Author: Ariel Goodbody
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Strange Friends (Advanced)
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Genre: Children’sSetting: FairytaleNew Vocabulary: “For all the good it will do you”, Altar, Christening, Crumbs, Disposition, Fantasise, Godmother, Kitty, Might as well, Ponder, SavourWord Count: 1554Original Author: Ariel GoodbodyA cat and a mouse live together as friends, and what strange friends that makes! One day, the cat suggests they store some food for the winter, so they buy a pot of fat and hide it in a church. But while the mouse happily cleans the house, the cat starts to think about the food…
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The Light at the Bottom of the Sea
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Genre: Myths & LegendsSetting: MaltaNew Vocabulary: Basement, Captain, Earthquake, Faithful, Hoofprint, Horizon, Kneel, Portrait, Saint, Tie up, TreasureWord Count: 979Original Author: Saviour PirottaŻgugina lives on the coast of Malta with her son. When pirates attack, she rushes to the church to pray to St Demetrius. ‘St Demetrius,’ she says, ‘if you save my son I will light a lamp that burns forever!’ What happened next was too much for her to believe…
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The Kind-Hearted Pea
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Genre: Children’sSetting: ModernNew Vocabulary: Afford, Blow, Crack, Harvest, Kind-hearted, Pea, Pod, Shaped like, Shoo, Water (verb)Word Count: 1081Original Author: Saviour PirottaThe wind carries a pea to a crack by a window. Inside the house, a boy is sick and dying. The pea wants to help the boy, and slowly it grows into a plant. When the boy sees the plant he is so happy, and he helps the plant grow.
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Normal People Problems
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Word Count: 3568In this episode of Easy Stories in English, host Ariel Goodbody discusses the concept of ‘normal people problems’ as opposed to more serious issues, drawing on his own experiences of moving to London and finding his community. Ariel reflects on his challenging past, including changing gender twice and dealing with identity crisis, while contrasting these with his current ‘normal’ problems such as itchy back due to hard water, adjusting to a slower pace in relationships,…
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A Visitor from Chilly Bottom
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Genre: ComedySetting: UKNew Vocabulary: Bonkers, Butler, Captive, Chilly, Colony, Crumbs, Furrow your brow, Poo, Press release, Regurgitate, Royal seal, Spit, Tailcoat, Waddle, WorshipWord Count: 3272A man who has lived in Antarctica all his life visits the UK for the first time. Technically, he is a British citizen, as he grew up on British Antarctic Territory. And he has an important message for the king! It’s just that, the king has no idea who this man is…
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Let’s Write a Story Together! with Alastair Budge
In this episode, I brainstorm a story with Alastair Budge. We start with the concept of someone from Antarctica moving to London and experiencing culture shock and peculiarities of life in the UK. We come up with cultural references and humorous situations involving misunderstandings about British culture. After this episode, Alastair went off and wrote the story, which I then edited, and next week you’ll be able to hear the recorded version.
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A Crooked Old House
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Genre: HorrorSetting: UKNew Vocabulary: Association, Crooked, Drain (noun), Fern, Hook, Moisture, Plumber, Pretend, Roll, Warp (wood), Zip-lineWord Count: 1753Original Author: Ariel GoodbodyAn old man lives in an old house. The house is so old that it has changed shape and many things are broken. Every day, the man must climb up a big hill to get to the kitchen. Lots of people tell him he needs to leave the house, but the old man refuses. But one day, the house makes sure he will never leave.
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The Emu and the Kangaroo
Dinewan gets married to Bohra the kangaroo, and they go for a walk in the desert. But Dinewan soon gets bored. Bohra is a magic kangaroo, and his spirit can walk through the sky. Dinewan thinks it would be interesting to see Bohra’s spirit…
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What Makes a Snake
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Genre: DramaSetting: ModernNew Vocabulary: Dread, Drill down, Filing cabinet, Get the memo, Line manager, Minutes, Piss, Scroll (computer), Sexual harassment, Squeeze out, Synergy, Touch base, UrinalWord Count: 6590Original Author: Ariel GoodbodySam works in the stupidest department of his company: the ‘Synergy Snakes’. What they’re actually supposed to do, he has no idea, but he’s managed to create a system where he doesn’t have to talk to his co-workers and does as little work as possible. The only problem is, the company is looking to get rid of some people, and Sam’s an easy target…
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The Holy Cat
A cat hunts all the mice in the town, so it goes to the fields. But the mice in the fields are too fast. So the cat decides to start praying…