In the podcast I say that Karel ฤapek wrote this story, but it was actually written by his brother, Josef ฤapek.
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 beginners. The name of the story is Doggo and Kitty Do Their Laundry. You can find a transcript of the episode at easystoriesinenglish.com/laundry. Thatโs easystoriesinenglish.com/laundry. This transcript contains the full story, as well as my conversation before it.
So, welcome to the first episode of Easy Stories in English. Probably youโre thinking, โWhat is Easy Stories in English?โ
First, let me talk about me. As I said before, my name is Ariel Goodbody. I am a language teacher, a language nerd, and a writer. For a long time Iโve wanted to start a podcast but it was difficult to find something that combined all of my interests.
Since becoming a teacher I have been very annoyed with how hard it is to find good resources to use with students. In particular, I think a lot of resources are boring. They are based on non-fiction instead of fiction, and theyโre often very serious. Or, theyโre written by people who arenโt particularly good writers, and they just focus on the language.
So, I decided to create this podcast, because it would give me a chance to show my writing and to provide resources for people learning English. It is my firm belief that learning a language should be fun. If the resources youโre using to learn a language are interesting, then youโre going to learn more.
This has actually been shown by research. Also, there is research that says that reading fiction is the best way to improve your vocabulary in a foreign language, and in your own language. Fiction has a really wide range of vocabulary, and there is much more variety of words compared to what you hear when you speak to someone. So I think fiction is probably the best way to learn a language, and it should be fun as well.
So, every week on this podcast, I will present, I will read out, a short story. Some of these will be original short stories, that I have written, and some of them will be adapted short stories. Iโm going to take famous pieces of literature from around the world, as well as famous myths and legends from around the world, and Iโm going to adapt them for this podcast. So there should be a nice mixture of familiar stories and new stories for you listeners.
The key thing is that the stories will be simplified. There will be four levels. Beginner, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, and Advanced. So, if you are still starting on your English learning journey, you will want to listen to the Beginner stories. If youโve been learning for a while, but youโre still not so confident, you will want to listen to the Pre-Intermediate stories. If you are an experienced learner, but you are still not at a high level, you will want to listen to the Intermediate stories. And, of course, if you are an Advanced learner, well, then you should listen to the Advanced stories!
When I say the stories will be simplified, I mean several things.
First, the vocabulary will be chosen carefully. So at the beginnersโ level, there will be not too many difficult words. Lots of words that you will be familiar with. I have read that when you are reading in a foreign language, you want something that you understand about 90% of. So, hopefully for the beginners, this level will be appropriate, but please do tell me if itโs too hard, and I can always add another lower level.
Another thing that will be simplified is the grammar. So in the Beginner stories, I wonโt use too long sentences.
On the website easystoriesinenglish.com, you will be able to search through all the stories by level. You will also be able to search through them by genre, by theme, by vocabulary topics, by length, and so on. So, when the podcast has been going for quite a while, it will be a great resource for you learners, because you will be able to search specifically for stories that contain vocabulary that you want to learn.
Todayโs story is an adapted story. It was originally written by Karel ฤapek. Karel ฤapek is probably the most famous author from the Czech Republic. He wrote lots of short stories for adults, but he also wrote a book of stories for children. This book is about a dog and a cat who live together and have all kinds of fun. Iโve been learning Czech recently and I really enjoyed these stories. So I decided to adapt some of them for the podcast.
So todayโs story, Doggo and Kitty Do Their Laundry, is about the dog and the cat who have to wash their clothes and, well, they donโt do it very well! The original title of the story is O Pejskovi a Koฤiฤce, jak si myli podlahu.
So remember, to get a full transcript of this episode, as in, this episode in written form, including the story and my conversation, go to easystoriesinenglish.com/laundry. Thatโs easystoriesinenglish.com/laundry.
So, listen and enjoy!
Doggo and Kitty Do Their Laundry
Once, there was a dog and a cat. The dog was called Doggo. He had long, thick hair. The cat was called Kitty. She had soft, thin hair. Doggo and Kitty lived together in a small house. Their house was beside a forest. Doggo and Kitty liked living beside the forest very much.
Doggo was only a small dog. Kitty was only a small cat. But they had big dreams. Doggo and Kitty wanted to be like the Big People: the adults. They wanted to walk like adults, and talk like adults, and live their lives like adults.
