Category: Language Level

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2010-2019 All Audiobook CEFR B1 CEFR B2 eBook English Extensive Length (more than 8 hrs) High school (grades 9+) LGBTQI* Novel Physical Format Print

What if it’s us

This romantic comedy novel published by Becky Albertalli and Adam Sivera depicts the stories of the two very different boys Arthur and Ben whose lives seem to collide and be pushed apart at the same time.

Year of Release: 2019

Author(s): Becky Albertalli, Adam Sivera

Preview: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36341204-what-if-it-s-us

Further information (link):

ISBN: 0062795252

ebook URL: https://www.amazon.de/What-If-Its-Us-English-ebook/dp/B07B3LJ6QT/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Audiobook URL: https://www.amazon.de/What-If-Its-Us/dp/B07F3ZTB4F/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Online text:

Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:

Further comments for teachers:

Categories
2020-today All CEFR B1 CEFR B2 English Extracts - Well Suited for Teaching With Extracts High school (grades 9+) Medium Length (up to 8 hrs) Novel Physical Format Poetry Uncategorized

Poet X

Poet X tells the story of teenage girl Xiomara growing up in the United States feeling lost and finding herself in the poetry she writes. The poet-style novel describes her family, school, and love life by mediating everyday struggles for teenager coming-off age. Intercultural and intergenerational tensions are evident in the book and challenge heteronormative assumptions of gender, age, and ethnicity.

Year of Release: 2020

Author(s): Elizabeth Alcevedo

Preview: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33294200-the-poet-x

Further information (link):

ISBN:

ebook URL: https://www.amazon.de/Poet-X-Elizabeth-Acevedo-ebook/dp/B07RN4RJVP/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1637328546&sr=8-1

Audiobook URL:

Online text:

Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:

The chapters are written in verse form and can be used as extracts.



Further comments for teachers:

Categories
2010-2019 All Audiobook CEFR B1 CEFR B2 eBook English Extensive Length (more than 8 hrs) High school (grades 9+) Novel Print

We Set the Dark on Fire

As a young adult version of Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, We Set the Dark on Fire mirrors real world issues of immigration and equality by describing the Medio School of Girls, an institute that trains distinguished young women for the roles in their dystopian society. Depending on the girl’s quality, she will either ran a husband’s household or take care of his children. The book traces Daniela’s story at the school and brings pressing questions of gender equality, diversity, sexuality, and immigration to the forefront.

Year of Release: 2019

Author(s): Tehlor Kay Meija

Preview: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37868569-we-set-the-dark-on-fire

Further information (link):

ISBN: 0062691325

ebook URL: https://www.amazon.de/We-Set-Dark-Fire-English-ebook/dp/B078R3DFK3

Audiobook URL: https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B07N7M3RY4/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Online text:

Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:

Further comments for teachers:

As part of a series, they could be used as a sole set of texts for teaching throughout a semester. Level of English is B1-B2+.

Categories
1946-1999 All CEFR B2 English Extracts - Well Suited for Teaching With Extracts High school (grades 9+) Novel Print Short Story Uncategorized Very Short Length (up to 20 min)

The house on Mango street

The House on Mango Street is Sandra Cisneros’s greatly admired novel of a Latina girl growing up in Chicago. It tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn’t want to belong — not to her rundown neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza’s story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become.

Categories
2010-2019 All CEFR A2 CEFR B1 CEFR B2 Date of publication Extracts - Well Suited for Teaching With Extracts High school (grades 9+) Language Level Length Other Text Formats Physical Format Print Short Length (up to 2 hrs) Text Format

Jane, the Fox and Me

Book cover

Jane, the Fox and Me, written by Fanny Britt and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault is a graphic coming-of-age story for pre-teens and teens as much as it is a story for adults. It is also a great book for language learners. It is easy to connect to the characters, who range from cool-kid gangs to everyday nerds and outcasts. There are also lots of fun language resources to explore. The visual world of the book is a real treat as it will support language learners in understanding the narrative in depth.

