Reading is a substantial component of any given curriculum. Whether I am teaching Italian or English, I will come across the reading of short stories. This unit will aid me in dealing with the reading of short stories with the English as a Second Language (ESL) class and the Italian class.
The unit is designed to serve two distinct groups of students. It will be used with an ESL class and an Italian class. The unit exposes the ESL student to some American writers, American short stories, the analyzing of them and also the English language itself. The ESL student is a student whose native language is not English. They have not been exposed to American writers. This unit does give them the opportunity of becoming aware of some of these personalities and their works. Using it with an Italian class, mainly third year, the students will become acquainted with some Italian writers and some of their works. The students will also deal with the language and vocabulary.
The majority of the activities incorporated in this unit will concentrate on reading, becoming familiar with American and Italian short story writers and some of their works,the language; primarily vocabulary and analyzing the short story and its parts.
The unit is divided into two sections. Section A illustrates the ESL component. Section B concentrates on the unit’s usage with the Italian class. Both sections of the unit contain an appendix with topics for research. The assignments given allow the student to explore further the lives of the authors mentioned, their writing style and other works related to the same theme treated in class. Both sections are preceded by an introductory preface; “Parts of a Short Story”. It outlines what a short story is, its content, its historical background and briefly defines the plot, the theme, the characters and the setting. Both groups of students, with whom this unit is used, are introduced to the components of a short story.
