Captivating Short Stories for Adult ESL Learners. Have you ever seen a kitten who wasn’t completely absorbed by a moving piece of yarn? What about an older cat, though? We need to keep our adult ESL students just as engaged during class as young, playful kittens. But what with? Short stories are one convenient tool which can produce the “ball of yarn” effect, grabbing your students’ full attention. Not only will the storylines themselves captivate your readers, but the right short stories can also pull adults into riveting discussions.

I’ve compiled six such short stories for you to use with your adult learners, plus handy tips on where to find others and how to best use them in class. To get started, let’s take a closer look at these benefits. Why Use Short Stories with Adult ESL Learners?

Short stories are a great way for adult ESL learners to find common ground to have discussions. Who wouldn’t love to chat about which character is their favorite, or predict what will happen in a suspense story they are reading? Even your shyest students might get so excited about what you are reading in class that they start to participate more.

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These 6 short stories are perfect for your adult ESL students. Here's why and how to use them, plus where to find even more captivating stories!

Discussions about short stories are a great way for your students to practice their oral skills. Not only are students speaking to you, but they are speaking and listening to each other. Having students read stories out loud during your lesson builds fluency, which in turn builds confidence. The length of a short story seems less scary, and if students are able to read fluently, they will most likely feel that they can read longer pieces of text. Short stories are also a welcome break from routine, as students can get “lost” in a good story. Adults usually have so much to do during the day—including stressful jobs—so reading interesting stories serves as a relaxing break from reality. The more they enjoy reading the short stories you select for your lessons, the more your students will be motivated to learn more.

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Hopefully, you can encourage your students to love reading through the use of short stories, and that will further motivate them to learn more English. What to Look For in a Short Story for Adult ESL Students. Selecting short stories for adults is different from finding materials for children. Not that adults wouldn’t like the same content that children do, but rather you might lose their interest if the text is too easy. If you decide to pick a fairy tale, for example, you would most likely want to pick one of the Grimm brothers’ fairy tales over an adaptation, as they have more sophisticated language. Here are some other qualities to keep in mind while selecting appropriate short stories for your students: Vocabulary complexity. Make sure that any story you choose has enough words that the majority of your class can understand, while at the same time includes enough complex words they can decode.

If a text is too easy, your students might get turned off and not be motivated to read it. Same goes if there are too many complex words in the story. Simple language. You don’t want to pick stories with too many idioms or “old world” language, as that might also be too difficult and turn off your students. Relevant content. Make sure the content is relevant to adults in some way, such as topics of relationships, business situations, family life or even something they can relate to culturally.

Relevant discussions. You also want to think about whether or not you can pull interesting themes or discussion questions from the story. Neutral ground. Keep in mind, though, that you don’t want material that is too controversial. Keep it neutral enough that you can generate discussions, but not something that might result in arguments between students. How to Use Short Stories with Adult ESL Learners.

There are so many ways to use short stories in your lessons. To get you started, here are some ideas: Roundtable discussions. This is where students agree to discuss a particular topic. Each student then must have equal participation rights, meaning that all students will have a turn to speak. This is more of an informal type of lesson where your ultimate goal is for all your students to speak in a comfortable environment. Here are some tips: Sitting around in a small circle works best.

That way, everyone feels included, and they know that while you may be leading the conversation, you are not the only one to talk. To make sure everyone has a turn, give each student a set amount of “tickets” (they can just be colored pieces of paper) at the start. Whenever a student wants to speak, take one of the tickets away from them. Once a student has used all of their tickets, they are not allowed to speak anymore until no tickets remain with any student. That way, no one dominates the conversation, and you are making sure even the quietest students are involved in the discussion. If your students are able to, ask them to facilitate a discussion. You can randomly draw their names from a hat or do a rotation system so everyone gets a turn.

Reading responses. Give the students a specific question to answer (usually written) after they have finished reading the story. For example, you could ask your students to describe a part of the story that surprised them and why, using evidence from the story. Or here is another: Pick a character from the story and predict what might happen to that character long after the story ends. These responses could be used as part of an informal assessment to see whether or not the student has a solid understanding of the story. For example, if someone writes about what surprised them in the story, but the evidence they used wasn’t anywhere in the book, you would then know that this student might not understand the plot of the story. You can use this information to either review the story with the student or review the concept you think they don’t understand.

Vocabulary building. Have your students pick out words they are unfamiliar with from the story, define them and use them in a writing piece for any writing assignment you give them. You could even have different students reading different short stories. This way, students can be responsible for teaching others some words that they have learned from their short story. Conversation starters.

During or after reading the story, have your students write down a question or two which they would like to ask other students about the story. Encourage your students to create more open- ended questions so they can spark discussions. Here are some ways you can use these questions once students have written them down: Randomly assign pairs to swap questions. Students should answer the questions they have received as a reading response, and the written responses will go back to the person who posed the question. The question creator can respond, agreeing or disagreeing with what their classmate said. Students could also lead small group discussions using their questions. Then, students can present what was discussed in the small group to the entire class. There are even more ways to use short stories with adults, but begin by using the above activities one at a time.

Then you can slowly incorporate them for every book. As your students get more and more interested in the reading material, you can push for more ways to use those short stories in your class. Simpsons Season 18 Episode 1 Watch Online on this page. Suggested Short Story Authors to Use with Adult ESL Students. The authors suggested below can be a good starting point for you because their works are easier to find than others.

Also, these authors have more relevant content for adults and their writing is more accessible. Ernest Hemingway — Hemingway is most noted for his simple, direct and plain writing style. You can use his stories to do more grammar lessons, such as diagramming sentences.

Stephen King — Known for his suspense and horror stories, King’s works can be used for diving deep into plot and subplots. John Steinbeck — Steinbeck is most known for his journalistic writing style. Watch Will You Merry Me Online Hitfix there.

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