Improving students reading comprehension at my hao high school by using short stories in teaching reading

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI UNIVERSITY Nguyen thi Ly Improving students reading comprehension at My Hao high school by using short stories in teaching reading Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements of the Degree of Master of Arts in TESOL Supervisor: Le Quoc Hanh, M.A Hanoi October 2009 Acknowledgments I would like to send my gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Le Quoc Hanh, M.A for his precious instruction and encouragement without which I can not complete this thesis My sincere thanks go to Ms Nguyen Thai Ha and her colleagues at the Department of Post Graduate Studies for their understandings and guidance to all the lectures for their comprehensive instructions and presentations during the course I would like to say big thanks to my colleagues and students at My Hao high school for their good will and cooperation during the action plan My deep love goes to my family for their great physical and spiritual support All the shortcomings belong to me and constructive feedbacks are highly appreciated i Abstract It is assumed that the more students read the better reader they become Therefore, establishing students the habit of reading is very necessary especially in second language learning The overall purpose of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of the using short story reading activities (as extra reading activities) at My Hao high school Thus survey questionnaires and class observations are used to investigate the teacher and the students' attitude towards the using short stories in teaching ands learning reading and to examine the students' preferences for students' reading activities applied by the researcher The results of the study show that both teachers and students are fully aware of the sheer importance of short story reading activities to the students' comprehension Among them, summarizing the story in spoken or written form appears to be the most interesting activities After this activity, the students not only comprehend deeply the short story but they also practice speaking and writing skills Secondly, the students find it easier to comprehend the story by filling in the map, chart or using graphic, and it is interesting to ask and answer questions relating problems or themes in the story to their real life Hopefully, the thesis can be considered as a small contribution for teaching at My Hao high school ii List of abbreviations FL: Foreign Language EFL: English as Foreign Language ER: Extensive Reading ESP: English for Specific Purposes AR: Action Research L2: Second Language SLA: Second Language Acquisition T: Teacher Ss: Students iii List of figures, charts Figure 1: The process of reading comprehension Figure 2: The process of doing action research Chart 1: Students’ attitude toward reading skill Chart 2: Factors affecting Ss’ reading comprehension Chart 3: Ss’ comment about reading text in English 10 Chart 4: Ss’ opinion about how to improve their reading comprehension Chart 5: Ss’ preferences to different kinds of extra reading materials in English Chart 6: Ss’ opinion about benefit of using short stories in learning reading Chart 7: Ss’ preferences for reading short-story-activities Chart 8: The results of the pre-test Chart 9: Factors affecting Ss’ reading comprehension Chart 10: Ss’ opinion about the short-story-reading-activities that the teacher applied Chart 11: The results of the post test Chart 12: Pre-test and post test comparison iv Table of contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I ABSTRACT II LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS III LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS IV TABLE OF CONTENTS V CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY 1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY .3 1.4 METHOD OF THE STUDY 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.6 OUT LINE OF THE STUDY CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 READING COMPREHENSION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS 2.1.1 Reading comprehension 2.1.2 The importance of learning reading comprehension skills .6 2.2 FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS' READING COMPREHENSION 2.2.1 Background knowledge 2.2.2 Motivation 2.2.3 Teacher’s teaching method .9 2.2.4 Materials 11 2.2.5 Vocabulary 11 2.3 SHORT STORY AND ITS BENEFITS 13 2.3.1 Short story and its benefits to high school students .13 2.3.2 Choosing the suitable short story for high school students 14 2.3.3 How to use short story in teaching reading 16 2.4 PREVIOUS STUDIES 18 2.4.1 Foreign research 18 2.4.2 Vietnamese research .19 CHAPTER 3: THE METHODOLOGY 21 3.1 WHAT IS ACTION RESEARCH? 21 3.2 ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS 22 3.3 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS 22 3.3.1 Questionnaires 22 3.3.2 Interviews 23 3.3.3 Observations 23 3.3.4 Pre-test and post-test (Appendix 7) .24 3.4 THE SETTING AND THE PARTICIPANTS 25 3.4.1 The setting .25 3.4.2 The subjects 25 3.4.3 The observer 25 3.5 ACTION RESEARCH PROCEDURE 25 3.5.1 Identifying a problem 26 3.5.2 Collecting data 26 3.5.3 Analyzing data and generating hypothesis 26 3.5.4 Planning action .27 3.5.5 Implementing the action plan .27 3.5.6 Collecting data to monitor change 28 v 3.5.7 Analyzing data and evaluating the change 28 CHAPTER 4: THE RESULT 29 4.1 PRE-DATA .29 4.1.1 Data from questionnaire (Appendix 1) .29 4.1.2 Data from the interview (Appendix 3) 35 Data from observation (Appendix 4) 35 4.1.4 Pre test (Appendix 7A) 37 4.2 THE POST DATA .37 4.2.1 Data from observation (Appendix 5) 37 4.2.2 Data from questionnaire (Appendix 2) .40 4.2.3 Post test 41 4.3 ACTION RESEARCH EVALUATION 42 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 44 5.1 MAJOR