Salah satu cara yang efektif untuk mengajarkan bahasa Inggris kepada anak-anak adalah melalui cerita pendek atau cerpen.
Cerpen bahasa Inggris tidak hanya menghibur, tetapi juga dapat memperkaya kosakata serta memudahkan pemahaman tata bahasa.
Selain itu, dengan mengajarkan anak bahasa Inggris melalui pembacaan cerpen, kamu juga bisa mengajarkan hal-hal moral yang berguna untuk perkembangannya.
Ini beberapa cerpen bahasa Inggris yang bisa kamu ajarkan ke anak.
1. Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen
A long time ago and far away, an old woman was sitting in her rocking chair, thinking how happy she would be if she had a child. Then, she heard a knock at the door and opened it. A lady stood there and said, "If you let me in, I will grant you a wish.
"The old woman let the woman in firstly because she felt pity, secondly because she knew what she'd wish for...a child. After washing the lady up and feeding her, she saw that she was beautiful.
The lady slept soundly all night long, and then, right before she left, she said, "Now, about your wish. What do you want?"
The lady thought about most people's wishes to be the richest in the world, most powerful, smartest, and prettiest. But the old woman wished for
something the lady could not believe. She said, "I would like a child."
"What did you say?" she asked, astonished at what the old lady asked for. The old lady repeated what she said. "I would like a child."
The lady then placed a tiny seed in the old woman's hand and gave her instructions. " Plant this seed, water it carefully, watch over it, and give it your love. You will have a child if you do all those things."
So the old woman did everything the lady had told her to. A beautiful yellow flower was in place of the seed in a week. The next day, the flower bloomed. Inside the flower was a beautiful girl the size of the woman's thumb, so she called her Thumbelina.
She made her a little dress out of golden threads. Thumbelina slept in a walnut shell, bringing the old woman joy and happiness.
But, one day, when Thumbelina went down for her nap, a frog hopped through the open window and said, "You will be a perfect bride for my son," she took Thumbelina to a lily pad and hopped off to find her son.
Thumbelina cried, and some little guppies heard her and chewed the roots off the lily pad to help her escape. Thumbellina's lily pad floated away. A few hours later, she finally stopped floating.
She ate berries and drank the dew off the leaves during the summer. But then winter came, and she needed shelter. A kindly mouse let her stay with it, but it said, "You'll have to marry my friend, Mole because I cannot keep you for another winter."
The next day, she went to see Mole. She found a sick bird in one of the tunnels and said, "Poor thing, I will bury it." Then she found out it was still alive and cared for it until it was ready to fly.
It flew off. That fall, she nearly had to marry Mole. But then she heard a familiar tweet, and an idea popped up in the bird's head.
"You can come down to the warm country," said the bird, so Thumbellina hopped on the bird's back and flew to the warm country. The people there who were like her renamed her Erin. She married a prince, and she lived happily ever after.
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2. The Tortoise And The Hare by Aesop
A Hare was teasing the Tortoise one day for being so slow.
"Do you ever get anywhere?" he asked with a mocking laugh.
"Yes," replied the Tortoise, "and I get there sooner than you think. I'll run you a race and prove it."
The Hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the Tortoise, but he agreed for the fun.
So the Fox, who had consented to act as judge, marked the distance and started the runners off.
The Hare was soon far out of sight, and to make the Tortoise feel very deeply how ridiculous it was for him to try a race with a Hare, he lay down beside the course to nap until the Tortoise should catch up.
The Tortoise, meanwhile, kept going slowly but steadily and, after a time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping. But the Hare slept on very peacefully. When he finally woke up, the Tortoise was near the goal.
The Hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the Tortoise in time.
Slow and steady wins the race.
3. The Ant and the Grasshopper by Aesop
One summer’s day, in a field, a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great effort an ear of corn he was taking to his nest.
"Why don’t you come and chat with me," asked the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling your life away?"
"I am helping to store food for the winter," said the Ant, "and I recommend you do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper. "We have got plenty of food at present."
But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil.
When winter came, the Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing, every day, corn and grain from the stores they had collected in summer.
Then the Grasshopper knew...
4. The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen
Once upon a time, a prince wanted to marry a princess, but she would have to be a real princess. He traveled worldwide to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted.
There were enough princesses, but it was difficult to determine whether they were real. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked to have a real princess very much.
One evening, a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly, a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.
It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! What a sight the rain and the wind had made her look.
The water ran down from her hair and clothes into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.
Well, we'll soon find that out, thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bedroom, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.
On this, the princess had to lie all night. In the morning, she was asked how she had slept.
Oh, very badly! Said she. I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard so that I was black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!
They knew she was a real princess because she had felt the pea through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.
Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.
So the prince took her for his wife, for now, he knew he had a real princess, and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen if no one had stolen it.
There, that is a true story.
5. Emily’s Secret by Jill Jones
Emily is eight years old. She lives in a big house. She has a vast room. She has many toys, and she has a lot of friends. But Emily is not happy. She has a secret.
She doesn't want to tell anyone about her secret. She feels embarrassed. The problem is that if nobody knows about it, no one can help her.
Emily doesn't write her homework. When there is an exam – she gets sick. She doesn't tell anyone, but she can't read and write. Emily doesn't remember the letters of the alphabet.
One day, Emily's teacher finds out. She sees that Emily can't write on the board. She calls her after class and asks her to tell the truth. Emily says, "It is true. I don't know how to read and write". The teacher listens to her. She wants to help Emily. She says, "That's OK. You can read and write if we practice together."
So Emily and her teacher meet every day after class. They practice together. Emily works hard. Now she knows how to read and write!
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