The following is a collection of short stories I wrote and posted to use with ELLs. Each story includes word frequency information according to the GSL (General Service List), approximate native-grade level, and ease-of-reading score. I started writing these stories because I couldn’t find any short (under a thousand words) stories which I felt were complete in and of themselves, interesting for my students, and could be used in one or two class periods as stand alone material. Over 95% of the vocabulary, excluding proper nouns, falls within the first 2000 most frequently used words in English. Please use these stories however you would like in class. If you have any suggestions for novel ways to use them, I would love to hear about it.
Just About Life 10 very short stories by Kevin Stein (PDF version)
Just About Life (Ebook version)
The Other Things Matter 
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Would you like to send us some work for the ETAS journal section on creative teachers? Mail me geneva@e-tas.ch
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Reading stories written by someone you know leaves a strange feeling, because sometimes you might mix up if the tales came from “his real experience”.
I know the author, Kevin san, for a long time. He is so gentle and kind person and I did not know he writes stories so skillfully until I was notified to this site.
Here, you will encounter somewhat unusual and curious stories, so I could not help wondering from what he acquires the ideas, what way he sees the world and what the message he wants to deliver….
At the same time, these stories will stay in your heart awhile, probably quite longer and most likely you will have a new feeling. A feeling that you have not aroused in the past … seeing the things from different way, drawing your attention to something that you didn’t care and cherishing your ordinal days a little bit more.
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Dear Masato,
Thank you for the thoughtful and kind comment/review.
When I write a story, most of the time (99.99%) the characters and events in the story are not drawn from my own experience. I usually start by imagining (although it is more like being visited by) a character. The character is very clear in my head and I kind of follow the character through the events of the story.
I’m so glad that these little stories left you with a little something to think about.
Kevin
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