English Short Stories For Intermediate Learners: 8 Unconventional Short Stories to Grow Your Vocabulary and Learn English the Fun Way!

that you will not understand everything you read in a story.
It is completely normal that there are things you do not understand when you
read. If you do not understand a word or a sentence, it does not mean you are
"stupid" or "not good enough". It simply means you are in the process of
learning English… just like everybody else.
So, what should you do when you find a difficult word? Here are a few
ideas:
1. Look at the word and see if it is familiar in any way. Depending on your
mother tongue, there might be a similar word in your language. Take a
guess - you might surprise yourself!
2. Read the whole sentence many times. As you read that sentence
repeatedly, think about everything that has happened in the story. Try to
guess the meaning of the whole sentence – not just the difficult word.
This takes practice, but is often easier than you think!
3. Make a note of the word in a notebook and check the meaning later.
4. Sometimes, you might find a verb that you do not recognise. Or perhaps
you do not understand why the verb is being used, and that may frustrate

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you. But, is it absolutely necessary for you to know this right now? Can
you still understand the story? Usually, if you have managed to
recognise the main verb, that is enough. Instead of getting frustrated,
simply notice how the verb is being used, and then carry on reading!
5. If all the other steps fail, or you simply "have to know" the meaning of a
particular word, you can look it up in a dictionary. However, try not to
do this unless you have to.
These steps are designed to do something very important: to train you to
handle reading independently and without help. The more you can develop this
skill, the better you will be at reading. And, of course, the more you can read, the
more you will learn!
Remember that the purpose of reading is not to understand every word in the
story. The purpose of reading is simply to enjoy the story! Therefore, if you do
not understand a word and you cannot guess what the word means from the
context, simply try to keep reading. Learning to be happy without understanding
everything you read in English is a powerful skill to have because you become
an independent and intelligent learner.

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