FINDINGS 44 5.1.1 Major finding from the pre-data 44 5.1.2 Major finding from the post data 44 5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS .44 5.2.1 Using short story reading activity as an extra reading activity 44 5.2.2 Using comprehension activities appropriately and flexibly to check students outside class reading 45 5.2.3 Encouraging the students’ internal factors 46 5.3 LIMITATION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 46 5.4 CONCLUSIONS .46 REFERENCES 48 APPENDIX 52 APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 52 APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 55 (FOR STUDENTS) 55 APPENDIX 3: 56 QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW WITH OTHER ENGLISH TEACHERS OF READING 56 APPENDIX 4: OBSERVATION SHEET 58 OBSERVATION SHEET A (UNIT 10) 58 APPENDIX 4: OBSERVATION SHEET 60 OBSERVATION SHEET B (UNIT 14) 60 APPENDIX 5: OBSERVATION SHEET 62 APPENDIX 6A: ACTION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION 64 OF USING SHORT STORY-READING ACTIVITIES 64 APPENDIX 6B: A DETAILED LESSON PLAN 66 APPENDIX 7A: THE PRE- TEST 67 APPENDIX B: THE POST - TEST 69 vi Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter will give you an overview of what this thesis report is all about Understanding the details of the study is not important at this stage; you will see them in the later chapters The intent of this chapter is to introduce the general frame including: i) the background and problem statement of the study, ii) the aim of the study, iii) the research questions, iv) the scope of the study, v) the significance of the study, and vi) the outline of the thesis 1.1 Background of the study Of the four language skills, reading seems to be the most important one because in the learning process, it helps the students develop other skills and provides knowledge on the target language Carrell (1983:1) emphasized "for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as second or foreign language" Educational researchers have found that there is a strong correlation between reading and academic success In other words, a student who is a good reader is more likely to well in school and pass exams than a student who is a weak reader They have also found a strong correlation between reading and vocabulary knowledge In other words, students who have a large vocabulary are usually good readers Being aware of the importance of learning reading, authors of new English 10 have chosen interesting topics for reading lessons with the aim to promote students in reading and improve their reading comprehension However some of them are not familiar with students' genre and reading in the text book only is not enough to enhance students' interest in reading and reading comprehension Thonis, (1970) suggested: Comprehension skills depend upon two major factors: the background of experiences, from which concepts have been acquired, and the speed, accuracy, and richness of meanings which students bring to word recognition The advancement of skill in understanding what is read receives major emphasis during the intermediate and high school years As students become more efficient readers, the written language which they meet in books becomes a source for larger vocabularies, for increased knowledge, and for deeper comprehension of themselves and the world around them Thus beside the reading texts in the text book students need to read more outside class room to enrich their vocabulary as well as their background knowledge That means students must read extensively So many studies and researches have been conducted to find out ways to improve reading effectiveness Recently, there have been a lot of researches about the effect of extensive reading in improving students’ reading comprehension Colin Davis (1995:335) suggested that any classroom will be the poorer for the lack of an extensive reading program and will be “unable to promote its students’ language development in all aspects as effectively as if such a program were present” He also claimed that such a program will make students more positive about reading, improve their overall comprehension skills, and give them a wider passive and active vocabulary Myuskens (1983) affirmed that "with students at the beginning and intermediate levels, instructors can use literacy text for language practice, reading comprehension and possible aesthetic appreciation” Strong (1996) also stated that “extensive reading of literature can encourage students to develop positive attitudes toward reading” At My Hao high school, the teaching and learning reading are mostly based on text book Therefore, the students seem not to be interested in reading lesson Most of them feel reading is difficult and boring even they are afraid of reading Thus, after reading a text they often don’t understand much about its content or they misunderstand author’s ideas When studying in a reading lesson, students often experience the lack of background knowledge as well as vocabulary about the topics they are reading Other important reasons are their lack of motivation and time In the word of foreign language, the most popular expression might be “practice makes perfect” That is the reason why the teachers have to find ways to enhance students read more and to improve their reading comprehension From the point of view: students only read what they are interested in, the researcher come to the study of using short story in teaching reading Because among literature materials, short story seems to be the most suitable with high school students of all Students at this age are curious and they like reading short stories Collie and Slater (1991: 196) list the advantages of using short stories for language teachers: short stories are practical as their length is long enough to cover entirely in one or two class sessions; they are not complicated for students