Year of Release: 2013

Author(s): Fanny Britt, Isabelle Arsenault (illustrator)

Preview: https://www.walker.co.uk/Jane-the-Fox-and-Me-9781406353044.aspx

Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17214302-jane-the-fox-me

ISBN: 9781406353044

ebook URL: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Jane_the_Fox_and_Me?id=AbRAAQAAQBAJ&hl=en&gl=US

Audiobook URL:

Online text: https://www.helblinglanguages.com/int/en/blog/beat-the-bullies-through-books-a-review-of-jane-the-fox-me

Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:

Further comments for teachers:

Explore the visual world of the book and use it as a starting point for discussions. The typography, the colours and the layout of the pages add new layers of meaning to the written narrative. You can also talk about the intertextual references to Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

Categories
2010-2019 All Available For Free (Open Access) CEFR B1 High school (grades 9+) Online Poetry Print Uncategorized Very Short Length (up to 20 min)

Masks

A very short poem about feeling different and about the importance of being your true self. Illustrated by the author.

(From the volume: Everything On It)

Year of Release: 2011

Author(s): Shel Silverstein

Preview:

Further information (link):

ISBN: ISBN 10: 0061998168ISBN 13: 9780061998164

ebook URL:

Audiobook URL:

Online text: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/masks?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_fVtRlDijt2OPs4sH9XwMt8X6ajdtb.fLhmMrXjgrynw-1634156927-0-gqNtZGzNAjujcnBszQhl

Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/masks?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_fVtRlDijt2OPs4sH9XwMt8X6ajdtb.fLhmMrXjgrynw-1634156927-0-gqNtZGzNAjujcnBszQhl



Further comments for teachers:

The language of this poem is very simple, but you may want to use it as a starting point for discussions that go far beyond B1 level.

Categories
2000-2009 All CEFR B2 Extensive Length (more than 8 hrs) High school (grades 9+) Other Text Formats Print

Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir tells the story of her family in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in the 1980s. AFter a few years, Marjane’s family decided that she should be sent to Austria to live at a boarding school to avoid harassment. She talks about her homesickness, the discrimination she faced and how she coped with life in a strange culture.

Year of Release: 2002

Author(s): Marjane Satrapi

Preview:

Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/991197.The_Complete_Persepolis?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=SBo8pdhzlK&rank=2

ISBN: 9780099523994

ebook URL:

Audiobook URL:

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Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:

Further comments for teachers:

Film also available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808417/

Categories
1946-1999 All CEFR B2 High school (grades 9+) Medium Length (up to 8 hrs) Poetry Print

Five Sugars Please

A collection of poetry about life, family, culture, poetry in general.

Year of Release: 1993

Author(s): John Hegley

Preview: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1338550.Five_Sugars_Please

Further information (link): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl1efoOEDzg

ISBN: 0413678806

ebook URL:

Audiobook URL:

Online text:

Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:

Further comments for teachers:

Lots of videos are available with Hegley introducing poetry and his poetry.

Categories
2010-2019 All Available For Free (Open Access) CEFR B2 High school (grades 9+) Online Poetry Very Short Length (up to 20 min)

Panama

Poem about a person migrating to a country where years later he forgot his mother tongue and all the memories he had of his homeland.

Year of Release: 2014

Author(s): Ethelbert Miller

Preview:

Further information (link): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/e-ethelbert-miller

ISBN:

ebook URL:

Audiobook URL:

Online text: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/panama-3

Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:

Further comments for teachers:

The poem is easy, it has very simple language. More poems by Ethelbert Miller:
Other poems also by Ethelbert Miller: https://www.poemhunter.com/eugene-ethelbert-miller/poems/

Categories
2010-2019 All CEFR B2 High school (grades 9+) Medium Length (up to 8 hrs) Other Text Formats Print

I Was Their American Dream

Malaka Gharib grew up in the United States as a Filipino Egyptian American. Her parents divorced, and she stayed with her mother, visiting her dad in Egypt every summer. Throughout high school and college, she was seeking an answer to the question: Who am I? She had difficulty finding people with similar backgrounds, so she always felt she was the odd one out. Her graphic memoir tracks this journey.

Year of Release: 2019

Author(s): Malaka Gharib

Preview: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/575400/i-was-their-american-dream-by-malaka-gharib/

Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40909448-i-was-their-american-dream?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ziTd6P5Egh&rank=1

ISBN: 9780525575122

ebook URL:

Audiobook URL:

Online text:

Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:

Chapter 4 deals with Malaka’s self-perception as a high school student torn between two parental cultures and the mainstream American culture.



Further comments for teachers:

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