There was a problem, though. Adults have hands, and Doggo and Kitty didnโt have hands. They only had paws. Their paws were big and cute, but they werenโt like adult hands. They didnโt have fingers. They only had sharp claws. You canโt shake someoneโs hand if you have sharp claws. You will just hurt them!
So Doggo and Kitty couldnโt be like the Big People. But they had their dream, still. You might be thinking: if Doggo and Kitty werenโt adults, did they go to school? The answer is no. School isnโt for animals. School is only for children. Doggo and Kitty werenโt adults, and they werenโt children. They were animals. So, of course, they couldnโt go to school!
As I said before, Doggo and Kitty lived together in a small house. The house was made of wood, and had a bright, red roof. It was a very pretty house. But, because Doggo and Kitty werenโt adults, and because they had big paws instead of small hands, they were very messy. Their house was always full of mess, and they hated cleaning up.
One day, Doggo and Kitty were looking for clothes to wear. They liked to wear shirts and trousers and hats, just like the adults did. But Doggo and Kitty couldnโt find their clothes! They werenโt in their drawers. They werenโt in the cupboards. They werenโt on the hooks. Finally, Doggo looked on the floor, and he found the clothes there.
โLook, Kitty,โ he said, picking up a shirt. โOur clothes are all dirty. We canโt wear these! Adults donโt wear dirty clothes.โ
โYouโre right, Doggo,โ said Kitty. โThese clothes are too dirty for us to wear. We will have to wash them.โ
โThe adults have a word for that, donโt they?โ said Doggo. โThey call it โlaundryโ.โ
โYes, I think youโre right,โ said Kitty. โWe are going to have to do our laundry.โ
โVery good,โ said Doggo. โNow, how do we do our laundry?โ
โItโs very simple,โ said Kitty. โYou go and get some water, and Iโll go and get everything else.โ
Doggo went outside to the river, to fill up a bucket of water. The bucket was big, wooden and very, very heavy. Kitty opened one of the kitchen cupboards, and pulled out a bar of soap. The bar of soap was round, red, and very, very pretty. She put it on a chair. Then she went to find the washing board. The washing board was a long, metal board, that they could use to wash the clothes on.
Doggo came back to the house, carrying the very heavy bucket of water. He put it on the floor in the kitchen and went, โPhew!โ. Then he saw something on the chair. It was round, red, and very, very pretty.
โThis must be something very nice,โ thought Doggo. โIn fact, it looks very tasty.โ
Because it looked so tasty, and so pretty, Doggo thought it mustโve been put there for him. And if it was put there for him, then he should eat it. So Doggo picked up the round, red thing and took a big bite out of it.
But it wasnโt tasty. In fact, it tasted very, very bad. Doggo spat it out, and started coughing. His mouth was full of bubbles, and they tasted horrible!
Just then, Kitty came back into the kitchen. She saw Doggo spitting and coughing, and asked him, โDoggo, are you OK? Youโre spitting bubbles everywhere! Are you sick?โ
โNo, Iโm not sick!โ Doggo said, between coughs. โI found this red thing here, and I thought it looked very tasty. It looked like a piece of cheese, or maybe some sweets. So I decided to eat it. But it tastes horrible, and now I canโt stop coughing up bubbles!โ *COUGH*
โDoggo, youโre very silly!โ said Kitty. โThat wasnโt food. It was a bar of soap! And soap is for washing, not for eating.โ
โWell, that explains why it tastes so bad,โ said Doggo. โBut I donโt understand. Why make a bar of soap look so tasty? It just makes you want to eat it!โ
โI donโt know,โ said Kitty. โBut anyway, Iโm going to get out another bar of soap, and you must promise not to eat this one. Go and drink some water to wash those bubbles out of your mouth.โ
After Doggo did that, and Kitty found the washing board, they were all ready to do their laundry. Except one thing was missing.
โWait,โ said Doggo. โWe donโt have a brush. How can we do our laundry without a brush?โ
โI didnโt think of that,โ said Kitty. โYouโre right. Without a brush, we wonโt be able to rub our clothes on the washing board. If we canโt rub our clothes, we wonโt be able to get the dirt out of them.โ
โHmm,โ said Doggo.
They sat down and thought for a while. Then Kitty jumped in the air.
