questions on Learning English through Short Stories
Compiled by Melinda Lo
I : Question types:
reading and appreciating short stories
1. A student at your school has
posted this blog on the Intranet for your school:
I really can’t see why we study short
stories. Nobody writes them anymore
and nobody reads them. They hardly
prepare us for a job – Electives like Workplace Communication are much more
useful. I say get rid of the
Language Arts Electives and give us more courses that will prepare us for
Write a letter in response to
this, either agreeing or disagreeing with Keith. Do not give an address and sign your letter ‘Billy Ho.’
2. ‘The best way to improve one’s
English is to read short stories.’ Do
you agree or disagree with this statement?
Write an article for your school magazine
expressing your viewpoints on learning English through short stories.
3. Your English teacher, Miss
Thomson, wants to interest students in short stories. She has asked you to think of ways to get
students interested in them.
Write a proposal to your teacher
explaining what kinds of short stories would appeal to students nowadays (think
about the kinds of story plots, characters, central themes and conflict they
would like). Give advice to Miss Thomson
on how she should promote books of short stories to students, for example, by
developing a website, a poster, a trailer or a Podcast.
4. You are the chairperson of the
school English Club. Your club wants to
organize a creative writing class for Secondary 1 students. The aim of the class is to teach them how to
write short stories and help them improve their English.
Write a proposal to the school principal,
explaining how the class will be conducted.
Tell the principal what the students will learn and how they can benefit
from the short stories writing class.
5. ‘Students can learn better
English from reading short stories than doing grammar exercises.’ Write an essay in which you either
strongly support this statement or strongly disagree with this
statement. Provide at least three
reasons to support your opinion.
6. Your school has been putting a
lot of effort in promoting the reading of English short stories. However, the results have been
disappointing. Write a letter to the
editor of the school magazine explaining why this is so. Conclude by expressing your opinion on the
7. A group of students in Form
Four want some advice on which Electives to choose next year. Your teacher has asked you to write a flyer
for the short story elective to persuade students to study it. Write a persuasive flyer, covering:
you have learnt about short stories in this Elective
short stories are a valuable subject to study
the students will enjoy about the Elective
benefits they can gain from this Elective
8. A Hong Kong radio station has
recently started a Book Club to help Hong Kong
students improve their English by reading short stories. You called the programme host, Mr. Leung, to
tell him about some of the problems facing Hong Kong
secondary students in the English classroom and the reasons why some students
do not like reading short stories in their second language (English) .
Based on this experience, write a letter
to the editor of a youth magazine expressing your views on learning English
through short stories. Share your views
about the effectiveness of using English short stories in classroom language
9. You have received a letter
from your younger brother, Patrick, who is studying in Australia. In the letter, Patrick tells you that as part
of an assignment, he had to write a short story. Patrick knows nothing about writing short
stories. So, he is asking you for
Write a reply letter to Patrick,
explaining what he should pay attention to when he writes a short story. Give him some advice on how to make the story
10. You are the chairperson of the
school English Society. You want to
create an online school magazine to introduce English short stories to
students. Write a proposal to the school
principal outlining your plan for the online magazine. You may want to describe what you plan to
include in the online magazine and how you can encourage students to read short
choosing short stories
11. You are Chris Wong, chairman
of the English Society. You will
recommend an English short story for your members to discuss in the next
meeting. Write an email to your teacher
advisor explaining why you think your chosen story will interest your
members. Include your comments on how
the story ends.
12. You are Chris Wong, a member
of the Film-making Society in your school.
Your chairman, Ronny Lee, has asked you to suggest a short story which
would make a good film. Write an email
to him recommending a short story that you have read and explaining why it will
make a good film.
13. You have been asked to enter a
competition to nominate the best short story you have read. The winning entry will be broadcast on Radio Television Hong Kong. Choose one of the stories you have read in
this Elective and write an essay, explaining:
kind of short story it is
the plot is
it would be suitable for radio broadcast
it appeals to you so much
14. You are the secretary of the
school English Club. Last week, you were
invited to judge the entries for a short story competition submitted by
students. You have been asked to write a
report on the qualities of the short stories, the most common themes and the
most popular story plots. Describe the
winner’s short story and why you think he/she won the competition.
