“Create A Reading Habit”

Reading for pleasure will build your comprehension, vocabulary, English skills, reading speed, fluency and knowledge…
Here’s one doable way to begin and maintain
A “Reading Habit”:

How can you read for pleasure with all the reading assignments in college?
Take 10-15 minutes to Read One Short Story per Day

For more specific strategies to improve Comprehension, English Speaking Skills and Fluency and/or to discuss a short story with peers in a "Short Story Group of 4 or Less" please email Teri Azar, Reading Specialist at tazar@soka.edu to set up an appointment.

Please use the wiki list below as a guide to get started with short stories. Please also add your own short stories, sites, audios, comments and anything else you want to share in relation to the story. Reading short stories is one great option to making pleasure reading doable. We all know how hard it is to read a book, even a great book, when we are so busy. But, a wonderful short story can be read in 10 minutes offering, sometimes, as much enjoyment as that great book! You will be increasing comprehension, vocabulary, English skills, fluency..and may be inspired, awed, enlightened, soothed, affirmed, or humored! Some very short inspiring and funny stories can be found in any of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Many students are enjoying Chicken Soup for the College Soul and Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul. You can have a “serving” a day in 10 minutes by randomly opening the book up and reading the story that is there. You might get a short read that is just what you needed! These books have sold out in the SUA Bookstore, but you can find them on Amazon.com. You can also find the audio CDs to go with them for even greater practice with reading and listening to the English at the same time. Please scroll down to see the wiki short story list of great online short stories to enjoy and add to. Under the sites for short stories you will find the favorite authors of students here at Soka including Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Po, Roald Dahl, Mark Twain, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Perhaps some of them are yours.

Please share vocabulary words that are new to you on the wiki. You may define them or leave them to be defined by someone else.
While you are reading what you want to read is an optimum time to add to your vocabulary. When you WANT to know an unknown word and it is in context of your interest reading it is easiest to learn!
So, as you read a short story, highlight words or phrases (idioms) that you don’t know. Try to figure them out from the words around them, or context. Look them up quickly as needed. After reading come back to look at ones you want to remember and write them down in a notebook with their definitions. Keep this “Running Dictionary” going as a great learning tool. You can add your words below under a short story you would like to share. The lists provide “frontloading” to other students who want to understand the vocabulary before reading, another very good strategy.
Tools to help you with vocabulary development:

1. Download peetareader at oopsenglish.com and plug it into all of your online reading for instant definitions while reading

2. Read with dictionary.com and Idiomconnection.com minimized to get quick definitions for words and phrases
*The quizzes at Idiomconnection.com are great learning tools!
3. Read with your electronic dictionary.

READING RESPONSES

Please share reactions or responses to any of the stories you read without giving away too much about the story. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Questioning is a great comprehension strategy for all reading. There are 6 cognitive levels from which these types of questions come from. Here are a few you can choose to respond from in each level:

1. Knowledge: Talk about some of the facts or details in the plot that got your interest.
2. Comprehension: Give a quick summary of the story.
3. Application: Tell how an event, person, or place in this story is like one in your life or world. Tell how a theme in this story is universal and found in another story or life.
4. Analysis: Talk about one part of the story that you liked best or that moved you most.
5. Synthesis: Tell how this story motivated you to try something new.Tell how something from this story can be or was taken into your life or the world to make it better.
   
6. Evaluation: Tell how a character was "right or wrong" in his/her actions. Tell why you liked the story or why not? Tell how the story is meaningful beyond the plot. Talk about the author’s writing style and use of literary devices that were effective such as personification, simile, metaphor, or irony. Tell how the author’s life might have influenced the story.

Please use this list to get reading ideas. Please also add new titles, interesting related sites as inspired by the story, vocabulary and/or idioms under specific stories that you learned through reading it and/or a response or comment about the story. Your addtitions will help others and reinforce your own vocabulary and comprehension development.

Short Stories Sites: Please add any short story sites that you find:
Short Story Sites:
http://www.short-stories.co.uk/
http://www.classicshorts.com
Favorite Soka student authors like Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Po, Roald Dahl, Mark Twain , Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and more..

Enhance your English practice in a short time by listening to a story as you read. You can download or buy audios for short stories at:

Audible.com@
http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/LandingPages/googleHome.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes
Learnoutloud.com @
http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Literature/Short-Stories
Chicken Soup for the College Soul Order this collection of inspiring and funny 5-10 minute reads all about college days at Amazon .com
Increase your English practice by listening as you read to some of these stories on CD or download the stories to your computer; scroll down to Product Details at:
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1558747028/ref=s9_asin_title_1/002-4015031-6232015



Chicken Soup for the College Soul Favorites (also on Audio):

There are 18 Audio stories from the book of over 100 very short stories: Please add new stories not listed, vocabulary, idioms, comments and responses to this list:

Audio #18: If the Dream Is Big Enough the facts Don’t Count p20

Black-top: Asphalt covered surface, like the black street paving

This is a great short story about how perseverance and holding on to a dream can make it come true. It is an inspiration to stay focused on your dreams, even through the hard times.

