Macmillan Literature Collections

What are they?

The Macmillan Literature Collections are collections of authentic short stories, either written in, or translated into English. Each collection contains five or six carefully chosen stories, ranging from classic to modern, grouped together under themes that range from Horror Stories to Love Stories, from Science Fiction Stories to American Stories. They are designed to be read for pleasure and all the stories are printed in their original version, with no grading or abridging.  

What’s the idea behind them?

The collections act as a bridge between graded readers and authentic literary texts. Reading a short story can be very motivating. It takes much less time than reading a novel. Often they can be read in one sitting and the sense of achievement, of having understood and captured the atmosphere and emotion of a complete story can give an immense amount of satisfaction. It can help encourage extensive reading and give students the confidence they need to start exploring the wide world of English language literature on their own.

What’s the link with onestopenglish?

Onestopenglish is offering audio serializations of eight stories from the collections to be shared in class. Each story is a classic example of its genre, written by authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack London, D.H. Lawrence and Edith Wharton. Each story is told in monthly instalments. Each instalment is accompanied by comprehensive teacher’s notes, including suggestions for extension activities, plus student worksheets and a full transcript and glossary. 

How can the spoken stories help my students?

The stories encourage extensive listening, helping the students to extend their attention spans and giving them an authentic spoken word experience. If they enjoy the experience, it could well give them the confidence and motivation they need to look for more stories that they can either read or listen to outside the classroom. Encouraging reading and listening for pleasure also encourages autonomy and helps our students extend their learning beyond the walls of the classroom. The lesson plans also provide opportunities for intensive listening, focusing in on details and features of pronunciation and taking a close look at how sounds and rhythms aid and enhance the story-telling. 

For more tips and advice on using literature in the English classroom see this article by Lindsay Clandfield.

Where do I start?

The Terror of Blue John Gap by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from the Horror Stories collection is complete and ready to use in your classes. We have also just launched the first story from the American Stories collection, O Henry’s The Gift of the Magi. The first parts of both stories are free for all onestopenglish users. I hope you enjoy them!

Ceri Jones