A High Windy Place: A ghost story with reading comprehension tasks

This original ghost story is taken from my short story collection ‘The Wishing Sisters’. The story proved popular with secondary students in my school and this is why I turned it into a resource. The story has a supernatural element but it’s not creepy for the Young Adult age group. It is about a chance meeting between Sally, a retired school teacher, and a ghost child who she finds in the cellar of her new home. When Sally decides to help the child, in return he helps her to make an important decision about her own life.

The 24-page resource contains:

1. The 8-page story text

2. pre-reading discussion tasks

3. a ‘new vocabulary’ master sheet for use during reading

4. 30 comprehension questions with answers

5. 12 plot sequence cards with a master solution sheet

6. a missing words task with answers

7. post-reading discussion questions

8. a creative activity in which students take on the role of journalists

9. a non-fiction background reading sheet about the Kymin, a real location in Wales, UK, which is used in the story.

The resource can be used as part of an English unit about the supernatural, and works either as a class resource, a group/pair activity or as a task for individual students.