In short
- A short moral story works when it has one value, one choice that costs something, an ending that shows what the choice brings, and no printed moral.
- Narvaez and colleagues (1999) found that understanding a story's theme differed by age, even after accounting for reading comprehension. Ask pupils what they took from it.
- In Lee and colleagues (2014), a story that stressed the good results of honesty increased truth-telling in children aged 3 to 7. Stories about the costs of lying did not.
- The three stories here are original classroom examples at about A2 level, each with a literal question, an inference question, a question about the lesson and an activity.
You need a story for tomorrow's lesson. It has to be short, readable at A2, and about one value. This article gives you three: one for honesty, one for kindness and one for courage. Each comes with three questions and a follow-up activity. First come two short sections on the research, because it explains how the stories are built. To learn how to judge any moral story before you use it, see Moral Stories in English for Students (With Lessons).
What makes a short moral story work?
A short moral story works when it does one thing. It shows one value in one choice, and the ending shows what that choice brings. The character has a reason to choose wrongly, so the right choice costs something. Nobody in the story announces the lesson. And the class can read it without stopping at every line.
- One value. The story is about honesty, or kindness, or courage. It does not try for all three.
- One choice. The character stands between two actions, and the reader can see both.
- A cost. The right action loses the character something: money, a seat with friends, a safe silence.
- A good outcome. The ending shows what the choice brings, in an action or a line of speech.
- No printed moral. The reader names the lesson. The narrator does not.
Short helps for a plain reason. A story of about a hundred words can be read twice and discussed in the same lesson.
The research: children often miss the moral
Narvaez (2002) reviewed the research on moral stories. She concluded that children do not extract the theme of a moral story as the writer intended. Readers differ in reading skill and background knowledge, so they do not understand a text in the same way.
Narvaez, Gleason, Mitchell and Bentley (1999) tested pupils in third and fifth grade and university students. Understanding of a story's theme differed between the age groups. The difference remained significant after the researchers accounted for reading comprehension. A pupil can follow the events and still miss the point.
Walker and Lombrozo (2017) found one thing that helps. In two experiments, children aged 5 and 6 were prompted to explain parts of a story. They were better able to state its moral and apply it to a new situation. In some cases, explaining worked better than being told the moral.
All three sources studied children reading or listening in their first language. We found no such study with learners of English. The practical reading is still clear: keep to one theme, and ask pupils to explain.
The research: show the good outcome
Lee, Talwar, McCarthy, Ross, Evans and Arruda (2014) compared four classic moral stories with children aged 3 to 7. 'Pinocchio' and 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' failed to reduce lying. 'George Washington and the Cherry Tree' significantly increased truth-telling.
The authors traced the difference to the consequences each story stresses. The George Washington story stresses the good consequences of honesty. The other two stress the bad consequences of lying. When the George Washington story was altered to stress bad consequences, it too failed.
This is one experiment, with young children, on honesty only. Nobody has run the same test for kindness or courage, as far as we found. The three stories below still follow its lead. In each, the good choice turns out well, and nobody is punished.
How to use the three stories
The stories were written for this article. They are classroom examples, not part of any reading program, and they have not been tested in a study. They are written at about A2 level, with short sentences, common words and no stated moral. Check the words against your own class, and change names or details to suit your pupils.
| Story | Value | The choice | What the good choice brings | Words to teach first |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Wrong Change | Honesty | Keep the extra money or give it back | Thanks, and the shopkeeper's trust | change, count, counter |
| The Empty Seat | Kindness | Sit with friends or with the new boy | A new friend, and a full table by Friday | alone, seat, draw |
| The Paper Crown | Courage | Stay silent or take the part | The play goes on, and the parents clap | play, stage, crown, clap |
The first story is in the present simple. The other two are in the past simple. Each takes one lesson.
- Teach the words in the last column. Do not name the value.
- Pupils read the story once in silence. Then read it aloud, or have pupils read it in pairs.
- Ask the three questions in order: literal, inference, then the lesson.
- Take several answers to the lesson question before you give your own.
- Do the follow-up activity in the same lesson or the next.
The questions follow types of comprehension set out by Day and Park (2005). A literal question can be answered directly from the text. An inference question needs the text and the reader's own knowledge. The lesson question asks for a judgement about the whole story, which Day and Park call evaluation. Reading Comprehension Question Types, With Examples explains each type.
A short story about honesty: The Wrong Change
The Wrong Change. Written for this article
Every Saturday, Mina buys bread for her grandmother at Mr Costa's shop.
Today the shop is busy. Mina pays with a ten. Mr Costa gives her the bread and her change.
Outside, Mina counts the money. There is ten too much.
She looks at the comic shop across the street. Nobody knows about the money.
Mina stands still for a minute. Then she goes back inside and waits in the line again.
'You gave me too much,' she says. She puts the ten on the counter.
Mr Costa looks at the money, and then at Mina. 'Most people say nothing,' he says. 'Thank you.'
The next Saturday, Mr Costa is carrying boxes. 'Mina,' he calls, 'can you watch the shop for a minute?'
- Value: honesty.
- Literal question: 'How much extra money does Mr Costa give Mina?'
- Inference question: 'Why does Mina stand still for a minute?'
- Lesson question: 'Why does Mr Costa ask Mina to watch the shop? What does the story show?'
- Follow-up activity: A different ending. In pairs, pupils write three sentences in which Mina keeps the money. What happens the next Saturday? The class compares the endings with the story.
The reward here is trust, not a prize. Mr Costa asks Mina to watch his shop.
A short story about kindness: The Empty Seat
The Empty Seat. Written for this article
A new boy came to Class 5 on Monday. His name was Tomas. He was from another city, and he did not know anyone.
