Simple Stories in English
Learning English is easier with stories! These simple stories repeat common words and phrases to make English learning effective and enjoyable. You can find transcripts of each episode at smalltownspanishteacher.com.
Episodes
In this third season, I am sharing chapters from my short novel “Zunzuncito’s Adventure”. This week is chapter 3! Zunzuncito, a tiny bee hummingbird, just wants to suck delicious nectar from beautiful flowers. But he is not the only one hunting for food. After being chased away from flowers by a group of bees, Zunzuncito is now trapped in a spiderweb. There are many large spiders in Cuba and some of them do suck the b...
In this third season, I am sharing chapters from my short novel “Zunzuncito’s Adventure”. This week is chapter 2! Zunzuncito, one of the tiniest hummingbirds in the world, flits from flower to flower in search of delicious nectar. However, some flowers are occupied. They are occupied by larger hummingbirds and insects. In this second chapter of “Zunzuncito’s Adventure”, our tiny bee hummingbird finds himself in a batt...
Chapter 1: The Smallest Hummingbird
Zunzuncito is one of the tiniest hummingbirds in the world. Some might think he spends all his time happily sucking nectar from flowers, and they are not wrong. However, sometimes insects and even other hummingbirds get in between Zunzuncito and his dinner.
This story is told in the the present tense. Repeated words and phrases include bird, hummingbird, wings, flies (verb) and f...
The island nation of Cuba is full of amazing animals. One of the most fascinating is the tiny bee hummingbird, also called the zunzuncito. I was inspired by this little hummingbird and, with some motivation from my students, I wrote a short novel called “Zunzuncito’s Adventure”. For this third season of Simple Stories in English, I will be sharing a chapter from the novel each week.
I love to travel and today I am sharing one of my favorite travel stories. When I went to Ecuador twelve years ago, I had the opportunity to snorkel twice with blowfish, sea turtles and sea lions. The first day was amazing, but the second was a little scary .
Today’s story is mostly in the first-person plural (pronoun “we”) and the past tense. Important vocabulary in the story includes: boat, snorkel, tortoise/tur...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. I believe that mental health matters. I usually feel like I have a good grasp of my own mental health, but there are days I want to ignore the world and all my responsibilities in it. I have many activities that help boost my mental health and today I would like to share a few.
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. I teach Spanish, but I am not a native Spanish speaker. Learning Spanish was not easy for me. I struggled a lot. But I am very grateful to be bilingual. Today I would like to share my language journey and why I chose to learn Spanish.
This story is in the first person and the past tense. No matter where you a...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. I love the theater. I love acting and singing and being in front of an audience. I haven’t been on a stage in years, but I have wonderful memories from my time in the theater and I use my experience now to tell stories. Continuing with this season of personal stories, this episode explores my short-lived life on ...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. I have very fond memories of my childhood. I spent a lot of time outside with my friends and family, no matter the time of year. As a child I played, I ran, I rode bikes, I read, and I just had fun. Continuing with this season of personal stories, this episode explores the question: “what is my family like?”.
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. I love my family. I have two wonderful sons that I adore. I also have many brothers and sisters who are very important to me, along with my own mom and dad. My extended family also has a special place in my heart. Continuing with this season of personal stories, this episode explores the question: “what is my fam...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. In today’s episode, I explain where I go. I go to some places frequently, like work and the store. Other places I go to when I have time. I hope you enjoy my answer to the question “Where do I go?”.
This story is in the first person and the present tense. Important vocabulary in the story includes: school, sh...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. I love where I live. I have a beautiful house in a small town in western Colorado. I have lived in 3 houses in this town over the last 19 years and in this episode I will describe those houses.
This story is in the first person and the present and past tenses. Important vocabulary in the story includes: house...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. Today’s story is all about food. Breakfast food, snacks, dessert. Get ready to hear about what I eat. I hope you don’t get too hungry as you enjoy my answer to the question “What Do I Eat?”
This story is in the first person and the present tense. Important vocabulary in the story includes: fruit, chocolate, b...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. I am lucky that I get to do many things that I enjoy and I have everything that I need right now. However, there are still some things that I want, someday.
This story is in the first person and the present tense. Important vocabulary in the story includes: things, activities, time, work, and want. No matter ...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. Many of my activities are related to daily necessities or work, but I do a lot of other things. I create, I explore, I exercise, and I listen to and make music. What do you do?
This story is in the first person and the present tense. Important vocabulary in the story includes: create, make, imagine, explore, ...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. Many of my activities are related to daily necessities or work, but I do a lot of other things. I create, I explore, I exercise, and I listen to and make music. What do you do?
This story is in the first person and the present tense. Important vocabulary in the story includes: create, make, imagine, explore, ...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. We all have different likes and dislikes. Continuing with this season of personal stories, this episode explores the question: “What Do I Like?”
This story is in the first person and the present tense. Important vocabulary in the story includes: I like and I love. No matter where you are in your language jour...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. This second episode presents multiple descriptive adjectives that both do and don’t describe my physical characteristics and personal qualities to answer the question: “what am I like?” So you can better talk about what you are like.
This story is in the first person and the present tense. Important vocabular...
Welcome to season 2 of Simple Stories in English! In this season, I will be telling you more about myself. In this first episode you will learn. In today’s episode I am going to answer the question: Who am I?
This story is in the first person and the present tense. Important vocabulary in the story includes: I’m, live, teacher, sing and mom. No matter where you are in your language journey, stories will help you o...
Jack is a little cat. He thought today would be like any other day exploring with his family, but instead he woke up to discover that is home became a construction site! Will he be able to make his way through the heavy equipment and find his family?
This simple story is told in the present tense and focuses on the words beam, dirt, edge, crane, dump truck, and looks for. No matter where you are in your language j...
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