to work with on their own; they have a variety of choice for different interests and tastes; and they can be used with all levels (beginner to advanced), all ages (young learners to adults) and all classes (summer courses to evening classes) Moreover short stories don’t take much time Students can read them at the break, before going to bed, on the bus or when they are waiting for some one In addition, the new English 10 includes 16 units Each unit is about one certain topic such as daily routine, environment, sport, culture, people’s background etc Material about these topics can be easily found in short stories Also, this kind of material is not difficult for students to search and read 1.2 Aims of the study The study is to find down if the using short stories in teaching reading helps motivating students at My Hao high school in reading and improving their reading ability 1.3 Scope of the study The research aims at applying the using short story in teaching reading to grade 10 students at My Hao high school The subjects of the study are 50 students of class 10A3 at My Hao high school including 22 males and 28 females The age of those 50 students ranges from 16 to 17 Hopefully, the findings of the study may be applied in teaching reading to students at My Hao high school and others high schools in Vietnam 1.4 Method of the study  Methodology: Action research design is used by the researcher since it is the problem in my own class and I would like to improve my students' learning and my professional performance It is a practical action research because its purpose is to research a specific school situation with a view toward improving practice, to focus on a smallscale research project, to focus narrowly on a specific problem and to be undertaken by individual teacher within a high school  Data collection instruments: To answer the research questions of the study, the data are collected through questionnaires, interview, observation, and tests - The instrument used to collect data for the study on the problems and causes of the problem as well as the using short story in teaching reading is questionnaire - The interview: The main purposes of this data is to investigates the using extra reading materials especially short story in teaching reading of other teachers at My Hao high school and to make sure that the information collected from the questionnaire has its validity and reliability Appendix 4: observation sheet Observation sheet B (Unit 14) Class: 10A4 Date: Tuesday, 31, March, 2009 T’s activities Ss’ attitude towards SS’ involvement S’s interaction with T’s activities each other - Greeting - By pictures of famous - Most football players and teams students lets students to say names of because them then asks students to not work in pairs to ask and names of the - Not all students get -They estrange the find it involved in the information they are activities willingly quite sure - Some of them -Some students who of the spend time talking know much about answer questions given in the football players and privately book about the pictures un football teams in - football Only and are some interested in football - Call on some students to the pictures students who often liked the reading and check and correct watch football comprehend the text matches on TV or well who like football answered the questions correctly and they liked the activity very much - Listen carefully and write down the new words and their - By suggestion and meaning in the note explanation shows students books some - new words and vocabulary items the individually - Asks students to read the text in ten minutes Read - They find the 60 text reading a bit boring and difficult to understand because - Not all students get there are still many involved new words in the activities - The students find - Some of them - Let students work in pairs the reading lesson spend time talking and groups comprehension to tasks the boring and the privately in comprehension below the text tasks are difficult - Ss think about the answer individually - Most of the students can’t finish the tasks correctly - Call on some pairs and some students to check their answer 61 Appendix 5: observation sheet Observation sheet (Unit 14) Class: 10A4 Date: Wednesday, 11, February, 2009 T’s activities Ss’ attitude towards SS’ involvement S’s interaction with T’s activities each other - Greeting - By pictures of famous football - Many Ss wanted to - All students get -They exchange the players and teams lets students give the to say names of them then asks because answers involved in the information they had activities willingly students to work in pairs to ask known clearly about - Most of them -Most of the students and answer questions given in those football player spend the book about the pictures and teams time are interested in the discussing about reading and - Call on some students to the pictures with comprehend the text check and correct other partners - By suggestion explanation some shows new well and - Students pay great students attention words to Students the -The and activity students meaning of the new thoroughly to others because some of them are familiar with the students so when they to T’s listen explanation, they can understand or guess the meaning of the new words in ten minutes the learn new words words that they know vocabulary items - Asks students to read the text Start give reading immediately in 62 silence - Let students work in pairs and Many of Ss volunteer - All students get groups to the comprehension to give the answers involved in the tasks in below the text after finishing each activities task - All of them spend time discussing with their partners or - Call on some pairs and some group mates students to check their answer - Many of them give the correct -They find the reading answers interesting and easy - Most of the enough to