Learn English with Stories

Why stories work so well for learning English

I’ve always believed that the best way to learn a language is to forget, just for a moment, that you’re learning it. That’s exactly what a good story does. You want to know what happens next, so you keep listening, and while you’re following the plot your brain is quietly picking up grammar, vocabulary and the rhythm of real British English.

Linguists call this comprehensible input: language you can mostly understand, with just a little that’s new. Stories are perfect for it, because the context helps you guess the meaning of unfamiliar words, and the same words keep coming back as the story unfolds. It’s how we all learnt our first language, and it still works brilliantly for the second.

How to use the stories on this page

1. Listen once for the story. Don’t stop to check words. Just enjoy it and get the general idea.
2. Listen again with the script. Notice the words that link together and the ones that almost disappear. This is where your ear really starts to improve.
3. Pick five expressions. Choose phrases you’d actually like to use, write them down and make your own example sentence for each one.
4. Shadow a short part. Choose 30 seconds you like and repeat it with the speaker, copying the rhythm and the intonation.
5. Retell it. Tell the story in your own words, out loud or in writing. It’s one of the best ways to move words from your passive vocabulary to your active vocabulary.

The stories come from lots of different places: tales from Luke’s English Podcast, a classic by Roald Dahl, a moving novel in audiobook form, a legend from the world of Harry Potter and a short story about something we’ve all been to, a birthday party. Each lesson gives you the language to notice, exercises to check your understanding and ideas for speaking practice.

Choose a story

New stories are added regularly, so come back soon, or subscribe on YouTube to hear about them first.