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90 Best Short Stories in English to Read with Podcast

Are you looking for best short stories in English to read and enjoy? Believe it or not, reading short stories is a great method for improving your English. In this article, you’re going to know why reading short stories helps you improve your English. Then you’ll be able to choose the best short stories in English to read and listen to.

Watch this video on short stories in English to read

Why should you read short stories?

We start from the reasons for which ESL learners should certainly read short stories to improve their English. First and foremost, as it is obvious, short stories are shorter than stories or novels. Therefore, they are most suitable for busy people who lack enough time to study longer content. Needless to say, almost everybody is busy these days!

Moreover, compared to novels, short stories can teach ESL students a wider range of vocabulary and topics. This is also related to the consumable length of short stories for English students. For example, in Aesop’s Fables, a great deal of literary words can perfectly be taught, and English students can learn them in various themes, such as appearance, fear, friendship, happiness, money, and the like.

داستان گویی در فارسی - انجمن آموزش زبان فارسی
Illustrated short stories in English to read and listen to for ESL students

The majority of our short stories at LELB Society are relatively short, and our students can study each one of them in one session. Despite being short, the category of our English short stories can teach ESL students great vocabulary and moral lessons, as well. More importantly, English learners have this great chance to learn vocabulary in real context, which will be discussed in the next paragraph.

Interesting short stories in English to read with educational and didactic messages for all age groups, particularly young learners, can perfectly immerse students in English as English learners are deeply influenced by the themes and plot of the stories. For instance, story readers would develop optimum empathy with the characters of the stories and forget that they are learning a second language, thus making the process of language learning so natural.

Learn vocabulary in context with short stories

English short stories make perfect resources for English learners to learn vocabulary in context because they’re not necessarily instructional materials like dictionaries for language learners. It’s important to note that successful English learners do not memorize English vocabulary out of context, for example, from a list of isolated words or expressions.

Learn vocabulary in real context like English short stories with images and illustrations

Learning vocabulary out of context is waste of time and effort. Not only should you learn vocabulary in context, but you’re also expected to learn vocabulary in real or authentic context, for instance, literary works like English short stories.

Authentic context and resources are materials that are not developed for language learners. Therefore, these non-instructional materials tend to be more natural and have more authenticity. For example, non-instructional books, magazines, plays, TV shows, film scripts, websites, etc. that are not necessarily developed for language learners are classified as authentic context.

Our category of English vocabulary in context includes over 2820 advanced and academic vocabulary with images used in real context. This growing English vocabulary category covers the following subcategories listed below:

  1. 504 Absolutely Essential Words
  2. 1100 Words You Need to Know
  3. 601 Words You Need to Know
  4. GRE Vocabulary Flashcards in Real Context
Learn vocabulary with images in real context
Learn advanced and academic vocabulary with images in real context for longer retention

LELB Society’s students can learn the above 2820 advanced and academic vocabulary with illustrations in our category of short stories in English to read. As a consequence, our short stories are greatly illustrated and enriched with multimedia, thus making perfect English resources for the English learners of the third millennium.

Practice listening with our short stories

Our English short stories to read are supplemented with podcasts and videos. For longer short stories, we’ve selected their best audiobooks so that our English students could perfectly listen to them as well as reading them. The author of this article, Dr. Mohammad Hossein Hariri Asl, has narrated our English short stories to read and listen to in order to add all multimedia to them.

Practice-listening-by-selecting-any-text-and-listening-to-it-at-LELB-Society
Text-to-speech functionality to select any text at LELB Society and listen to the selected text on demand

In addition, we’ve installed the best text-to-speech functionality on our website. Therefore, our English students can select any text, including short stories in English to read, and listen to the selected text. Accordingly, our students can improve their listening comprehension in the most accurate way ever without the necessity of looking up difficult words in their dictionary to check their pronunciations and definitions. 

Storytelling in English and Farsi

Our students at LELB Society are encouraged to practice oral reproduction of short stories in both English and Farsi to tell the stories in their own words orally in our live classes. Oral reproduction of stories or بیان شفاهی داستان (its Persian translation) is a great activity to practice speaking in English and Farsi.

Furthermore, to practice speaking, our students can complete unfinished stories initiated by us, e.g., in our storytelling forum in Farsi or انجمن داستان گویی در فارسی. This activity can certainly unleash students’ creativity to a great extent to finish open-ended stories. Additionally, ESL learners and Persian students have this exceptional chance to practice writing collaboratively and interactively.