understand students finish the tasks correctly 63 Appendix 6A: Action plan implementation Of using short story-reading activities Week Unit 1-2 Short story reading activities Work - Read short stories about topic: under sea world Group - Doing multiple choice True/ False exercises that work Time allowed 45’ focus on vocabulary and reading comprehension about the topic - Match a definition with a suitable paragraph of the stories 3-4 10 - Read short stories about topic: conservation Group - using graphic to re-present the stories’ contents work 45’ - retelling the stories in front of the whole class 5-6 11 - Read short stories about topic: national park Group -Asking and answering questions relating problems or work 45’ themes in the story to real life of the students Comparison, note points of similarity or differences of contents between a national park in Vietnam and a national park in the world 7-8 12 - Read short stories about topic music Group - Ask and answer questions relating problems or work 45’ themes in the story to real life of the students - Provide title for the story 9-10 13 - Read short stories about topic film and cinema Group - Re-order the events of the stories work 45’ - Provide title for the study 11-12 14 - Read stories about topic “ The world cup” Group - Ask and answer questions relating problems or work themes in the story to the students’ real lives - Use story maps to represent the contents of the stories 64 45’ 13-14 15 - Read short stories about topic “ City” Group - Reorder events of the stories work 45’ - Compare or notes points of similarities and differences of the two cities 15-16 16 - Read short stories about topic Group “ Historical places” work - Ask and answer questions relating problems or themes in the story to real lives of the students - Summary the stories in spoken form 65 45’ Appendix 6B: A detailed lesson plan Unit 10: Conservation (the separate period of checking students' reading at home) I/ aims: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to - Read better through the reading chosen short stories of their groups - Improve background knowledge and enrich vocabulary about conservation topic II/ Teaching aids: - Handouts of short stories about conservation topic - Graphics - Chalk and board III/ Method: communicative IV/ Procedures Time Activities 10 - Let students sit in groups with the same story Divide each groups a handout of a graphic - Ask students work in groups to fill the handout with information about their group's story 25 - Stick the graphic of each group on the board one by one - Invite one student of each group to look at the graphic and retell their groups' story in front of the whole class - Students from other groups, after listening to each story can make any questions and all the members of the group which has that short story have to answer their questions 10 - Let students work in pairs to ask and answer questions about conservation topic which relate to their real lives - Call on some pairs to check and give feed back 66 Appendix 7A: The Pre- test First term comprehension checking test Name: Class: I/ Read the text about Galileo Galilei and the exercises that follow Galileo Galilei was one of the first modern scientists He was born in Pisa, Italy, in 1564 At first he studied philosophy, but later he studied mathematics and astronomy He was interested in the way the earth and other planets move around the sun He found out several important facts about our world He also started a new way of working in science Before Galileo, scientists did not experiments They just guessed about how something happened Galileo was different He did not just make guesses He did experiments and watches to see what happened Galileo was famous for his study of how things fall He was the first person to experiments about this problem Before, people thought that heavy things always fell faster than light things He found out that this was not true He took a heavy ball and a light ball and he dropped them both from a high place They fell at the same speed This meant that weight is not important This is the law of falling bodies It is an important law for understanding our world The life of the scientist was not always easy in the 1500s For example, Galileo got into trouble because of his scientific ideas His ideas were not the same as the religious ideas at the time Many religious people did not agree with him During his whole life he had to worry about this He even went to prison for a while But no one could stop him from thinking He continued to look for scientific answers to his questions about the world A Match the paragraphs with the suitable headings; there is one extra Par a how Galileo's ideas caused problems for him Par b how Galileo became a modern scientist Par c Galileo's life and work d Galileo's experiments about how things fall B Read the statements about Galileo Write True (T) or False (F) for each, according to the information given If the information is not given in the passage, write Not Given (NG) Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy, in the late fifteen century 67 He was the fist modern scientist Before Galileo, scientists only guessed how things happened Galileo was the first to experiments about things fall He was sent to prison because he was not religious He continued to study about the world despite all the trouble II/ Read the article and the tasks that follow In the first part of the twentieth century, before a television set was a part of most households, radio programming was different from what it is now Children rushed home from school to listen to "Story Hour" Someone read an exciting story, or a part of a story, while the children's imaginations provided visual images to fit the spoken ones People listened to serials, stories that were broken into one-hour segments Because each hour ended with