[stanley]

I will be teaching children aged 8 - 10 (many nationalities - mainly Asian) and am looking for short stories I can read to them from time to time, purely for entertainment. I therefore need something written in simple English that is appropriate for this age group. It could be a chapter book that I could read in stages. I'm thinking of maybe trying 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes. Any other suggestions?

[mesmark]

Stanley - You're teaching ex-pat children right? Are you looking for short novel suggestions?

[livinginkorea]

Hi,

It depends on your students level but I have used the story section in this website. There are different levels and you can print them out too if you want the kids to read with you or colour them in.

http://www.kizclub.com/Sbody.html

All the best,

-livinginkorea

[stanley]

Thanks to both replies. To Mesmark - yes, I'll be teaching expat children and i believe some of them will have pretty good English, so I am mainly hoping for suggestions for short novels, such as the one I mention above which is full of wonderful descriptive language, and, with the help of visuals and actions, could be understood by more advanced classes. However, I would be grateful for suggestion of stories to read with any level - and I mean for me to read, not the children. I am not a huge fan of pulling literature apart to make language exercises from. My aim is for the children to enjoy listening to a story in English.

[mesmark]

Since I wasn't much of a reader as a child, I don't have a lot to go on, but if you can get down to a bookstore, there are some adventure role-play books. They allow you to make decissions on how the story will go.　　Those might be entertaining and keep the class's attention.

Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew or any similar short story series might also be good. You could read a little every time and finish one story in 8-10 times maybe.

A collection of the Grim Brothers' fairy tales is probably a safe bet.

[simplyesl]

Yea, I've heard that the Grim brothers' series is worthwhile.
Check out the "easy reader" series, too.
Do an "easy to read" search at amazon.com.