โDoggo, I have an idea! Brushes have long, thick hair. You also have long, thick hair. We can use you as the brush!โ
โGood idea!โ said Doggo.
So Kitty sat down with the washing board, the bucket of water, and Doggo in front of her. She put a piece of dirty clothing on the washing board. Then, she dipped the soap in the bucket of water, and rubbed it on the clothing until it made lots and lots of bubbles. Then, she picked up Doggo, and rubbed him quickly against the clothing.
Afterwards, they had a pile of clean, wet clothes, and a very dirty, wet Doggo. Both the clothes and Doggo were dripping water all over the floor.
โBut Kitty,โ said Doggo. โWe donโt have a towel to dry the clothes with. And Iโm too wet to use again.โ
โHmm,โ said Kitty.
They sat down and thought for a while. Doggo dripped more water on the floor. Then, he jumped in the air.
โKitty, I have an idea! Towels have soft, thin hair. You also have soft, thin hair. We can use you as a towel!โ
โGood idea!โ said Kitty.
So Doggo sat down with the pile of clothes and Kitty in front of him. He picked up a piece of clothing, put it on the washing board, and rubbed Kitty all over it.
Afterwards, they had a pile of clean, dry clothes. But Doggo was still very wet, and dripping water everywhere. And Kitty was very dirty, so she sneezed loudly, โAtchoo!โ
โDoggo,โ said Kitty, โimagine if an adult saw us now! They would laugh at us for hours! We have done our laundry, but now we need to wash ourselves!โ
โOK then, Kitty. I will wash you first, and then you will wash me. OK?โ
So Kitty climbed onto the washing board, and Doggo started rubbing her with the soap. She shouted, โOw!โ, because he had to rub her very hard to get her clean. When Doggo was finished, Kitty climbed off the washing board, and Doggo climbed onto it. Kitty started washing him, and he shouted, โOw!โ, because her claws were sharp and kept scratching him.
Then they both stood up, and squeezed each other, so that all the water in their hair dripped out onto the floor.
โNow we need to hang ourselves to dry,โ said Kitty, โbecause we have so much hair. If we stay inside, we will never be dry.โ
โYouโre right,โ said Doggo. โWe will have to hang ourselves up on the washing line.โ
They went into the garden, where the washing line was hanging from a tree. They climbed up the tree, and then onto the washing line. They didnโt need any pegs to hang themselves from the washing line, because their claws were very sharp.
They hung from the washing line, and the sun shone on them.
โThe sun is shining on us, Doggo!โ said Kitty. โSoon we will be dry.โ
But just when she finished talking, a big cloud appeared, and it started to rain.
โItโs raining!โ shouted Doggo. โOur laundry is getting wet! We must take it down!โ
Quickly, they both jumped off the washing line, and ran inside the house.
โIs it still raining?โ asked Kitty.
โIt has stopped,โ said Doggo, seeing that the sun was shining again. โLetโs hang our laundry up again.โ
So they went into the garden, climbed up the tree, and then onto the washing line, which they hung off with their claws. The sun shone on them, and they were so happy to see their laundry drying!
But then, it started to rain again.
โItโs raining!โ shouted Kitty. โOur laundry is getting wet. We must take it down!โ
Quickly, they both jumped off the washing line, and ran back inside the house. Then, the sun shone again, so they went back to the washing line, but then it started to rain again, so they ran back inside the house. They continued hanging from the washing line, and running inside, and then going back to the washing line, until it was evening, and the sun had stopped shining.
By that point, they were both clean and dry, although they were very, very tired.
โThe laundry is done!โ said Doggo.
โWhat a day!โ said Kitty. โWe did our laundry, just like the adults do.โ
โSo now itโs time to go to bed,โ said Doggo.
They climbed upstairs and into their beds and quickly fell asleep.
THE END
I hope you enjoyed the story. You can support the podcast by leaving a review on iTunes. Search for Easy Stories in English, give us a star rating, and say what you like about the show. It would really help us grow. Thank you for listening, and until next week.
Thank you, please add more beginner stories.
Hi Serdar. Thanks for your comment. There will be more Beginner stories soon ๐
Amazing THANKYOU
Fantastic!
Amazing THANKYOU
Thankyou soo much, I loved. Yours stories really help me to learn english.