Reply Button LELB Society
Comments and indented replies in both comment box UI and forums to practice storytelling in English and Farsi

This is because each student needs to review the plot of stories in the form of comments before writing the rest of the stories. In this activity, we perform error correction in the form of replies, which are conspicuous because they’re indented from the ordinary comments as depicted in the above picture.

Persian short stories with English translation

Best Persian short stories to learn Farsi at LELB Society
Persian short stories with podcasts and English translation for non-Persian speakers to learn Farsi online

LELB Society is a bilingual academy of English and Persian. For this reason, our students can easily find the Persian version of our short stories in English to read. Our students can enjoy comparative literature by comparing our short stories in English to read with their Persian versions. Our Persian short stories with English translation come with podcasts or videos based on flipped learning with the same features and elements in our English short stories.

Our short stories in English to read with their Persian or Farsi versions make our bilingual academy a perfect place for those parents who like to raise bilingual children who can speak English and Persian equally well. What’s more, the professional team of our teachers and authors are fluent in both English and Farsi to enable, feed, and support our bilingual students 24/7. 

Latest short stories in English to read

Below, you’ll find the latest short stories at LELB Society with the following features: 

  1. Podcast or video embedded in the stories
  2. Persian version of these English short stories to learn Farsi online
  3. Text-to-speech functionality to select any text and listen to the selected text on demand
  4. Best comment box UI (User Interface) to leave text and voice comments or questions about the short stories
  5. List of new vocabulary and expressions to learn in real context
  6. List of questions about the short stories for ESL learners to answer
  • The Walnut Tree by Aesop for English Students
    The Walnut Tree by Aesop for English students with a video, vocabulary practice in real context, and questions for discussion The Walnut Tree is now in the public domain available on Gutenberg Project. Video of the Walnut Tree Watch this video on YouTube. The Walnut Tree by Aesop A walnut tree, which grew by the…
  • The Boy and the Filberts by Aesop for ESL Students
    The Boy and the Filberts by Aesop for ESL students with a video, vocabulary in real context and questions for discussion based on the English Immersion Program The Boy and the Filberts is now in the public domain available on Gutenberg Project. Video of the Boy and the Filberts Watch this video on YouTube. The…
  • The Oxen and the Axletrees by Aesop for ESL Students
    The Oxen and the Axletrees by Aesop for ESL students with a video, vocabulary practice in real context and questions for discussion The Oxen and the Axletrees is now in the public domain available on Gutenberg Project. Video of the Oxen and the Axletrees Watch this video on YouTube. The Oxen and the Axletrees A…
  • The Jackdaw and the Pigeons by Aesop for ESL Students
    The Jackdaw and the Pigeons by Aesop for ESL students with a video or podcast, vocabulary practice in real context, and questions for discussion The Jackdaw and the Pigeons is now in the public domain available on Gutenberg Project. Video of the Jackdaw and the Pigeons Watch this video on YouTube. The Jackdaw and the…
  • The Peasant and the Apple Tree By Aesop
    The Peasant and the Apple Tree by Aesop for ESL students with a video, list of vocabulary in context, and questions for discussion The Peasant and the Apple Tree is now in the public domain available on Gutenberg Project. Video of the Peasant and the Apple Tree Watch this video on YouTube. The Peasant and…
  • From Riches to Rags: The Adventures of Sinbad
    From Riches to Rags: The Adventures of Sinbad for ESL students with a video, vocabulary practice in real context, and questions for discussion Video of the Adventures of Sinbad Watch this video on YouTube. The Adventures of Sinbad This story is about a man named Sinbad. After his father’s death, Sinbad inherited a great fortune.…
  • The Hare and the Hound by Aesop for ESL Students
    The Hare and the Hound by Aesop for ESL students with a video, list of vocabulary and related proverbs to improve your English naturally through interesting and meaningful short stories and fables. The Hare and the Hound is now in the public domain available on Gutenberg Project. Video of the Hare and the Hound Watch…
  • Learn English with 100+ Best Aesop’s Fables + Videos
    If you are an ESL learner and like to learn English with best Aesop’s fables, then this article has been written for you. For ESL students, navigating the complexities of the English language can feel like venturing into a new world. Aesop’s Fables, those timeless tales passed down through generations, offer a surprisingly effective and…