C. on writing short stories – choosing a
15. Write a fable based on the
proverb: ‘Look before you leap.’
16. An English newspaper in Hong Kong is organizing a short story competition for
senior form students. The topic for this
year’s competition is as follows:
newspaper is accepting entries now and you would like to enter the
competition. Write a short story based on the topic above.
17. An English newspaper in Hong Kong is organizing a short story competition for
senior form students. The topic for this
year’s competition is as follows:
The newspaper is accepting entries now
and you want to enter the competition.
Write a short story based on the topic above.
18. Your English teacher has asked
your class to write a funny story based on your personal experience. Write the story.
19. Has anything happened to you,
your family or your friends that would make a good short story? Write a short story about the event. You can tell the story either in the first person
(‘I’) or the third person (‘he/she’) as you wish.
20. As part of the elective
module, your teacher asked your class to read some short stories about ghosts
and supernatural power. Write a letter
to your best friend in the UK
describing one of the ghost stories you have read. You may tell him what the story is about, why
you like it and what other genres of stories you would like to read in the
21. Your English teacher has given
you the following writing assignment:
‘Write a short story in which this
sentence plays an important part – Nothing is impossible.’
on creating the setting
22. Last summer, you went to a
tropical island in Japan
with your parents. Below are some
photographs you took during your trip.
You were so inspired by the beautiful
scenery of the island and the friendliness of the people that you want to write
a short story about the island and its people.
You can use the photographs above as the setting for your story.
23. You are attending a creative
writing class. The class tutor has asked
you to think of a suitable Hong Kong setting
for a murder mystery story. You know a
suitable place. Describe the place (it
could be a hotel room, a building, a street or a district). Explain why it will be a good choice for the
24. You are taking part in a short
story competition organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board. One requirement of the story is that some, or
all, of the story should be set in a well-known part of Hong
Kong that is popular with tourists. Write your story and give it a title.
25. Your English teacher has asked
you to write a short story based on the life of Hong Kong
people in the 1970s. To research for the
story, you have asked your parents what life was like in the 1970s. Write an email to your sister in Canada, telling her what you have learned from
your parents and how life was like in Hong Kong
at that time.
on character building
26. You saw a middle-aged man
sitting on a bench in a big shopping mall in Causeway Bay
one day. He was dressed fashionably but
his clothes and shoes looked rather worn-out.
You suspect that he was homeless.
The sight of the man gave you an idea for a short story. Write an email to your friend Elle,
describing the man in more detail and telling Elle about your idea for the
story – the setting, the characters, the plot and the ending.
on developing plot / story outline
27. During the last Christmas and
New Year holiday, you wrote a short story and sent it to a local English
magazine. To your surprise, the magazine
published your story and the reader’s response has been very positive. The magazine has even asked you to write a
sequel to the story. Write a blog entry
to tell what your story is about, where you got the idea from, and also your
plan for the sequel to the first story.
28. You have won a scholarship to
attend a creative writing course in a holiday retreat in Australia. After a few days, you finally have time to
update your weblog. Describe your
experiences on the course and of life at the holiday retreat, and say how they
have given you some ideas for writing short stories.
29. Your teacher has asked you to
research on the theme ‘betrayal’ in order to prepare you for a short story
writing project. Write a letter to your
friend Helen in the UK, telling her what you have planned to write about in the
short story that has ‘betrayal’ as the theme, who the main characters are, what
the setting is like and how the story ends.
Sign your letter ‘Chris Wong’.
G. on writing good openings and closings / twists
30. Write a short story which
“I had never witnessed anything as awful
as I saw that night ….”
31. Your English teacher has given
you a writing assignment. You have to
write a short story that leads up to the following ending:
‘To this day, people still remember the
day when the big waves took so many lives.’
