Simple Present and Simple Past

1.       Original Story

His brother bought land last winter, but sold it to the neighbor when the economy crashed. John loves fishing, but longs to be more successful. When he was feeling down, he painted his boat, “Troubled Waters,” blue and shined it up. John asked his brother what he thought of the new look, but his brother just laughed and said, “You’re always fishing for compliments.”

If John had had more energy, he might have argued with his brother, but instead, he began making more nets, with the hopes of increasing his catch the next day.

      1a. Rewritten story

His brother bought land last winter. He sold the land to a neighbor. He needed money. John loves fishing, but wants more money. When he was sad, he painted his boat, “Troubled Waters.”  He painted it blue and cleaned it. John asked his brother how the boat looked, but his brother laughed and said, “Do you want me to say I like it?”

Another part of the story that may be confusing to an ELL student is the content of the conversation. The conversation moves very quickly. It starts out with the brother buying land, then selling it because he needed money. Next, he is sad, paints a boat, and cleaned it. The ELL student may be confused about why he paints a boat when he is sad. Finally, John asked how his brother liked the boat, but his brother laughed. ELL students might not understand why the brother would laugh at that comment. Then the brother wants to know why he always wants someone to notice his work. There are nine different things happening in the conversation all within the four sentences of the original story.

I would definitely address the problem with the story changing at a rapid pace. In order to address this issue, I would translate every sentence thoroughly and allow the student to talk about what it means. Then we would move to the next sentence and question the students about how the sentences work together. I would also give the ELL a chance to predict where the story will lead to. This will help the ELL student to use their understanding of English and compare the language used in the story. Finally, at the end of the story I would ask the students to write their own short story about the same two people. They should use the same characters, but what they did after the story ended.