Short Stories to Improve Your English

By Edward L. Smith

Story time! How can you learn English using short stories?

Intermediate to advanced language learners across the globe have long claimed reading is one of the most fun and effective ways to improve your English. Simply written English is easy for language learners to grasp, but often the stories centre around subjects for children; unfortunately, some adults may lose interest, and some of the stories simply aren't challenging enough.

“Short Stories to improve your English” is a series of short stories designed specifically for English language students. The stories are written using uncomplicated language, but with some more challenging words and sentences that the stories can be understood without. Each story comes with a number of reading comprehension questions to test your understanding of the passage.

The stories are capped at 2000 words, meaning the action flows swiftly and attention is not lost. A complete story can be read through to the end in under ten minutes, making the stories perfect for any length of study session.

Boost your comprehension from simple to more complex grammatical structures, allow the intrigue of the story to boost your reading skill and best of all, enjoy learning.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edward L. Smith
• Release date: Oct 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386487258

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Edward L. Smith

Copyright © Edward L. Smith

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Short Stories to Improve Your English

The class clown and the class comedian

The door opened, and Mr Davies poked his head through the doorway. The class rose to their feet; such respect for our teachers was the expectation in our school, but Mr Davies could have commanded respect whatever school he taught in. Tall and muscular, he had to stoop slightly to fit through the doorway. Once inside the room, he could arch his back to return to his full frame.

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Good morning class, he said, with an arched eyebrow, expectantly waiting the answer.

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But before we could chant back the reply, the boy in the seat next to me quickly said, Morning, Mr D, how's the weather up there?

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The whole class roared with laughter. I myself doubled over, tears streaming from my eyes. Back then, that joke was original to me, and I suspect most of my classmates. Even Mr Davies cracked a grudging smile, rewarding my friend's audacity to make fun of his height.

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Nowadays, that joke is cliched. I doubt there are many tall people who aren't familiar with it. At the time I thought my friend had the makings of a comedian. I'm going to be the next Ali G, he would brag. It wasn't an isolated incident. School assemblies were disrupted, other teachers mocked, pranks played in the playground, and I found it all hilarious.

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Unfortunately, class clowns are common; comedians are somewhat rarer. They share a common cause, wanting to make others laugh, and it's natural to assume that if one can do so in a classroom, they can do so in a dimly lit basement of a bar during a comedy festival. Jokes in the classroom are spur of the moment, spontaneous things however. It's the element of surprise that makes them funny. If you go to a comedy performance you are expecting the comedian to do something funny to make you laugh. Surprise isn't the only challenge, there are various others dimensions to performing comedy. Simply having the audacity to repeat a joke off the internet to a teacher doesn't compare.

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