suspense, listeners had to tune in at the same time the next day to find out what would happen Families gathered around the radio at night to hear important news or to listen to favourite programmes Radio was an important form of home entertainment However, because of television, radio programming has changed Radio stories have become a thing of the past because people prefer both to watch and to hear Radio is now a medium that is used more often in a car than a home Because music and news are the easiest types of programmes to listen to in a car, they are the most common Radio, in fact, has become the music medium It provides music for all tastes, from country-western to classical A Complete the following sentences, using the words in the article We always in to Radio to hear the 10 o'clock news He chose Spain, but personally I'd to go to Greece The fire engine past us as we waited at the traffic lights Your theory doesn't the facts B Answer the following questions Why did radio programming changed? How did radio serials make people want to hear the continuation of the story the next day Why people prefer television to radio? Where did most of people listen to radio now? How is the radio now different from it was before? What did the children often while listening to radio? 68 Appendix B: The post - test Second term comprehension checking test Name: Class: I/ Read the following text about New York and the tasks follow New York is the world's most ethnically diverse city About one-third of New York's residents, over 2.6 million people, were born in other countries School kids in New York speak more than 120 languages The city is full of famous buildings that you may often see on television They include the Empire State Building, United Nation headquarters, Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Center The statue of Liberty stands in New York Harbor It has welcomed millions of immigrants to America Two of the world's tallest buildings once soared above New York's skyline They were the twin towers of the World Trade Center But terrorists flew airplanes into the towers and destroyed them on September 11, 2001 Central park is an oasis of greenery in the midst of New York's tall buildings It offers a zoo, a nature center, play grounds, paths for running and bicycling, and places for ice skating, roller skating and playing sports English explorer Henry Hudson in 1609 sailed up the river that now bears his name He was working for a Dutch company the company started a settlement at the mouth of the Hudson in 1624 They called it New Amsterdam The English captured the settlement in 1664 and renamed it New York Since colonial days New York has been an important city It was the U S capital from 1785 to 1790 New York passed Philadelphia in 1810 to become America's largest city New York grew because of its excellent harbor The port made it a center of trade Immigrants to the United States poured through the port A Match the paragraphs with the suitable headings; there is one extra Par a A city of land marks Par b A city of islands Par c People from every where d History of New York City 69 B Read the statements about New York Write True (T) or False (F) for each, according to the information given If the information is not given in the passage, write Not Given (NG) New York has residents from everywhere The statue of liberty is in the center of the city Central Park is one of the two tallest building in the world New York became the U.S.'s capital from 1785 to 1790 New York is the major center for the art New York harbor made the city a center of trade II/ Read the story, and then the tasks that follow Three Taiwanese fishermen were rescued yesterday from a small uninhabited island in the South Pacific The men had disappeared for more than three months They had left Taiwan in a small fishing boat and had planned a week - long trip On their fifth day, however, they were caught in a typhoon, and it badly damaged their boat Fortunately, none of the men was hurt After the storm had passed, though, they discovered that the engine wouldn't start, so their boat just drifted at sea for over a month During this time, the fishermen caught fish to eat and drank rain water to stay alive Finally, the boat drifted toward a small island When it got close enough the men jumped out and swam to shore On the island, they found fresh fruit and vegetables, and they continued to catch fish to eat The fishermen had lived on the island for two months when a passing ship rescued them Although the three men had lost a lot of weight, they were still in fairly good shape Their families had thought that the fishermen had lost their lives during the typhoon They were surprised and happy that the ship had found them and that they were "safe and sound" A Chose the meaning of the word/ phrase in italics An uninhabited island is one a with a lot of people living in it b with few people living in it 70 c with no people living in it A typhoon is a big tropical storm b a big fish c a big ship When the boat drifted at sea, a it was controlled by the fishermen b it was controlled by the engine c it went on the sea without anyone controlling it If the man were in good shape, a they were healthy b they were suffering a disease c they were overweight B Answer the following questions: How long were the fishermen missing? Where did they sail from? How long had they planed to be away? How was the boat damaged in the storm? What did they to stay alive? How were they rescued? 