Thanks for the lovely comment, Ana! ๐
Thank you for your story. I am a beginner who is learning English.โค๏ธ
Thanks for the comment, Husna! Good luck with your learning ๐
Thank you so much.These podcats are very useful
Thank you for the kind comment, Juan ๐
Hello! I know this story very well since my childhood because I’m Czech.โค๏ธ Thank you for this english version. I’m also impressed you’ve been learning Czech.๐
Learning English this way is really fun and effective. This is what I was searching for, THANK YOU.
You’re very welcome, Amir ๐
I like your podcast.. I will improve my skills English every day with this method .
Thanks, Alexis! If you keep at it every day you’ll definitely improve ๐
Thank you so much for this podcast. I will try to learn english more and more!!
You’re welcome! I’m glad you are so motivated ๐
I love this story. It was very funny ๐
You have beautiful voice and its nice to listen you. I’m started to learn English and your podcast help me to learn new words every day.
Thank you ๐
(Hope I wrote it right)
Thank you so much, Hila! ๐
i listened this story and enjoyed from your voice and text. now i’m so eager to go to next podcast.
I’m glad you’re enjoying them, Mostafa! ๐
Thank u <3
This site will save my life lol. Also it attracted my interest. It s an amazing an helpful site besides it can be use also commercially but, You, Sir Ariel, you gave this service for free. It s great.
Well, of ourse you know the best but may be in my opinion, there can put some questions at the end related to story for make practicing also is a good idea, i thought.
I m greatful for this service. I hope we can reach the new stories on this webside.
Thank you so much for your kind comment, Tolga. I don’t do comprehension questions because I think they’re a bit boring. Also, I’m not sure if they are that useful. If you subscribe to the Patreon, though, there are plenty of useful exercises with each episode ๐
Thank you. This story is very cute. I am a beginner, but I’m enjoying your stories!
Hi! Your podcasts are awesome. It helps me improve my English. Thanks! I really like your voice. ๐
I also like Esperanto, may I ask you if you are also making an Esperanto podcasts?
Greetings from the Czech Republic! ๐
Thanks for the comment, Hana. I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast. I have thought about making a stories podcast in Esperanto as well, but I haven’t had the time. I do have some old YouTube videos in Esperanto, though.
Hello,
It s really good for learn the english, practice my listening in english.
Just an information my teacher says I have a level beginner A2 and I must read the history if I want understand.
If you make a news low level maybe more short can be help for understand.
Thanks a lot
Thanks for the comment, Gontran! I make videos for students lower than A2 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCoLYcsDxFjnFPYF057l-7w ๐
thank yoo so much these stories are really useful for us
You’re very welcome, Yalรงฤฑn! ๐
It was very funny. I like this story.
Thank you for your time and work, Ariel!
You’re welcome, Karin! ๐
Dear Ariel I appreciate for your lovely and worthy project.
Do you have partners who can read your transcripts in American and Australian accents? Thus your website will be great and comprehensive.
Thanks, Vahid! To be honest, I don’t have the resources to record the podcasts in other accents. And I also don’t think it’s necessary. For one thing, I write with British English vocabulary and style, so it would sound weird to record it with different accents but not change the texts!
Thank you so much dear Ariel, i love your stories and i believe i will improve my English thanks to you ๐
Fantastic, I’m glad you’re finding the podcast helpful, Lale ๐
Hi Ariel, I really enjoyed this story, thanks for help me to improve my English๐๐ I’ll keep listening to your podcast. Greetings from Colombia ๐๐
Thanks for the comment, Marรญa! Glad you enjoyed the story, and the podcast gets much better from here ๐
It was great story with a new vacabulary. think you ๐
You’re very welcome, Omid! I’m glad you enjoyed it ๐
Hello. Thanks for your work.
It was my first listening. I understood the whole text, but I lacked a lot of vocabulary.
A lexicon with the main terms could be useful.
The words I was missing were:
paws
sharp claws
drawer
cupboard
a big bite
spit/spat/spat (out)
to cough
silly
to rub
thick
to dip
drip water
to sneez
to shout
To squeez
Hi Trub! Because this was the first ever episode of the podcast, I still didn’t have the format settled yet. Now, every episode comes with descriptions of difficult vocabulary ๐
I hadn’t seen that, it’s really perfect.
I was surprised to see on a such simple text that I was, despite years of practice, so limited.