At lunch, Tomas sat alone at the long table by the window. He opened his lunch box and looked at it.
'Sara! Over here!' Her friends had a seat for her. They were laughing about something.
Sara looked at her friends. Then she looked at Tomas. She walked to the window and sat down.
'Hello,' she said. 'I'm Sara.'
Tomas did not say much. He took a pencil and drew a picture on some paper: a girl with a big smile. Sara laughed.
On Tuesday, two more children sat at the window table. On Friday, there were no empty seats.
- Value: kindness.
- Literal question: 'Where did Tomas sit at lunch on Monday?'
- Inference question: 'Why did Sara look at her friends before she walked to the window?'
- Lesson question: 'What changed between Monday and Friday? What does the story show?'
- Follow-up activity: Tomas's diary. Pupils write three sentences as Tomas on Monday evening, starting 'Today I ...'. The task asks them to see the day through his eyes.
Sara gives up something small and real: lunch with her friends. The story never uses the word 'kind'. Pupils will supply it.
A short story about courage: The Paper Crown
The Paper Crown. Written for this article
The school play was at three o'clock. At two, the teacher came in with bad news. 'Daniel is ill,' she said. 'We have no king.'
Nobody spoke. Leila knew the king's words. She knew all the words, because she and Daniel practised together every day. But Leila never spoke in front of people. Her hands were cold.
She looked at the paper crown on the table. Slowly, she put up her hand.
On stage, her voice was very small. She forgot one line, and a friend said it quietly. Then her voice got bigger.
At the end, the parents clapped for a long time.
'You weren't afraid,' her little brother said.
'I was,' said Leila. She was still wearing the crown.
- Value: courage.
- Literal question: 'Why was there no king for the play?'
- Inference question: 'Why were Leila's hands cold?'
- Lesson question: 'Leila says, "I was." What does the story show about being brave?'
- Follow-up activity: Pupils finish the sentence 'I was afraid, but I ...' about something true, such as a first swim, a new school or a test. Volunteers read theirs aloud. Nobody has to share.
The last two lines carry the idea: Leila was afraid, and she did it anyway. A character says it, in two words. The narrator stays out.
One value at a time, and room to disagree
The advice in this section comes from classroom practice. None of it has been tested in the studies above.
Some stories hold more than one theme. Sara's story has a little courage in it too. Pick one value for the lesson and stay with it. If a sharp pupil notices another, say so, and come back to it another day.
- Plan a few values per term. Three to five is plenty. Give each one two or three weeks and more than one story. Building a Values-Based English Curriculum shows how to set this against the school calendar.
- Tie the last question to school life. 'Have you ever been honest?' gets a general answer. 'What do you do when you find a pencil case in the corridor?' gets a real one.
- Let pupils disagree. Some pupils will say Mina could have kept the money, because the mistake was not hers. Ask what in the story supports each view. The reasons are the lesson.
Be careful what you promise. No study cited here shows that a story lesson changes how pupils act in the playground. Notice it if it happens. Do not tell parents it will.
For more questions of each kind, see Discussion Questions to Draw the Moral From a Story. To write stories of your own on this pattern, see How to Write a Moral Without Preaching.
How iRead handles this
The three stories above are not iRead stories. In iRead, each story is a graded reader levelled to the CEFR, and stories carry a moral, such as honesty, kindness, courage or perseverance. Stories in global packs are tagged with the values they teach. Dedicated quiz questions ask what the story taught.
The core principle: One value, one choice, one good outcome, and no printed moral. The pupil names the lesson.
See it in iRead: Stories in iRead carry a moral and are levelled to the CEFR. Stories in global packs are tagged with the values they teach.
See values through storiesKey takeaway
A short story teaches a value best when it shows one choice turning out well and leaves the moral unsaid. Read it, ask three questions, and let pupils name the lesson.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good short moral story for students?
One the class can read without help, built on a single choice. The character has a reason to choose wrongly, chooses well, and the ending shows what that brings. The story does not print its moral. The three stories in this article follow that pattern.
Can I use these three stories in my class?
Yes. They were written for this article as classroom examples. Read them aloud, copy them for your pupils, or change the names to suit your class. They are not taken from any reading program. Check the vocabulary against your own pupils first.
Should I tell pupils the moral of the story?
Ask first. Walker and Lombrozo (2017) found that prompting 5- and 6-year-olds to explain parts of a story helped them state its moral, in some cases more than telling them did. If a pupil's answer differs from yours, ask what in the story led to it.
Do short moral stories change how children behave?
The evidence is thin. Lee and colleagues (2014) found that a story stressing the good results of honesty increased truth-telling in children aged 3 to 7. That is one experiment on one value. Do not promise parents that a story will change behaviour.
Sources
- Narvaez, D. (2002). Does reading moral stories build character?. Educational Psychology Review, 14(2), 155-171. doi.org/10.1023/A:1014674621501
- Narvaez, D., Gleason, T., Mitchell, C., & Bentley, J. (1999). Moral theme comprehension in children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(3), 477-487. doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.91.3.477
- Lee, K., Talwar, V., McCarthy, A., Ross, I., Evans, A., & Arruda, C. (2014). Can classic moral stories promote honesty in children?. Psychological Science, 25(8), 1630-1636. doi.org/10.1177/0956797614536401
- Walker, C. M., & Lombrozo, T. (2017). Explaining the moral of the story. Cognition, 167, 266-281. doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2016.11.007
- Day, R. R., & Park, J.-s. (2005). Developing reading comprehension questions. Reading in a Foreign Language, 17(1), 60-73. doi.org/10.64152/10125/66599