71 The Paper Trail by Arvin Dang Retrieved February 15, 2009 from http://www.helium.com Once upon a time there was a piece of paper It could all sorts of cool things Like bend, flex, fold, lie flat, stand up, even make paper airplanes The kids loved playing with it! They would draw on it, cut it out, make shapes, make airplanes on it But one day the paper found itself old, and wrinkled Too used up for the kids to keep playing with it And it was sad Before it knew what was going on, it found itself stuck at the bottom of the trash can It got sent out to the big dumpster where the trash men came and picked it up The little piece of paper was thrown into the truck with all the other papers who were old, wrinkled, and quite grumpy The journey was bumpy and windy, too long for such a tired piece of paper It went from light to dark, from wind to rain It was grabbed at and squished, and finally thrown onto a conveyer with the rest of the paper It quickly got sorted and pushed, and moved around The poor little piece of paper could very little in its weak condition Soon it saw a massive crusher and realized O NO! This is the end! There was so much I wanted to do! I wanted to be a pamphlet for Hawaii, or a legal binding document But alas this is the end And before it new it, it was crushed back into a thin piece of paper Hm, it thought, that's not so bad Then it saw the slicer! And the crusher O NO! the paper tried to run, it tried to fight with the other papers, but it had one corner caught It started to tear as it was trying to pull away It barely broke off, just a fragment got stuck I can make it! But it was too late The crusher and ripper sucked in the rest of the papers And the paper closed its eyes Slowly it blinked And realized it was perfectly quiet Even a bit sunny Looking around the paper realized it was sitting next to a batch of fresh paper It looked down at itself Completely clean, smooth with a fresh coat of bleach! Then bending over to examine the rest of itself, to see what was going on it noticed a fine watermark on its back What is this? It asked A recycled logo! 72 A STORY by Ninfa Ortiz Retrieved February 15, 2009 from http://ezinearticles.com Once upon a time in an almost perfect land, there lived a young girl named Anairo Anairo was a sweet and pretty young girl who loved to dance, draw, play and talk She also loved animals, but especially dogs and elephants It didn't matter to her what color the elephants and dogs were She just loved their shapes, their big, expressive eyes, their soft fur and ears Anairo was very concerned about her friends the elephants They were being hunted and killed for their ivory tusks That made her very, very sad She was worried that by the time she grew up (for she was only years old), the elephants would all be dead and extinct But what could she do? Anairo was skillful and talented She loved to draw But she also had one skill that many other children in the U.S didn't have She spoke and wrote in French as well as English Every summer Anairo would go to France to visit her friends and grandparents as well as her cousins, aunts and uncles She would spend sunny days at the beach, rainy days inside drawing and making up games for fun She was very creative, you know On one sunny day when Anairo had her family and friends around her, she was watching a documentary on animals around the world Then the documentary did a short spot on elephants and she was reminded of how elephants were in so much danger But what could she do? She was only years old She ran to her mom and said, "Mom! Mom! What can I to help the elephants?" Her mom was an artist who had done beautiful sculptures before Anairo was born But before her mom could answer, she ran to her dad "Dad! Dad! What can I to help the elephants?!" Her father was an artist too He had been a filmmaker He made small, artistic, personal films and also documentaries 73 Sometimes he did paintings But before he could give her an answer, she ran to get her grandfather "Granper! Granper!" she called in French "What can I to help the elephants?!" Her granper was familiar with elephants He had lived in Africa once upon a time He had been an engineer and helped build bridges and buildings But before he could answer, Anairo ran calling to her grandmother "Granmer! Granmer!" she called out in French "What can I to help the elephants?!" Her granmer knew about elephants because she had lived in Africa with Granper once upon a time too She had worked in one of the offices as an accountant making sure the money was well spent But before granmer could answer, Anairo ran off She started to call out to her uncle but then she just stopped She thought for a few minutes An idea was brewing in her mind Her eyes got bigger and they begin to twinkle She stood in the freshly cut green lawn developing her idea as her mom, dad, granper, granmer and aunts, uncles and cousins came running "I know how to save the elephants!" she yelled with excitement "I have an idea but I need help," she continued So she got all her family to help Six months later, she went into a bookstore in Colorado and there was a big poster in the window It was her poster The poster drawing of the African elephant with big tears in its eyes and its baby elephant next to it had started from her idea The money that the poster was making was going to a fund to save the elephants And other young girls and boys from other countries were flocking to the stores to buy the poster for their rooms They too were helping save the elephants Anairo knew at last not only what she could to save the elephants, but that even a young girl of years old could help make changes that were important 74 ... the study The study is to find down if the using short stories in teaching reading helps motivating students at My Hao high school in reading and improving their reading ability 1.3 Scope of the... aims at applying the using short story in teaching reading to grade 10 students at My Hao high school The subjects of the study are 50 students of class 10A3 at My Hao high school including 22... students' interest in reading F Chart 6: Students' opinion about benefits of using short stories in learning reading Question asks students information about benefits of using short stories in