Audio #11: How to Get an A on Your Final Exam p 94
Barely: hardly.. “by the skin of my teeth”
Cumulative: covers an entire course; covers all your learning;
Huff and puff: out of breath..breathing hard
Indoctrinate: to fill with a certain set of opinions or set beliefs
Proctor: administrator of test; prevents cheating; sets and enforces rules to follow
Shoved: pushed; put away fast as into a desk
Slumped: sad, sorry, defeated, overwhelmed
Sneaky: Pull the wool over, try to fool, try to get away with something, sly, dishonest, someone you cannot trust; not trustworthy
Stack: pile of something like papers; things on top of other things
nosebleed section: seating very high up
How dare he!: he is so without humility

This story will make you laugh or gasp.
The student is really humorous and clever !!

Audio #6 A Homecoming of a Different Sort p298
Forego: skip, not do
Glimpse: a fast look at something
Squint: Squeeze eyes because of anger, or trying to focus, or because the sun or bright light is flashing in your eyes
The universal theme of parent pushing child to “do what’s best” VS. the child’s wishes comes through this story and can help you think about both sides of this issue and have compassion for both parent and child.

Audio #9 Never Too Late to Live Your Dream p290
banquet: a ceremonious feast
beaming up : showing lots of positive energy, enthusiasm
bestowed: to present as a gift or honor
icon: a picture or image; symbol of greatness
jittery: shaking from nerves due to being scared; cold, etc
“living it up”: having the best time you can have
Response: This very inspiring story inspired me to search the song The Rose that was mentioned in this story about a very special lady named Rose. The link to the song is: http://www.ourweddingsongs.com/wedding-prelude-music/the-rose-lyrics Great Messages in the story and song!
Audio #4 Learning How to Be Roommates p. 119
Inexplicably: unexplainable
Infuriated: Extremely angry
Leapt: sprung; past tense of leap
“Lysol headaches”: headaches from the smell of Lysol, a strong scented (smelling) cleaner
A heartwarming story of how roommates find a surprising answer to their challenge of getting along.

Audio # 17 #38 Chucky Mullins p. 231
Jarring: painful hitting or knock
Knelt (kneel): Past tense of kneel to position yourself on one knee
Catastrophic: sudden disaster
Vertebrae: small bones making up spine
Stunned: unconscious for a short time; alarmed, stopped
Accolade: praise, honor, award
Devastating: causing great damage, destruction or distress

The Day at the Beach p. 163 (not on Audio)
Bleak
Paralysis
Gruffness
Dune
Blot it out: erase or delete it
Vault
Frantic uncontrived
“Put your troubles in a pocket with a hole in it”
Great advice from this story on how to get past a standstill or block in life

Good-Bye, Mr. Blib p.36 (not on Audio)
tick by: to pass
Plague: to cause pain or trouble to sb/sth over a period of time
Hygiene: the process of keeping yourself clean in order to prevent illness
Hamper:a large basket with a lid, especially one used to carry food in
Strange Scholarships p.14 (not on Audio)
needy: not having enough money,food, clothes,etc
A Proposal to Myself p.32 (not on Audio)
Exude:if you exude a particular feeling or quality, people can easily see that you have it
Bid: to offer, pay a particular price for sth.
Your Legacy p.108 (not on Audio)
Disheveled:very untidy
Esoteric:likely to be understand or enjoyed by only a few people with a special knowledge or interest.
Musty:smelling damp and unpleasant because if a lack of fresh air

Short Stories:
Be sure to search your favorite authors to see if they have written short stories. Many of them have and your search will lead you to more authors like them as well.

Here are some classic short stories that some Soka students have already enjoyed, learned vocabulary/ idioms from and discussed.

Please add more stories, vocabulary, idioms, responses, comments and relevant sites, such as audio downloads, or sites that the story may have inspired you to search and find.



The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck
http://amb.cult.bg/american/4/steinbeck/chrysanthemums.htm
EPICAC by Kurt Vonnegut http://astro.ocis.temple.edu/~tarantul/epicac.html
picking up a check: Paying for something
fizzled: failed after a good start
sluggish: slow moving
crackerjack: expert
you won’t do: you are not acceptable
flabbergasted: astounded
rocket trajectory: the path of a rocket
mush: overly sentimental
stumped: confused thoroughly
cadaver: a dead body
demise: death
he bore me no grudge: he did not resent me
The Legacy by Virginia Wolf http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91h/chap17.html
brooch: a piece of jewelry with a pin
tiffs; small disagreements
legacy: what is left to someone after death; inheritance
drab: dull
prominent: well known
incongruous: unsuitable
in mourning: in a state of grief for someone who has died

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
http://www.americanliterature.com/SS/SS16.HTML
The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/chopin.html
crying his wares: shouting out what he has to sell
elusive: hard to catch
striving: trying very hard
save; except
shudder: an uncontrollable shake
grip sack: a traveling bag
Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/MissBril.shtml
drifting: floating down
tingling: a prickly sensation
gone on: talked endlessly
swooping: moving downward quickly
staggerer: someone that moves very unsteadily
scolding: expressing disapproval
shabby: worn and old looking
hobbled: walked with great difficulty
invalid: a sickly person
whiting: a kind of fish
ma petite cherie: my little darling (French)

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI by O'Henry
http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html

LOVE OF LIFE by Jack London

http://www.online-literature.com/london/76/

THE TELL TALE HEART by Edgar Allen Po

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/telltale.html

THE LADY OR THE TIGER by Frank Stockton

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml ories/telltale.html"

AN OCCURANCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE by Ambrose Bierce
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/375

A WHITE HERON by SarahOrne Jewett
http://www.public.coe.edu/~theller/soj/awh/heron.htm

The Last Question by Issac Asimov
http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1952