Selecting short stories for adults is different from finding materials for children. Not that adults wouldn’t like the same content that children do, but rather you might lose their interest if the text is too easy.
If you decide to pick a fairy tale, for example, you would most likely want to pick one of the Grimm brothers’ fairy tales over an adaptation, as they have more sophisticated language.
Here are some other qualities to keep in mind while selecting appropriate short stories for your students:
Vocabulary complexity. Make sure that any story you choose has enough words that the majority of your class can understand, while at the same time includes enough complex words they can decode. If a text is too easy, your students might get turned off and not be motivated to read it. Same goes if there are too many complex words in the story.
Simple language. You don’t want to pick stories with too many idioms or “old world” language, as that might also be too difficult and turn off your students.
Relevant content. Make sure the content is relevant to adults in some way, such as topics of relationships, business situations, family life or even something they can relate to culturally.
Relevant discussions. You also want to think about whether or not you can pull interesting themes or discussion questions from the story.
Neutral ground. Keep in mind, though, that you don’t want material that is too controversial. Keep it neutral enough that you can generate discussions, but not something that might result in arguments between students.
