Welcome to Easy Stories in English, the podcast that will take your English from OK to Good, and from Good to Great!
Learning a language is hard. With Easy Stories in English, you can learn English the natural way, without studying lists of vocabulary or complicated grammar rules. Every week, Ariel Goodbody, author and language teacher, will present a story adapted to your level of English. The stories will be hilarious, dramatic, and entertaining, but never too difficult. If you’re learning English and are tired of boring textbooks, then this is the podcast for you.
- All levels
- Announcements
- L1 - Beginner
- L2 - Pre-Intermediate
- L3 - Intermediate
- L4 - Advanced
Simon’s New Job
Simon gets a new job, but everything goes wrong. He doesn't wear enough deodorant and smells at work. He tries walking, taking the bus, the train, a taxi, but he always gets there too early or too late. One day, it all becomes too much...
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How to Learn a Language
In this episode, I explain the theory behind second language acquisition, or the way that we learn languages and how best to study languages. I introduce Stephen Krashen's Theory of Comprehensible Input and discuss the five hypotheses that make it up, and then explain how I used this theory...
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The Piper of Hamelin (Beginner)
Rats come to the town of Hamelin, three times as big as normal rats. The townspeople don't know what to do. But then a piper comes to town and says he can get rid of the rats with his music. The only problem? The price! But when the mayor...
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The Elephant and the Hare (Intermediate)
An elephant is travelling to meet his family, bringing delicious honey as a gift. He stops to give a hare a ride over the river, but the hare smells the honey and can't resist just having a taste...
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The King’s New Clothes (Beginner)
There is a king who loves only his clothes. One day, two brothers come to town and say that they can make magic clothes for the king. If you are stupid or bad at your job, you can't see the clothes. But what happens when the king can't see...
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The Voice of Reason
In a small town, the people look after each other. When someone is hungry, the others give them food. But one day, the Voice of Reason comes to town and changes everything.
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Four Windows
Two people live in buildings next to each other: a clean man and a messy woman. Each day, they look through the window into the other's flat and imagine what their life is like. But in the end, only one person knows the truth...
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Eyes, Teeth and Toenails
Ken finally has his holiday. But his eyes hurt! Maybe watching TV will help. Lisa loves brushing her teeth - she does it EVERYWHERE. But what will happen when she goes to the dentist? Vladimir has beautiful, long toenails... but does his boss agree?
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Interview with Alastair about Pioneers of the Continuum
Recently, I worked with Alastair Budge on Pioneers of the Continuum, an eight-part audio drama featuring your favourite ESL podcasters as narrators. Today, we talk about Pioneers of the Continuum and Alastair's other work. Alastair also hosts the English Learning for Curious Minds podcast, where you can learn about...
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Eileen
With every month that passes, Eileen gets cleverer. The kids at school hate her, and her parents are afraid of her. There's something not... human about this child. This story covers my feelings about AI (artificial intelligence). I talk a lot about an episode of another podcast, Your Undivided Attention,...
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Saint George and the Dragon
Download this episode as a PDF. Transcript Welcome to Easy Stories in English, the podcast that will take your English from OK to Good, and from Good to Great. I am Ariel Goodbody, your host for this show. Today’s story is for pre-intermediate learners. The name of the story...
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The Rabbit Man
Heorhiy lives happily as a peasant, but one day a rich man comes to his house and tells him he has a family debt. Heorhiy works three years to pay it off, but the rich man doesn't want to let him go, so he thinks of a way to...
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The Pancake Man
Francis's mother dies, and his father gets very sad. One day, Francis's father starts making pancakes. Francis loves the pancakes, so his dad makes bigger and bigger pancakes. But maybe they're too big...
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The Labyrinth
A woman keeps ending up in bad relationships. A businessman works so hard he has heart problems. A young man killed his friend by drunk driving and now he can't stop drinking. All three of them are lost. All three of them go to drive. They go to the...
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The Hunt
You have nowhere else to go. Beth left. Kai attacked. Faruq crashed. You hid. So one day, you go to that place you've heard about, where you can buy a certain drug. It's a crazy idea, but maybe you'll feel less lonely. Your cat is your only friend left,...
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The Perfect Pet (Beginner)
Rory has always wanted a pet, but his parents don't like animals. When Rory finishes university, he decides to get a pet. First, he gets a dog, but then things start going wrong...
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Why Blood is Red
In the beginning, there were two brother gods, Kimesh and Musesh. Kimesh created the planets with loud fire, and Musesh created the plants and animals with calm thought. Everything was fine for a while, until Kimesh decided the world needed some more colour...
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Doggo and Kitty Do Their Laundry (Advanced)
Doggo and Kitty want to be like the adults, and adults put on clothes when they go outside. But there's a problem: Doggo and Kitty's clothes are dirty! Well, they'll just have to do laundry. That should be simple, right?
