Book Club Ideas for Adult English Language Learners

[brittanyfairies]

Hi, I'm an ESL teacher in France, and one of the activities I would like to pursue with my students is to have a book club, where they read chapters of a book and then come together to discuss it in English. Could anyone give me some suggestions of a not too long, easy to read book. Thanks very much.

What about Michael Morpurgo books like War Horse ?

If you're wanting classics there is Animal Farm, of Mice and Men, The Picture of Dorian Grey, a Room with a View.... all are short and clear, with room for discussion. I also read Foster by Claire Keegan recently. Only 100 pages and very emotional.

This is one you probably won't choose to take up, if teaching adults, but I shall mention it because of how much it helped me. When I was first learning French I read a translation of Harry Potter. Doing this in English makes so much more sense, it's familiar, it gives insight into our culture, it's aimed at children so the language is accessible. Worth a thought?

Those are all great ideas. I had completely forgotten about Michael Morpurgo. The classics are also a great idea.

I have also suggested Harry Potter to them but they are not interested. I do use it for young adults though with mixed success.

I will have a look at Foster as well.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Young adults might enjoy the Hunger Games trilogy, I found them easy in Spanish as the sentences were quite short and punchy.

How about Brigitte Jones Diary?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.
The Great Gatsby.

Graham Norton’s novels are a very easy read and enjoyable. (I read one in German on holiday when there were no English books available and it was doable so I imagine it would be the same for an English learner).

I was going to suggest The Curious Incident too.

Dorian Grey would be far too difficult for people learning the language. I'm not convinced that some wouldn't object to certain terms used in Of Mice and Men either.

I second Claire Keegan, although Small Things Like These might be thematically difficult for them to understand. Maybe go for her short story collect, Antarctica?

Agree the language in Dorian is not easy. It would depend on the group. I would read first before recommending. (But it is short, so not too much commitment, and they might have heard of it which is nice).

Of Mice and Men I read for GCSE and if a group 16 year olds can understand it's of its time (and talk about this) I'd expect educated adults in a foreign language book club to manage ok. But again, a lot depends on the crowd.

I actually really like the Bridget Jones idea. Light, fun and familiar.

What about a verse novel? They seem to be very popular recently and you would have the interest of the novel but also the shorter sentence structure of poetry that might be easier for foreign learners. The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow is a very popular with children’s one. Crossing the Line is a YA one but I’m sure there are adult ones too.

I read the original James Bond novels when I was learning English 😀

Junk by Melvin Burgess is short, easy to read - a YA book but feels quite adult - lots to discuss about addiction and recovery.