Category: L1 – Beginner

The Pumpkin Jug

Sep 10, 2024

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Genre: Romance

Setting: Fairytale

New Vocabulary: A good match, Bow (verb), Come into season, Fit, Hole, Impossible, Jug, Landslide victory, Pick (flowers), Poppy, Pumpkin, Rule (noun), Thirsty

Word Count: 1348

Original Author: Ariel Goodbody

A king meets a woman who grows pumpkins. She gives him water in a dirty old jug, and then she breaks it. The king thinks this is strange, but he likes the woman. So he gives her a challenge: if she can put a big pumpkin in a small jug, he will marry her. But she cannot break the jug or the pumpkin. Can she do it?
Misty the Snake (Rerun)

Sep 3, 2024

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Genre: Comedy

Setting: Modern

New Vocabulary: Bubble wrap, Ex, Lick, Marmite, Owner, Parcel, Prison bars, Put a bounty on someone’s head, Queue, Sneak, Tongue, Yeast

Word Count: 1457

Original Author: Ariel Goodbody

Misty the Snake loves eating other people’s pets. This does not make the people of the United Kingdom happy. So her owner takes her to Brazil, but really she wants to go home to Ghana…
The Golden Fish

Aug 6, 2024

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Genre: Philosophical

Setting: Fairytale

New Vocabulary: Calm (weather), Education, Fisherman, Grant a wish, Hut, Let go of, Nag, Politics, Revolution, Stormy

Word Count: 1086

Original Author: Fairy Tales

A fisherman finds a golden fish. The golden fish says it can grant his wishes. But the fisherman doesn’t wish for anything. However, when his wife gets home she says she wants a new house. So the next day the fisherman catches the golden fish again and wishes for a new house. That starts a series of events that ends in disaster…
The Kind-Hearted Pea

Jun 4, 2024

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Genre: Children’s

Setting: Modern

New Vocabulary: Afford, Blow, Crack, Harvest, Kind-hearted, Pea, Pod, Shaped like, Shoo, Water (verb)

Word Count: 1081

Original Author: Saviour Pirotta

The 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.
The Emu and the Kangaroo

Apr 9, 2024

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Genre: Children’s

Setting: Australia

New Vocabulary: Desert, Emu, Feather, Hole, Kangaroo, Rub, Scratch, Shelter, Spirit, Thorn, Twig

Word Count: 741

Original Author: Prue Clarke

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…
The Holy Cat

Mar 12, 2024

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Genre: Philosophical

Setting: Fairytale

New Vocabulary: Damn, Hole, Holy, Hunt, Learn by heart, Prayer beads, Purr, Run away, Sin, Test

Word Count: 758

Original Author: Palestinian Folk Tales

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…
The Singing Widow (Beginner)

Feb 20, 2024

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Genre: Romance

Setting: Latin America

New Vocabulary: Death, Float, Ghost, Grave, Land, Lonely, Petal, Skin, Smile, Tear (crying), Widow

Word Count: 816

Original Author: Daniel from Argentina

A woman’s husband dies, and she visits his grave every week to pray. When she dies, she goes to the land of the dead, and is excited to finally see him again. But she can’t find him…
The Red Book

Jan 16, 2024

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Genre: Horror

Setting: Modern

New Vocabulary: Dive, Keep doing, Leaf, Pile, Push, Run away, Scary, Treasure, Wrap

Word Count: 1821

Original Author: Ariel Goodbody

Gemma finds a strange red book on her way home from school. She starts reading it, and it is a story about a boy called Nai. In the story, Nai also finds a red book, and when he starts to read it, the story is about Gemma…
The Giant Turnip

Dec 5, 2023

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Genre: Children’s

Setting: Fairytale

New Vocabulary: Giant, Granny, Ground, Llama, Nanny, Pull on, Snake charmer, Turnip, Waste, Weak

Word Count: 1061

Original Author: Slavic Fairy Tales

A woman grows a really big turnip. She wants to pull it out of the ground but she can’t. Her husband helps her, but together they still can’t pull the turnip out of the ground. How much help will they need?
The Three Goats

Sep 26, 2023

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Genre: Children’s

Setting: Fairytale

New Vocabulary: Annoying, Drown, Eldest, Flow, Goat, Greedy, Middle child, Narrow, One by one, Silly, Troll

Word Count: 1232

Original Author: Fairy Tales

Three goats live happily in a field eating grass. But one day, there’s no more grass. They decide to cross a bridge to another field. But when they try to cross, a monster jumps out, and he wants to eat them!