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Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Goldilocks goes into the forest and gets lost. She finds a house with porridge by the window, and it smells so good... The old man who lives there would want her to go and eat it, wouldn't he?
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Parts 3 & 4
Every day, the lord of the castle goes hunting and Gawain stays in bed, bantering with the beautiful lady. Each night, Gawain and the lord exchange their 'gains' for the day. But Gawain cannot stop worrying about meeting the Green Knight, and when the lady offers him help, he...
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Parts 1 & 2
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table lIve peacefully at Camelot. But on New Year's eve, a terrible knight rides into the castle, made entirely of green. He gives them a challenge: a man must come and attack him with his axe, and if the Green Knight...
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The Spider’s Thread (Pre-Intermediate)
Kandata was an evil thief when was alive, and now he lives in Hell. Buddha remembers a time when Kandata did good, and decides to give him a chance to show that he isn't truly evil. Will Kandata become good, or is he simply a bad person?
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Whose Child Is It?
Two women come to the king with a baby. Both say that the baby is theirs. Who is the real mother? The king must decide.
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The End
One day, God came down and took all life from earth. Except humans. But how can you survive in a world without life?
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Sisters, Sisters
Angeline and Annabelle are a classic sister act. Annabelle writes the songs and they sing together, but Angeline gets all the compliments. When a music producer offers a deal to Annabelle, she realises she can't let the opportunity go. But what starts as a harmonious collaboration soon turns into...
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I Bet I Could Taste It
In this episode, I present the story I won second prize with in the 2022 Summer Reflex Fiction flash fiction competition, and I also talk about my recent ADHD diagnosis.
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The Last King of the Britons
King Herla is fighting a war against the Saxons and winning. A group of dwarves comes to his wedding and makes a deal with him: if they can come to his wedding, then in the future the king will go to the dwarf king's wedding. He thinks the dwarves...
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The Boy Who Knew No Fear (Beginner)
One day, a young man called Anders hears his brother say, 'Oh, those scary stories make me shudder!' 'I wonder what it means to shudder?' Anders thinks, and he goes out on a journey to find out.
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Hector the Snail
Hector is a snail, so of course he's very slow. But he dreams of becoming fast. He decides to find a wizard and ask the wizard to swap his body with an ostrich's. What could go wrong? Well, a lot, actually...
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The Digital Fugitive
The war is raging on, and the government needs a part from her wheelchair. The only problem is, her wheelchair is now a part of her body. And she's illegally modified it.
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The Turnip Princess
A young man called Arran hates eating his vegetables. One day, his mother locks him out. Arran finds a house with a strange old woman inside, and a dog that talks. Will he find his way home, and will he discover the secret of the house?
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His Latest Experiment
God is trying to make humans, but something is wrong. His calculations look right, but the humans are staying babies for fifty years. What is the problem?
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The North Wind and the Sun (Pre-Intermediate)
The North Wind and the Sun are always arguing about what true power is. Does power come from strength, or from kindness? So the North Wind challenges the Sun to a competition to see who is right.
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A Lucky New Year
Harold has terrible luck. Bus shelters collapse on him, he makes his dates vomit, and no matter how many good-luck charms he wears, his luck won't change. So he decides that this New Year's Eve, he's going to follow every tradition and superstition in the world, to see if...
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I’m Back!
Easy Stories in English is back! But there are a few changes: 1. There will only be a new episode once a fortnight (once every two weeks) 2. I am stopping teaching 3. I am going to start scripting the conversation section instead of improvising it 4. The email newsletter will just contain...
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I have to pause the podcast
Update from 04/06/2022: The podcast is returning! Listen out for an official announcement on 14th June.
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The Very Hungry Dragon (Beginner)
She flew down and took the roof off the cart. The people with the cart saw her and ran away. Grella laughed, and picked up the cart in her hand. She emptied it into her mouth, eating all of the jewels in one go. Grella understood now. Her mother had...
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The Tattoo
‘I know you think you don’t want it,’ said Gary’s girlfriend, Claire, ‘but just think. When you turn 18, most of your friends will have their tattoos already. People will want to see yours. Look, you can tell them that you’re getting it later, that you couldn’t book an...
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The Flesh and Blood We Share
It was the place he and Bulan had first kissed. Hale fell to his knees and threw up all his beer onto the dirt. The edges of his armour plates cut into him, and he felt like a skeleton dancing inside it, like a sorcerer had used magic on him...
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One-Eyed, Two-Eyed, Three-Eyed (Beginner)
Suddenly, the goat started changing. It grew long and square, and became a big white table. And on the table were all kinds of food: bread, cheeses, jams, pickles, tomatoes, olives, and so on. The girl was hungry from the work, so she ate lots and lots of food,...
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