Unloading: The early ESL stories

by Thomas Leverett

This volume has fourteen short stories, written 1994-2005, many of which were originally intended for an ESL audience and did years of service as reading exercises in ESL classrooms. They are good for ESL in that they have blunt, active prose, free of difficult cultural nuance or convoluted structure, yet they don't look down on the reader as some reading materials do. They provide dilemmas to consider and reflect on. The stories are the Unloading (2005), Choke and Cell (2005), Abstract and Concrete (2004), Three Friends (200), Passion and Circumstance (2000), Schoolhouse (2000), Reflection (2000), Ruffi (2000), Faith and the Crocodile (2000), Superstition (2000), Rebecca (1998), Alice (1998), Education of Ivan (1997), and Hideo (1994). Several are meant to be read in pairs. All are classics, and were originally printed in paper and cardstock, though those copies are rare today. Their reputation and popularity spread widely, especially in the ESL world, where good stories are hard to find.

46 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 21, 2020

Reviews

[Stephanie Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful resource for ESL students

I tried the short stories in this book with some of my students in ESL programs and they think the stories are interesting to read! The book is not long, so it’s easy to follow too. It includes some useful words and sentence structures to support students’ further learning, e.g., writing. I would suggest adding a glossary at the end of each story to help students refer to some vocabulary when they stumble upon unfamiliar words . Overall, helpful resource !