Please recommend short stories and poems for my student!
I am an ESL teacher, and I have a particularly advanced student who enjoys good literature. She particularly enjoys speculative fiction. She has read:
- Fahrenheit 451
- 1984 (she said this was her favorite)
- Brave New World
I currently have her reading The Handmaid's Tale outside of class. But what I really need help with is classroom materials.
I need short stories, particularly in the speculative fiction genre, that offer room for stimulating classroom discussion while still being short enough to read in 30 minutes or less. For this category, I have already gathered:
- The Midnight Café (short story published on Tumblr, useful for its masterful descriptive language)
- Question 3 (chosen for its usefulness as satire of modern American politics)
- The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, by Ursula K. Le Guin (maybe a bit long for classroom reading?)
I also need poetry that is thought-provoking without being impenetrably advanced for a late-intermediate/low-advanced ESL learner. For this category, I have already gathered:
- Ozymandius, by Percy Shelley
- In Response to Executive Order 9066, by Dwight Okita
- Theme for English B, by Langston Hughs
- Freewill, by Rush
Posted Jun 3, 2026, 1:49 AM UTC
623