32. Your friend, who has written a
short story, was given a low grade by his English teacher. Below are the first and last paragraphs of
her short story.
was early in the morning. A man was
walking his dog in Victoria Park. He
bought a newspaper from a 7Eleven store
nearby. He sat on a bench reading his
newspaper. When he grew tired of
reading, he ……
did not say a word. Everything that
happened was nothing but a dream.
Write an email to your friend explaining
why he was given a low grade for his short story. Give him some advice on how to make the
opening in the story more interesting.
Tell him what descriptive language he can use to add dramatic effect to
his story. Suggest how he can improve
33. You are a member of the school
English Club. Your club organized a
field trip to Lantau
Island last week. After the trip, your English teacher asked
you to write a short story for the school magazine. The story has to be based on your experience
on Lantau Island and must contain a twist or a
surprise ending. Write the story.
34. You are Chris. Your friend, Pat, has written an email to you
asking for advice on writing a short story for a competition. This is what Pat wrote:
I’m thinking of writing
something about two girls competing in an ice skating competition for my
entry to a short story competition.
The two girls do not like each other and are trying to win at all
costs. The plot sounds a bit
ordinary. Can you suggest how I can
spice it up? Any ideas on how I should
begin and end my story? Please don’t
say that they become friends in the end.
I’m thinking hard on a twist.
Write a reply email to Pat giving advice
on her chosen topic and how to make her story interesting. Give some specific examples of suitable
opening and closing sentences and suggest how she should end the story.
on writing short stories in
are Chris and you like writing short stories.
Write a reply to your friend Alan who sent you the following email:
I’m thinking of entering a
story-writing competition. The topic
is ‘A big surprise’.
I know that you are good at story
writing. Can you suggest a good idea
or situation to get me started?
Another thing is, have you got any good tips or techniques about how
to write a good story?
36. Your favourite short story
writer is coming to coming to town and the local newspaper has invited students
to interview him or her. Write an
application letter to the newspaper stating:
you are a fan of this writer
he or she has written that has particularly impressed you
you think you would be a suitable interviewer
kinds of questions you would ask the writer
You do not need to write an
address and you can sign off your letter as ‘Chris Tan’.
37. You are Chris Wong. Your friend, Pam, wants to write a short
story for a competition. Write her an
email giving her advice about:
else you think is important in a short story.
38. Read the advertisement below.
The Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition
Writer’s Digest is now accepting entries for the 11th
Annual Short Story Competition.
Don’t miss your opportunity to enter a prestigious competition only
for Hong Kong students. We are now giving away more than $10,000 in prize money to
All winners in the competition will be notified by 3rd
December 2010 and their stories will be published in a local newspaper.
You entered the above competition and won
the first prize. Write an email to your
best friend in England
telling him about your win. Describe the
story you wrote, what inspired you to write the story, why you think you won
the competition and the prize you received.
39. Your school recently invited a
famous author of short stories to give a talk at your school. You attended the talk. Now, your English teacher has asked you to
write an article for the school magazine describing the talk and how the author
has inspired you to try your hand at writing short stories. You can also talk about the questions
frequently asked by students and how well received the talk was.
40. You are a reporter for your
school newspaper, which has just conducted a survey on secondary students’ choice
of short stories. Write an article
giving a report on the survey results.
You may wish to include at least three of the following elements:
short stories writers
openings or endings
II: Types of writing:
to the editor
Chan, G (2010) Teach & Practice for the HKDSE Paper 2 Writing. Pilot
Duncan, J & Sutton, Martin (2010) Progression for the HKDSE Paper 2Writing. Precise
Esser, D (2010) Performance Plus for the HKDSE Paper 2 Writing 5’. Pilot
Esser, D & Chan, G (2010) Learning English through Short Stories’. Pilot
Jones, H. (2010) Star Summit
– Short Stories’. Star
“Life is a handful of short
stories, pretending to be a novel.” - Anonymous
The original version of this list, with added graphics, can be downloaded here: