*It’s Hot* Ashton and Jen work at a McDonalds.They work late at night when most people are sleeping. Tonight, Ashton and Jen are working alone. There are no other workers at McDonalds with them. Tonight is a very hot night because the air conditioner is broken. Ashton looks at Jen. Her shirt is wet because she is sweating. Ashton says, “You are hot!” Jen says, “I know! It is so hot because the air conditioner is broken. I wish there was a man here who could fix the air conditioner.” Ashton smiles, but then makes an angry face, “Hey! Are you saying I’m not a man?” Jen raises her eyebrows. She says, “Well if you were a real man, you would know how to fix the air conditioner.” Ashton says, “I know how to help you cool down.” He pulls out the hose from the sink and sprays Jen with water. Jen says, “Stop! Stop!” Ashton stops spraying her, and Jen says, “That was not very nice!” Ashton says, “I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?” Jen says, “No. I will never forgive you.” She smiles and sticks out her tongue at Ashton. Ashton says, “I know how to make you forgive me.” He makes a chocolate ice cream cone and gives it to Jen. He says, “Will you forgive me?” Jen says, “Aww Ashton, you know me so well.” She takes the ice cream cone for him and gives him a hug. Two hours later, Jen and Ashton lock the door of the McDonalds. Jen’s boyfriend drives into the parking lot and honks his horn. Jen says, “See you later, Ashton.” Then she walks to her boyfriend’s car. It is 1:00 am, and it is not hot anymore.
*** The second story I wrote tonight *** *Two Young Friends* Sarah and Devin are friends. They like to play outside. They like to walk through the forest on the weekends when they are not at school. They like to look at animals and throw rocks into the river. One day, Sarah runs through the forest. She pretends that she is a rabbit. She jumps over a log. But Devin cannot run. He cannot jump either. He watches Sarah run through the forest. He wants to run with her, but running makes his lungs hurt. It is hard to breathe when he runs. So Devin has to walk slowly. Sarah says, “Come run with me Devin! Let’s pretend that we are fast deer.” Devin says, “I can’t run. Come walk with me.” So Sarah comes back to Devin and walks slowly with him. “She says, okay. Let’s pretend we are turtles.” They walk to the river together. They take off their shoes and they walk into the river. Sarah holds Devins hands. She says, “Dance with me Devin! Let’s pretend we are mermaids.” But Devin can’t dance. He says, “I can’t dance Sarah. You dance around me.” So Sarah dances around Devin in the water. She says, “I am a mermaid, and you are the king of the mermaids!”. The next day, Sarah runs to Devin’s house. She knocks on the door. Devin's mother opens the door and says, “I’m sorry Sarah. Devin can’t play today. He is too tired.” Sarah goes to Devin’s bedroom. Devin is too tired to talk. He is too tired to get out of bed. He breathes very slowly. Sarah says, “It’s okay Devin. We don’t need to play outside today. We can pretend to be sleeping bears right here in your bed.”
I just shared a google document on the google form from Language stories. Hope it doesn't matter that my story is not a play, but a short story. If it's better to format the story as a play, I can try it. You let me know, please. :) It's in Spanish by the way. Then I'll see if I'll be encouraged to write a story in English :D
I am glad to see something like this. So many languages I want to learn such as Mongolian, Kazakh, and Uzbek have a small amount of material to learn with. I hope it works.
My story "Cardiff" Hello! Great to meet you! My name is Matthew Jones. I am 18, a student, and a rugby player. I go to the Military Preparation College in Cardiff. My favourite classes are Sports Science, Biology, and Sociology. English is the hardest subject for me. The college moved into a wonderful purpose-built building in 2021. All the instructors are ex-British Armed Forces personnel. They teach all the academic subjects and provide training in physical fitness and public speaking. It’s my final year in college now. I've been attending since I was 14. I love it! This year I moved into a big house in Albany Road. It’s 2 miles from the college site. I live with three other students. We shop together and cook our meals together. We share the housework. At the weekend, we play rugby together. Some evenings, we go to the Andrew Buchan for a pint and to watch sport on their TV. Sometimes there is live music too. My little brother has just started secondary school. He is 11, He lives with my parents in Barry. It's nice when they visit me. My mum brings me cake. My little brother is always so happy to see me and to get to play fight with me. I love the way he feels sure that this time he can beat me.
***My story for 3/10/22*** *Cage* My name is Skeeter. I am a parrot, and I live in a cage in an apartment. My owner is Kyleen. I love Kyleen because she feeds me and talks to me every day. Sometimes she talks to me for hours and hours. Today, Kyleen picked up my food, and she walked to my cage. I thought she was going to feed me, but then the telephone rang. Kyleen put down my food and answered the telephone. She said: Hi Mommy. I’m so glad you called. Yes, you can call me any day before 3:00pm. But not weekends. You can call me Monday through Friday. I’m wonderful. I have a new bird named Skeeter. Howard does not let me take him out of the cage, but I like to sit on the couch and talk to him. Skeeter is a very good listener. What have you and Daddy done this week? Wow, that sounds like so much fun! I have not gone to a party in years. I can’t. Howard does not like parties. He took me hunting last fall. Well, I didn’t hunt, but Howard and his brother did. It was very cold, but Howard killed a deer. That was a nice trip. No, I could not possibly leave home for that long. But you and Daddy could come visit me here in New York. No. Howard and I will be busy that week. Can you come visit me on March 4th? Howard will be in California on a business trip that week. Yes, I want you to meet Howard too, but he is very busy with work. March 4th is the best day for you to come. Oh yay! I am so excited to see you again. No. I don’t have any friends. Just Howard and Skeeter. Everything is fine, mother. I love you too. Goodbye.
Late Night Bus Luther checked his watch. It was half past midnight, and he had been waiting at the bus stop for over an hour. Luckily, there was no one else waiting with him. He did not like talking to strangers, and would not like talking to one for over an hour. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. He was glad there was a place to sit down while waiting. If he had to stand all this time, he might have decided to walk home instead. The bench was not comfortable to sit on, but there was a light above it, so Luther took a book out of his backpack and began to read. He did not know he had fallen asleep until the moment he woke to find the bus right in front of him, with the door open. Something was wrong. It was dark inside the bus, and there was no sound coming from the engine. Luther sat still. The doors stayed open. There was no driver behind the wheel. When he looked up at the windows on the side of the bus, Luther could see faces gazing out at him from inside the dark bus. The faces were very white, and they had eyes that were blank. All the blank eyes in the white faces were watching him. Luther zipped up his jacket. He could see his breath in the cold. He shivered. The bus was waiting. Luther thought he should say something. “This is not my bus.” The doors stayed open. He cleared his throat and tried again, a little louder. “I am waiting for another one.” After a moment, the doors slowly closed. The white faces with blank eyes turned away as the bus drove down the street in silence. Luther stood. He would walk home.
My story called "Family Life" I have three sons and one daughter; little Joseph was born last. I love my family very much. They are very important to me. I teach history, and my wife is a manager at a local charity shop. My children all work hard at school. They are very clever children. Little Joseph is a nervous boy, but he is very kind. My father also lives with us. He came from Canada when he was sixty years old. He has grown older here, but he is still very strong. We live in a house close to the mountains. He loves the mountain air and he still cooks the best campfire food! My father and I like to spend time together walking in the mountains. Joseph likes to cook with his grandfather over a campfire. At the weekend, the family likes to make TikTok videos together. We always have a fun time. We laugh a lot. My family are amazing!
My story "A Mountain Vacation" It's too warm outside for a winter coat today. I am wearing my leather jacket for the journey from my apartment to work this morning. Finally, it feels that spring is here in Romania. But up in the mountains, it is still cold. That's where I took my mom and my little brother on a short vacation. We spent two days in Brasov. It's just 2 hours away by car from their home Bucharest. It was cold but sunny; great weather for mugs of hot chocolate or a few glasses of mulled wine - semi-sweet red wine heated with spices and a dash of orange juice. On the tops of mountains, you can still see snow. But there is no snow in the city now. We had to climb the mountain to enjoy the best views of the snow around us. Up on the mountains we had a lunch of grilled sausages. I wished I could ski too. But it is not cold enough for skiing now. There are a lot of villas, you can rent in Brasov. I rented one for us for two nights for $150. The rent included a breakfast and an evening meal being cooked for us at the villa each day. My little brother was very excited to go on vacation to the mountains. He would run around everywhere. He screamed. He laughed. Everyone knew that he was my brother and made a fuss of him. On the last night, it was midnight and he still didn't want to sleep. That fresh mountain air was magic. It gave him even more energy than usual. And he is a very active little boy normally. And I'd thought if only we could bottle it and sell it to the tired folk down in the city
***My Story for 2/26/*** *Helensville* Helensville is a small town on the ocean. It is a strange town. Derek’s wife told him that he should not go to Helensville because it is very strange, but Derek goes there anyway. Derek wants to see what is so strange about the town. When Derek gets there, he parks the car on the side of the street. He sees that all of the people in the town are walking backwards. Derek says, “This is very strange.” He steps out of his car, and takes one step forward, but he trips on his shoelace and falls to the ground. Derek ties his shoe, stands up, and takes another step, but he falls again. An old lady sees Derek on the ground. She says, “Try walking backwards.” Derek turns around, and walks backwards down the street. When he gets to the beach, he sees people throwing money into the ocean. He says, “This is very strange.” A young girl near Derek throws ten dollars into the water. He asks her why she is throwing away her money. She says, “You have to pay your dues.” Derek asks, “How much should I pay?” “Whatever you think is right.” Derek throws one dollar into the ocean and his feet start to sink into the sand. He screams and throws in twenty dollars. Then he rises back to the top of the sand. Derek says, “I’m leaving!” He runs backwards back to the street, but his car is not there. He yells, “Where is my car?!” The same old woman walks up to Derek and says, “You don’t need it anymore. Once you come to Helensville, you can never leave.” Derek should have listened to his wife.
This is a fun writing exercise. Bo and the Fish Store Bo was a black cat with yellow eyes, large ears, and a long tail. He lived in the alley behind a fish store. He did not have any people. Some cats have two or three people. Some have four or five. Those cats always had breakfast in the morning and dinner at night. That is why cats like to have people. The owner of the fish store was a man named Sam. He looked like he ate breakfast and dinner more than once a day. Sam knew that Bo did not have any people, so he gave Bo some bones from the fish he sold. Sometimes he gave Bo the heads or tails of the fish. People do not want those, but cats like to eat them. Bo was happy living there, but he would jump over the fence if Sam tried to pet him. Sometimes, Sam would sing while he was working in the store. If the kitchen door was open, Bo would sit outside and sing, too. Sam thought that Bo had a very good voice. One day, a lady was buying some fish and heard Sam and Bo singing. This lady had a little girl. When she saw Bo, she thought he was very handsome, and wanted to take him home. Sam asked Bo if he wanted to go home with them. Bo thought about it. If he went home with the lady and the little girl, they would be his people. They would feed him breakfast and dinner. The little girl might want to pet him. Would they have a fence at their house that he could jump over? Bo decided to stay with Sam, and sing duets, and eat the bones and heads and tails of the fish that Sam sold in the store.
"Midnight Feast" A slow walk under trees can be a great pleasure on a warm day. But when it gets dark, it can become stressful. I don't want to pass by a house and not see it out there in the night. Where to stay? This is becoming serious. No sign of a village nearby. Shit! Why haven't I quit this silly trip before now? Which way to go? I think about my young wife far from here. In my opinion, there is not a better sound to hear than children having fun. Their house must be somewhere close by. Wow! There before me, very near on the right, I get my first sight of the house. A pink door. Closed. An old key on a nail. I try the key. The door opens. I sit at the table to rest a few minutes. Maybe I doze off. Then in front of me, appear a group of guys. "Do you speak English?", I ask. They reply in a language in no way similar to any I know. Alright then. Let's learn from the moment. I mime a request for food and drink. The sad little mother shakes her head. Her children gather closer around her. What...? None. I open my rucksack and take out the contents. The children grin and the mother dabs at her big blue eyes with an embroidered handkerchief. What it means to share food with this sad little family. I like these guys. We feast on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cola. It's time to sleep. "Good night!" In the morning, I wake alone in this old dusty deserted house with its pink door.
My story called TV Dinner Susan was pleased because there were always more customers for her taxi on rainy days. It was hard work behind the wheel, picking customers up, driving around the familiar streets, working the clutch pedal, shifting up and down the gears, peering through the wet windshield, the constant swiping back and forth of the wipers clearing away the downpour. She would be glad to get back home at the end of the day. Back at her apartment, she changes into her pyjamas. She heats a TV dinner in the microwave and sits herself down in front of the TV, feet up on the footstool. There is a good movie on TV tonight. She loves a film with fast car chases. She thinks how good it would be to be on TV. A few days later the landlord comes around to see what has happened to Susan. All the lights are on although it is daytime. He see all Susan's clothes are still in the wardrobe. Her work clothes in the laundry basket. A cold TV dinner on a small table by the couch. From behind the glass of the TV screen, Susan looks out at her apartment. She sees the landlord in her living room. He picks up her half eaten TV dinner and goes to the kitchenette, pops it into the sack with her other rubbish and sends the sack down the refuse chute. Susan knocks furiously at the screen to attach his attention. He's switching off the lights. He comes over to the TV set. Susan breathes a sigh of relief. She's going to be rescued. The tiny taps coming from the screen are inaudible above the noise of the channel jingle. He unplugs the TV set. The screen turns opaque. Susan can no longer see her living room. The faint afterglow of the channel test card fades to blackness.
My story "Lunch (Part 2)" The restaurant is a rather grand place. Sam wonders if he will be able to pay the bill. Sam: Hi Jarka! Jarka: Good afternoon Sam! Jarka flashes her lovely white teeth in a smile. Sam: I'll just go to the bathroom to clean up. Sam checks his hair in the bathroom mirror, before returning to the table. Jarka: What do you want to eat? Sam: it's not easy to pick. I think I'll have a mix of taster bowls. Jarka is very clever and the conversation flows on easily. Sam is beginning to feel more and more attracted to her as he listens to her talk. He's met nobody like her before. Jarka: By the way, what team do like? Sam: Fulchester United. Jarka: Oh, really? Sam: Billy Thompson is a very ugly player though. Jarka: He's my cousin! Sam: Oh. My bad! Jarka: He's a really crazy guy. He practically never stops partying. I don't know when he fits in time for training. Sam smiles. Jarka: Billy's given me a couple of tickets for the directors' box for Saturday, if you are able to go with me? Sam: That would be amazing! Jarka: Would you like some more to eat? Sam: I couldn't physically eat another thing. Luckily, I don't have to go back to work today. Jarka waves the waiter over and hands over a credit card. Sam: Let's split the bill. Jarka: No. No. It's my treat. I asked you out. As they leave the restaurant. Sam: What are you doing tomorrow? Jarka: I'll give you a call SamL OK. I'll look forward to it. Bye now! Jarka: Bye Sam!
* Nature Explorers * Javier is a boy who likes nature. He goes out to the park every day to explore the plants and animals. One day, Javier met a girl named Maria in the park and said: "Hello, how are you? Are you coming to play in the park?" No, she said. "I come to explore nature". Great said Javier, "we can explore together". They both went for a walk and they found a squirrel. "look what a beautiful animal" Maria said. "Yes, I like that animal too!" They tried to get closer, but the squirrel was moving fast. After spending the whole day together, Javier and Maria became friends. When Javier and Maria grew up and became adults, they got married and moved to Australia, as they wanted to travel and explore new plants and animals. However, being in Australia, Javier and Maria were very busy with their office work and could not explore anymore. So, they changed office work for field work where they could work and explore again. In Australia Javier and Maria met kangaroos, koalas and spiders for the first time. They are saving money to travel to Japan and continue their lovely story of exploration.
***My story for 3/2/22*** *Butter* A strange man comes to the grocery store almost every day. He comes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but not on Sunday. He always comes to the grocery store and buys one stick of butter. He does not buy anything else. He only buys butter. Brenda is a girl who is 19 years old. She works at the grocery store. Brenda sells butter to the strange man on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but not Saturday. She does not work on Saturday. So Brenda sees the strange man five times every week. He always buys one stick of butter, and he always says, “Brenda, you are very pretty. You look like my daughter.” Brenda always says, “Thank you.” Today is Tuesday. Today the strange man comes to the grocery store and he buys one stick of butter again. He says, “Brenda, you are very pretty. You look like my daughter.” Brenda says, “Thank you.” The man leaves the store. But today, Brenda has an idea. Brenda thinks, “Why does that strange man always buy one stick of butter? I want to know.” So Brenda follows the man. Brenda goes to her car, and she follows the man to his house. When the man goes inside, Brenda leaves her car, and she looks into the window of the house. The strange man takes off his shirt, and he rubs the butter on his body. He rubs butter in his hair, on his face, and on his arms and legs. Then the man says, “It is time for dinner!” The man opens a box and takes out a very big snake. The snake wraps around the man’s body and eats the butter off his skin. Now Brenda knows why the strange man buys one stick of butter almost every day.
My story "Night Out" It’s Friday today. I’m happy to be able to go for a beer with the lads after work. The barmaid is pretty. It seems it will be a good night. When it’s my turn to buy a round, I ask her what her favourite colour is. She says, “Orange”. She smiles. She says, “Why?” I say, “It doesn't matter”. Too soon she calls, “Last orders!”. We get a quick round in, drink up, and leave. Later, I see her coming out of the pub. “Can I walk you home?”, I say. “Yes”, she says. We walk home without further words.
***My story for 2/25*** *Eastern Sun* One morning, Jake wakes up and walks downstairs. It is 5:00 am and it is still dark outside. Jake goes to the kitchen and makes coffee. Then he sits down at the table to drink it. Then something strange happens. The sun is shining in Jake’s face. Jake stands up and looks out the window. The sun is rising in his backyard. He yells, “Beth! Beth!” He runs upstairs and wakes up his wife. He says, “Beth, something strange is happening. The sun is rising in the west today.” They turn on the television, and there is a news alert on every channel. At 3:30 am UTC, the Earth changed directions. Scientists everywhere are confused. Hawaii has had sunlight for almost 24 hours, while people in Europe have been in darkness for an entire day. Nobody knows why this happened, or what will happen next. Jake does not go to work today. He stays at home with Beth and tells her how much he loves her. They spend all day together in their backyard. They are afraid, but happy to be together. In the evening, they go back into their house and turn on the news again. Democrats and Republicans have agreed to work together. Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Bhuddists have come together to pray for the world. Today people have donated more money to the children’s hospital than any other day in history. Russia has ended the war in Ukraine and has taken its army back home. Energy companies have decided they will stop polluting in order to protect the Earth. Jake feels very calm. He takes a drink of tea and holds Beth’s hand. He smiles as he looks out his bedroom window. The sun is setting in the East.
My story called "Musketeers vs Power Rangers" *Three lads in the pub* Alfie: Who would win in a fight between the Power Rangers and the three Musketeers? Marco: The Musketeers because they have the experience that comes with age whilst the Power Rangers are only kids and new to fighting. Luca: The Power Rangers because they have awesome weapons whilst the Musketeers have only swords and muskets. Alfie: The Musketeers because they are used to keeping out of trouble and ambushing their opponents when they don't expect it. Luca: The Power Rangers because they have great vehicles and the Musketeer have only horses. *They take a break from chatting to drink some beer* Alfie: Would you rather have feet for hands or hands for feet? *And so the chat goes on*
My story "Lunch (Part 1)" Sam had met a pretty girl at a party a few nights ago. Now here she was, out for a walk in the sun under a clear blue sky. It was a big difference from rainy yesterday. Sam: Good morning! Girl: Good morning Sam! Sam: What a lovely day! Girl: How are you? Sam: I'm fine, thank you. How are you? Girl: Fine, thanks. Sam: I was meaning to ask, what is that cool accent you have? Girl: Slovak. Sam: It's lovely. Girl: Thanks. Girl: See you soon. She starts to leave. Sam: hey there! She turns back towards Sam and looks at him. Girl: Yes? Sam: Can I have your phone number? Girl: Sure. They tap phones to exchange numbers. He checks the screen. Her name is Jarka. Sam: What are you doing later? Jarka: Meeting a friend for lunch. Sam. Sounds fun. Jarka: Yes. Sam: OK. Well, see you soon, Jarka. Girl: Bye Sam! Sam: Bye! Around midday Sam phone rings. He accepts the call. It's Jarka. Sam: Hi! Jarka: Hi Sam! Are you free for lunch? My friend has had to return to work for an important meeting. Sam: Yes. I'd love to join you, Jarka. Jarka: I'll text you directions to the place. See you soon.
***My story for 2/28/22*** *Benny* Patrick is 8 years old. He does not have a dog, but he really wants to have a dog. He wants a little brown dog. Patrick asks his mother to give him a dog. On Patrick’s birthday, his mother gives Patrick a dog. Patrick is so happy. The dog is little and brown. Patrick names the dog Benny. Patrick and Benny play outside all day and all night. Patrick loves Benny very much. At night, Patrick and Benny sleep in Patrick’s bed. They are very happy. The next morning, Benny is gone. Patrick does not know where his dog is. Patrick looks under the bed, and in the closet, but he cannot find Benny. Patrick talks to his little brother James. Patrick says, “James, do you know where my dog is?” James says, “I saw poop on the bathroom floor. Maybe your dog is in the bathroom.” Patrick goes to the bathroom. There is poop on the floor, but Benny is not there. James says, “Haha! That is not Benny’s poop. That is my poop!” Patrick is very angry. Then Patrick goes to the kitchen. His mother is cooking breakfast. Patrick sits at the table, and says, “Mom, do you know where Benny is?” His mother says, “Yes. Of course. He is right here.” His mother puts some meat on his plate. Patrick says, “Where?” Patrick’s mother says, “Right here on your plate. I thought you wanted to have a dog so that you could eat it for breakfast.” Patrick says, “No! I want to have a pet dog that I can love!” Patrick’s mother says, “Oh okay. I will give you a new dog for your next birthday.”
My story called "Oliver" Oliver was dead. Very dead. But they still found him guilty of killing the king. They dug his body out of the wall of the church. It was difficult to work the wood and the cloth free. Then, one last trip to the pub. But no beer for him this time. In the morning, another trip for his body, covered in a sheet, in an open box, through the city to the place where they hanged law breakers. Hanging there in chains in full public view until four in the afternoon. Then, taken down and his head chopped off. It took eight blows to free his head from his body. His head was put on a metal spike on a 20-foot oak pole and placed above Westminster Hall until, many years later, a great storm broke the pole and sent the head tumbling to the ground.
My story entitled "Work" Simon took the tram out to the industrial estate. He sat with his eyes closed, happy to be occupying his regular seat. He was too tired to think about his future. Too accustomed to the journey to take in the scenery through the windows yet another time. The automated system took him from stop to stop, doors opening and closing with a whoosh at each platform. He scarcely needed to count the stops to his destination. A short walk from the tram stop to his place of work. He swiped himself into the factory. He dropped off his kit bag in the staff locker room. He walked over to his bench. He started up the workstation. The familiar patterns on the screen. The familiar sequence of actions and reactions to the readings, performed like a well practiced dance without the need for too much thought. The whistle for the midday break sounded. He switched off the workstation and headed for the lunch room. He remember the days when every table and chair was occupied. The room filled with chatter. Now he was alone. He plugged himself into the only remaining working charging point.
My story "The Greens" Mr and Mrs Green have two children - a son and a daughter. The son's name is Peter. Peter's sister's name is Jane. Jane loves her big brother very much. The Greens live in an apartment. The apartment has four bedrooms. The children like to play games in their bedrooms. Jane listens to pop music in her bedroom. Peter reads comics in his bedroom. There is a living room. They watch TV and play board games in the living room with their mother and father.
In the kitchen, the father cooks their meals. They eat in the kitchen too. When they have guests they eat in the dining room. The apartment has one bathroom. They like to play in the bath in the bathroom. There is no garden. When their mother or their auntie are free to take them, Peter and Jane play in the playground close to their apartment block. They have a small dog. Its name is Sandy. Peter and Jane like to play with the dog and take it for walks.
***The first story I wrote tonight*** *The Dangerous Street* Jazzelin runs quickly down the road. She holds her baby tightly in her arms. He is wrapped in a blanket. The baby cries loudly. Jazzelin says, “Sshhhh.” She does not want the soldiers to hear her baby. If the soldiers find her, they will kill her. There are houses on both sides of the street. Some of the houses are on fire. Some of the houses have big holes in the walls and in the roofs. But some of the houses are not damaged. Jazzelin is afraid that soldiers might be hiding in the houses. She says, “Please be quiet my baby.” But her baby keeps crying, and Jazzelin keeps running. She runs so fast that her legs hurt. She breathes very deeply. There is smoke in the air. She breathes the smoke and it hurts her lungs. She coughs as she runs. Her clothes are dirty and they have holes in them. Her shoes are very old. As she runs, one of her shoes falls off, but she keeps running. Jazzelin continues running down the street with only one shoe. There is an explosion by the side of the road. Jazzelin falls down and drops her baby. The baby cries even louder. Jazzelin says, “Sshhh, please be quiet.” Then a man comes near to them. He is a soldier with a big gun and he looks angry. The soldier aims his gun at Jazzelin. Jazzelin says, “No! Please don’t shoot me!” She holds her baby tight to her chest. The soldier looks at her for a long time. Jazzelin starts to cry. The soldier lowers his gun and looks away. Jazzelin stands up and runs away with her baby.
My story called "Friends" Tom: Hey there! Pete: Hello Tom, how are you? Tom: I'm fine. And you and Nancy? Pete: We're both great. Tom: I'm going to the pub to watch the football. Do you want to come? Pete: Yes. That'll be great. Thank you. Tom: You're welcome. *They cross the road to the pub and go in* Tom: Are you thirsty? Pete: Yes, I'm very thirsty. Two beers? Tom: Yes please. I'm hungry too. I'll order a pie and chips. *They find a table just as the match is about to begin. Tom's team is playing today* Pete: Good luck Tom! Tom: We won't need it. *The opposition score the first goal* Pete: What a shame! Tom: It doesn't matter. We'll soon take the lead. *Tom jumps to his feet as his team score* Tom: See! I told you. *Tom's pie and chips arrive* Tom: Mm. The chips are delicious. Have a few, Pete. Pete: Mm. Yes, you're right. *Tom jumps to his feet as his team score again and go into the lead* *The pie and the chips are now on the floor*
Here’s my French story: Le travail de Sam Sam est un petit garçon de 8 ans. Il vit avec ses deux parents, son frère Tom et sa sœur Eva. Sam se pose beaucoup de questions, car il ne sait pas encore ce qu’il veut faire, plus tard, comme travail. Cela l’angoisse énormément! Un jour, sa mère vient le voir dans sa chambre. - Sam, sais-tu ce que tu veux faire comme travail plus tard? - Non maman… - Tu ne voudrais pas devenir policier comme ta sœur? - Je ne sais pas. Pour être policier, il faut être rapide et très organisé. Il faut suivre les lois et toujours être alerte. Moi, je n’ai pas ces qualités… - Tu pourrais devenir pompier comme ton frère? - Je ne sais pas. Pour être pompier, il faut être très fort et courageux. Il ne faut pas avoir peur de sauter dans l’action. Moi, je n’ai pas ces qualités… Sa mère réfléchit un instant puis elle dit: - Alors je sais ce que tu peux faire comme travail plus tard! - Ah oui? Quoi donc? - Scientifique! - Scientifique? - Oui, bien sûr! Les scientifiques se posent toujours toutes sortes de questions. Ça, c’est une qualité que tu as, j’en suis sûre! - Oh! Quelle bonne idée! Merci maman! - Peu importe ce que tu décides de faire comme travail plus tard, le plus important, c’est que tu sois heureux. Sam est en effet très heureux, car maintenant, il sait ce qu’il deviendra: le plus grand scientifique du monde!
Merci Olivier ! J'aime beaucoup l'histoire. En fait, je l'ai traduit en Anglais :) docs.google.com/document/d/1zQniCTkXJlYmIE04oW_4gFpDStItlV9mmCJ8pmqo-YI/edit?usp=sharing
@@FingtamLanguages Super! I wrote it right after watching your video yesterday at around 11 p.m. so I kinda tried to write something quick and easy, but I'll try to think of a better and more interesting story! Thank you for this awesome project of yours
My story entitled "The Box" A large man with a box walks through the city. A brown dog comes up to him and sniffs at the box. Two old women talk together on the other side of the street. They point at the box. They move their heads closer together. They speak more quietly. The man walks down to the river and across the bridge. At the other end of the bridge are a number of spikes. The man opens the box and takes out the head of King Charles. The man slams the head onto a spike. Everyone coming into the city will see it.
For the cause 😃: One Friday, Aria went to school as usual. It was a boring day. But what she didn't know was that her mum had a surprise waiting for her when she got home. Walking home, she dragged her feet. She kicked stones along the path. Her bag was heavy. When she got home, the gate was shut. "That's strange," she thought. Opening the gate, she came around the side of the house. There was her mum, sitting on the grass next to a dog. It was very fluffy. It had black and white fur and it's eyes were different colours. It wagged its tail. It looked friendly. "Hi Aria," said Mum. "Come and meet Kyra. She's ours." "A dog for us?" asked Aria. "Yes," her mum said. "This dog is ours now. Can you help us take care of her?" "Yes, please!" said Aria excitedly, rushing over. Soon Aria and her dog were best friends. Aria always looked forward to coming home from school now. She and her dog could play together.
My story entitled "No Mayonnaise" Tom wanted to make a salad for lunch. He had a red apple, celery, walnuts, some cooked chicken and a handful of rocket. In the refrigerator, he found only a very empty jar of mayonnaise.
Let's go to the store. It's a sunny day and a pleasant walk through the street market. Stalls piled high with colourful fruit and vegetables, stylish clothing, curious old books and the latest DVDs. He had to make a few purchases. Finally, he's at the store. He buys a few more items and heads home. Back at home, he unpacks his bags. A blue t-shirt and a baseball cap for his head, an old book about the south sea islands, six juicy peaches, a bag of pasta, a pack of butter, and a tin of tomatoes. No mayonnaise. He frowns. He looks in the cupboard. Eggs, oil, a lemon and mustard. He smiles. He will make the mayonnaise for his salad.
@@FingtamLanguages Annual plant whose leaves are edible and used in salads. Eruca sativa or Eruca vesicaria. I was more worried about walnuts being obscure!
***My Story for 4/5/22*** *Breakfast* Daniel is a young boy. He is 11 years old. Today, Daniel will go to a new school. In the morning, Daniel’s mother makes breakfast for him. She makes eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Daniel likes bacon and pancakes, but he does not like eggs. Daniel says, “Mom, I don’t want to eat the eggs. I only want to eat the pancakes and bacon.” Daniel’s mother says, “Son, you have to eat the eggs too. They are healthy.” Daniel eats the eggs, but he does not like them. Then Daniel goes to his new school. Today is Daniel’s first day of 6th grade. But when Daniel is at school, he hears many people screaming. People are running down the hallways. They are very afraid. Daniel’s teacher says, “Look! There are two big monsters! They are eating people!” Daniel looks out the window and he sees two monsters. One monster is very big, and the other monster is very very very big. The monster that is very very very big puts her hand through the window and grabs Daniel. She pulls Daniel out through the window, and gives him to the smaller monster. But the smaller monster says, “Mom, I don’t want to eat this one. I don’t like the students. I only like to eat the teachers.” But the very very very big monster says, “Son, you have to eat the students too. They are healthy.” Then the smaller monster eats Daniel.
***My Story for 2/24*** *Family Ununion* Cheyanne is laying down on a chair next to her father-in-law’s pool. She is wearing a bikini and getting a suntan. She wants to relax, but it is hard. Many young children are playing in the pool and running around the back yard. They splash water and scream loudly as they play. Brandon is standing at a picnic table. He is talking to his cousin’s wife, Emily. Cheyanne watches them through her sunglasses. She doesn’t like Emily. Brandon and Emily laugh together as Brandon takes two beers out of the ice cooler. Then they walk to Cheyanne. Brandon sits on a pool chair next to Cheyanne. Emily stands next to him. Brandon says, “Here you go.” He hands a beer to Cheyanne. “Thanks.” Brandon says, “Jeff and Emily recently bought a cabin on Lake Winnebago. It is a small house, but it is very nice and it is right on the lake. They will let us stay there with them on the 4th of July weekend.” “That’s nice.” Emily says, “Yeah. I think it will be a lot of fun. The kids can go swimming in the lake every day, and us girls can drink wine and paint in the evenings.” Brandon says, “And I can go fishing with Jeff on his boat. Maybe I should buy a boat. I want a boat like the one that Jeff has.” Emily says, “Jeff wants to buy a new boat. Maybe he will sell you the one he has now. Let me go ask him.” She walks away. Brandon says, “She’s really nice.” Cheyanne doesn’t say anything. They sit silently for five minutes while Brandon drinks his beer. Then Cheyanne says, “I want a divorce.”
***My Story for 3/6/22*** *Videogame Love* Jane is a young woman. She is 21 years old. She has a boyfriend named Cooper. Jane loves Cooper. But Jane is afraid. Jane thinks that she loves Cooper more than he loves her. Cooper likes Jane, but he loves to play video games. Jane is afraid that Cooper loves videogames more than he likes her. That makes her feel bad. Jane loves Cooper so much that she wants to marry him. But Jane thinks Cooper does not want to marry her. Jane is afraid that Cooper will leave her. One day, Jane goes to Cooper’s house. Cooper is playing video games. Jane says, “Cooper, do you love me?” Cooper says, “Yeah.” But he does not look at Jane. He only looks at his videogame. Jane says, “Do you want to marry me?” Cooper stops playing his videogame. He looks at Jane. He says, “I don’t know. I need to think about it.” Then Cooper walks out of the room. Jane starts to cry. She thinks, Oh no! Cooper is going to leave me! Then Cooper comes back into the room. Jane says, “Cooper! You are not going to leave me?” Cooper says, “No. I will never leave you. I love you.” Then he holds a diamond ring. He says, “Jane, will you marry me?”
***My story for 2/23*** *Different Gravity* I walk home from school. It is a sunny day. The birds are singing, the sky is blue, and the clouds are white. When I get home, I see an Amazon package in front of my door. The package has my name on it. I pick up the package and go to my room. I sit on my bed and open the package. It is a black box with a red button. Should I press the button? I think for a minute. I don’t know if it’s a good idea or a bad idea. What will happen if I press it? I look all over the box, but there is nothing on it. There is only one button. Finally, I decide to press the button. When I press the button, I feel strange. The bedroom turns upside down, and I start to fall towards the ceiling of my room. Everything in my bedroom falls towards the ceiling. I stand up on the ceiling. The ceiling is now down beneath me like the floor used to be! What happened? I see that my fish bowl is knocked over and most of the water has spilled out. My fish is flopping in a puddle of water. Oh no! I run across the ceiling and put my fish back into its bowl. There is only a little bit of water still in the bowl. What should I do? I pick up the little black box and push the button again. The box explodes with a blinding light, and then it disappears. Everything in my bedroom falls back down to the floor. Now my bedroom is a big mess. But at least my fish is safe!
My story "A Yellow House" The politician sits at his desk in his office. His secretary has looked out the files for today's appointments for him. They are on his desk. He picks them up. The files are light. Not many people to see today. Today is Saturday. Once in a while, there is an interesting case to deal with. But today they are all about litter, in the streets, in the parks, in the shopping center. Everybody hates litter. The hour arrives. A knock at the door. "Please come in and sit down there." "The council say I can't paint my house yellow. Not even if I buy it from them first. They say it must stay in keeping with the area. Is there something you can do to help me?" "Where is your house?" "In The Cresent." "That's a lovely area." "It's very important to me to have a yellow house." "Have you thought about moving to a different area? Maybe you could buy a yellow house in another part of town." "That's a great idea! Thank you!"
My story called "Fish" "Hello!" No answer. The light from the computer makes Morgan's face look blue in the dull early morning. "Where are you, dude?", Morgan thinks, trying to make sense of what was happening. Morgan would try again later. A week ago, Morgan had been perfectly happy. Morgan was thinking they might possibly be getting into boyfriend territory. Had things been moving too fast? Was it wrong to want to date someone you met online? Morgan had been happy to send the money for the plane ticket. Morgan has a lesson to deliver at college. Today Morgan has to speak about modern foreign languages and their use with technology. Morgan needs to get going as soon as possible. Back at home, Morgan's face reflects in the computer screen. Morgan types: "Look here, you really can't treat me like this". Morgan will cook a piece of fish for supper. Morgan likes fish.
My story "A Young Life" Mum wakes me up. I do not like waking up. I go downstairs. I eat breakfast. I like breakfast. I go to the bathroom. I have a shower. I like warm showers. Mum has laid out my clothes. I put on my clothes. I like my clothes. Mum walks with me to school. We do not catch the bus. I do not take my skateboard. I do not take my bike. I do not ride on my scooter. I like to go to school. I do some sums. I do not like sums. I read a book. I like to read books. I eat lunch. I eat a cheese sandwich and a yogurt. I like cheese. I like yogurt. I play outside. I like to play. It rains. I do not like rain. I paint a picture. I like painting. I sit on the floor in the book corner with my classmates. My teacher reads a story. I like stories. I catch the bus home. The bus is noisy. I do not like the bus. Mum cooks pasta for tea. The pasta is too hot. Mum blows on it. I like pasta. I watch TV. I like TV. Then the news is on. I do not like the news. I go to bed. I do not like to go to bed.
Hopefully you’ve reached out to the other Thai learners on TH-cam, like Paddy Thai from Australia 🇦🇺 👍🏾 - His followers could help, and of course Olly Richards with his book series. Also reach out to LinqQ and the persons currently doing his Thai short stories. I think they have up to 20 so far. Which are great bc they repeat verbs in each.
Excellent idea! I have had a very difficult time finding beginner A1-A2 in Turkish. I have an English book for a toddler than I plan to translate for myself. So your video comes at an excellent time. Are you looking for short stories in English that can be translated into Thai or are you looking for short stories that can be translated into any language? I do write, but everything is still in editing phase. I am not yet published. I would be very interested in writing short stories in English that I would allow translation to any language as free-source. I almost had to give up my Turkish lessons but my teacher waived her fees due to my job loss. I can’t even tell you how much I cried when I understood that she was gifting all future lessons to me. We average 5 hours per week. Thank you for sharing this plan. The Lord truly works in mysterious ways!
Wow, it’s amazing that your teacher was so generous! And yes, I plan on paying a translator to translate the stories into Thai, but I also will put up the original story, which can be translated into any other language. One condition though: since the stories are meant for beginners, they should use simple, beginner-friendly language. I don’t want to translate stories that are meant for native speakers. There are plenty of those already out there. I would be very happy if you joined the movement and helped create simple stories! 😊
My story called "The Stars Align" Once in a while, a man sees a woman and he asks himself: Is she the one? What are the chances of that happening? In my opinion, the universe makes sure this meeting will take place when the time is right. The Greeks believed, that in the beginning, humans were a double being, both male and female in one body. They had 4 arms and 4 legs and a head with two faces. Then due to a terrible mistake, everyone was cut in two. And so the two halves of each person walk the earth looking for their lost part. And so one day, John saw Mary working in a café. She was beautiful. He was funny. She was smart. He was dumb. She was serious. He was nervous. She was amazing. Their life together would not be without difficulties, but it would be the right life for them.
My story "Games Night" The friends get together once a week for a games night. Tonight, they will play a new game. They are interested to see how it goes. They look through the cards and they all admire the great design and artwork. Paul shuffles the decks. Mary places the continent cards in a vertical line in the middle of the table. Freda deals the player-character cards out. Paul is the Musician. Mary is the Programmer. Julie is the TH-camr. Joe is the Friend. Xander is the Politician. And Freda the Student. They place the card in front of them and their 3 dice to the right of their card. Then they all roll a die to decide their starting continent and place their token on it. Paul says, "To win, we must work as a team to get green stars to be the most common card all around the world." For the first phase they take it in turns to roll their dice and place them to the left of their character card. In the second phase, they take their character action, they draw an event card and take the action needed, they draw game cards, move their tokens to other continents, play or remove a game card from a continent. They pay for each action with a die score from the rolled dice. It takes a number of rounds, but when the played cards are counted up, they find that the team has lost, this time. Julie says, "That was a fun game". Xander says, "I enjoyed stealing other people's cards". Freda says, "We must think out a smarter game plan next time". They all agree with a chuckle.
@Hogbenfan Thank you so much for all your contributions to this project! Would you be interested in doing some translations of them into Esperanto? I would love to work with you to get some of these stories out into Eaperantujo!
There was no milk. Fred checked the fridge again. He picked up bottles and cans and packets and looked behind them. Nothing. He looked down at the empty bowl on the breakfast table. The big yellow flower, that looked like a child had painted it on to its shimmering deep blue glazed surface, made him smile briefly. He picked up the box of cereals and shook it. It rattled comfortingly. He wanted cornflakes this morning. He wanted ice cold milk. But the milk jug wasn't going to appear on the table today. Upstairs, in the apartment above his, the lady was waking up. Today, like an Egyptian queen she would bathe in milk. They had had no luck finding she-donkeys to milk in the town. Instead, Laverna had snuck into all the apartments in the block and gathered up all the milk jugs she could find. She gently warmed each jug up to body temperature in the microwave before pouring the contents into the bath. The lady would be pleased with her work, she was sure. The lady slid into the bath, careful not to slosh the milk over the rim. Her aged skin, now as delicate as ancient parchment or autumn leaves, would be restored to its youthful beauty. She had no doubts. She rose from the bath and looked at herself in the mirror. Yes, she thought to herself, Proserpina is indeed beautiful again. In the apartment below, Fred pulled on his jeans and stepped into his shoes. It was a long walk to the little shop, but he was out of milk. He smiled as he set out into the warm sunlight. The long winter had ended overnight and spring had come to town today.
* My first story of tonight * Earth's intervention It was night, it was very cold, and Gabriel was running for his life through the desert. The red walkers were getting closer, and Gabriel could hear them already. This is it, he said; this is the end. Suddenly, he saw a blue light coming through the sand. Thinking it was an alien weapon, he began to stir up the sand as fast as he could. When doing that, he felt a gravitational force that sucked him in, and then he disappeared. When Gabriel woke up, he was on an alien ship . Some strange beings spoke a language that he had never heard before; one of them turned to him and said, "Are you ready?" Gabriel thought that the worst was yet to come. However, these beings quickly explained that they had orders from a superior to free planet Earth from the red walkers, but to do this they needed the consent of the humans. Why do you require the consent of humans? Gabriel asked. The beings explained to him that humans should express their unanimity and their desire to be rid of the red walkers before intervening, since the received orders established it that way. After a long conversation with the beings, Gabriel told them about human behavior and how humans themselves were responsible for the Walker invasion and that many of them cooperated and worked with them in the first place during the Martian wars. However, Gabriel and his entire family had been suffering for a long time, and this led him to cooperate with the beings. This is how Gabriel prepares to go back to planet Earth, this time with extraterrestrial help, in order to get a consensus and define the future of humanity.
*It’s Hot*
Ashton and Jen work at a McDonalds.They work late at night when most people are sleeping. Tonight, Ashton and Jen are working alone. There are no other workers at McDonalds with them. Tonight is a very hot night because the air conditioner is broken.
Ashton looks at Jen. Her shirt is wet because she is sweating. Ashton says, “You are hot!”
Jen says, “I know! It is so hot because the air conditioner is broken. I wish there was a man here who could fix the air conditioner.”
Ashton smiles, but then makes an angry face, “Hey! Are you saying I’m not a man?”
Jen raises her eyebrows. She says, “Well if you were a real man, you would know how to fix the air conditioner.”
Ashton says, “I know how to help you cool down.” He pulls out the hose from the sink and sprays Jen with water.
Jen says, “Stop! Stop!” Ashton stops spraying her, and Jen says, “That was not very nice!”
Ashton says, “I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”
Jen says, “No. I will never forgive you.” She smiles and sticks out her tongue at Ashton.
Ashton says, “I know how to make you forgive me.” He makes a chocolate ice cream cone and gives it to Jen. He says, “Will you forgive me?”
Jen says, “Aww Ashton, you know me so well.” She takes the ice cream cone for him and gives him a hug.
Two hours later, Jen and Ashton lock the door of the McDonalds. Jen’s boyfriend drives into the parking lot and honks his horn. Jen says, “See you later, Ashton.” Then she walks to her boyfriend’s car.
It is 1:00 am, and it is not hot anymore.
*** The second story I wrote tonight ***
*Two Young Friends*
Sarah and Devin are friends. They like to play outside. They like to walk through the forest on the weekends when they are not at school. They like to look at animals and throw rocks into the river.
One day, Sarah runs through the forest. She pretends that she is a rabbit. She jumps over a log. But Devin cannot run. He cannot jump either. He watches Sarah run through the forest. He wants to run with her, but running makes his lungs hurt. It is hard to breathe when he runs. So Devin has to walk slowly.
Sarah says, “Come run with me Devin! Let’s pretend that we are fast deer.”
Devin says, “I can’t run. Come walk with me.”
So Sarah comes back to Devin and walks slowly with him. “She says, okay. Let’s pretend we are turtles.” They walk to the river together. They take off their shoes and they walk into the river. Sarah holds Devins hands. She says, “Dance with me Devin! Let’s pretend we are mermaids.”
But Devin can’t dance. He says, “I can’t dance Sarah. You dance around me.” So Sarah dances around Devin in the water. She says, “I am a mermaid, and you are the king of the mermaids!”.
The next day, Sarah runs to Devin’s house. She knocks on the door. Devin's mother opens the door and says, “I’m sorry Sarah. Devin can’t play today. He is too tired.”
Sarah goes to Devin’s bedroom. Devin is too tired to talk. He is too tired to get out of bed. He breathes very slowly. Sarah says, “It’s okay Devin. We don’t need to play outside today. We can pretend to be sleeping bears right here in your bed.”
I just shared a google document on the google form from Language stories. Hope it doesn't matter that my story is not a play, but a short story. If it's better to format the story as a play, I can try it. You let me know, please. :) It's in Spanish by the way. Then I'll see if I'll be encouraged to write a story in English :D
I am glad to see something like this. So many languages I want to learn such as Mongolian, Kazakh, and Uzbek have a small amount of material to learn with. I hope it works.
My story "Cardiff"
Hello! Great to meet you! My name is Matthew Jones. I am 18, a student, and a rugby player. I go to the Military Preparation College in Cardiff. My favourite classes are Sports Science, Biology, and Sociology. English is the hardest subject for me.
The college moved into a wonderful purpose-built building in 2021. All the instructors are ex-British Armed Forces personnel. They teach all the academic subjects and provide training in physical fitness and public speaking. It’s my final year in college now. I've been attending since I was 14. I love it!
This year I moved into a big house in Albany Road. It’s 2 miles from the college site. I live with three other students. We shop together and cook our meals together. We share the housework. At the weekend, we play rugby together. Some evenings, we go to the Andrew Buchan for a pint and to watch sport on their TV. Sometimes there is live music too.
My little brother has just started secondary school. He is 11, He lives with my parents in Barry. It's nice when they visit me. My mum brings me cake. My little brother is always so happy to see me and to get to play fight with me. I love the way he feels sure that this time he can beat me.
***My story for 3/10/22***
*Cage*
My name is Skeeter. I am a parrot, and I live in a cage in an apartment. My owner is Kyleen. I love Kyleen because she feeds me and talks to me every day. Sometimes she talks to me for hours and hours.
Today, Kyleen picked up my food, and she walked to my cage. I thought she was going to feed me, but then the telephone rang. Kyleen put down my food and answered the telephone.
She said:
Hi Mommy. I’m so glad you called.
Yes, you can call me any day before 3:00pm. But not weekends. You can call me Monday through Friday.
I’m wonderful. I have a new bird named Skeeter. Howard does not let me take him out of the cage, but I like to sit on the couch and talk to him. Skeeter is a very good listener. What have you and Daddy done this week?
Wow, that sounds like so much fun! I have not gone to a party in years.
I can’t. Howard does not like parties.
He took me hunting last fall. Well, I didn’t hunt, but Howard and his brother did. It was very cold, but Howard killed a deer. That was a nice trip.
No, I could not possibly leave home for that long. But you and Daddy could come visit me here in New York.
No. Howard and I will be busy that week. Can you come visit me on March 4th? Howard will be in California on a business trip that week.
Yes, I want you to meet Howard too, but he is very busy with work. March 4th is the best day for you to come.
Oh yay! I am so excited to see you again.
No. I don’t have any friends. Just Howard and Skeeter.
Everything is fine, mother.
I love you too. Goodbye.
Great story and title - I love there being a story between the lines
Late Night Bus
Luther checked his watch. It was half past midnight, and he had been waiting at the bus stop for over an hour. Luckily, there was no one else waiting with him. He did not like talking to strangers, and would not like talking to one for over an hour.
He yawned and rubbed his eyes. He was glad there was a place to sit down while waiting. If he had to stand all this time, he might have decided to walk home instead. The bench was not comfortable to sit on, but there was a light above it, so Luther took a book out of his backpack and began to read.
He did not know he had fallen asleep until the moment he woke to find the bus right in front of him, with the door open.
Something was wrong. It was dark inside the bus, and there was no sound coming from the engine. Luther sat still. The doors stayed open.
There was no driver behind the wheel.
When he looked up at the windows on the side of the bus, Luther could see faces gazing out at him from inside the dark bus. The faces were very white, and they had eyes that were blank. All the blank eyes in the white faces were watching him.
Luther zipped up his jacket. He could see his breath in the cold. He shivered.
The bus was waiting. Luther thought he should say something.
“This is not my bus.”
The doors stayed open. He cleared his throat and tried again, a little louder.
“I am waiting for another one.”
After a moment, the doors slowly closed. The white faces with blank eyes turned away as the bus drove down the street in silence.
Luther stood. He would walk home.
Wow great story! Thanks!
My story called "Family Life"
I have three sons and one daughter; little Joseph was born last. I love my family very much. They are very important to me. I teach history, and my wife is a manager at a local charity shop. My children all work hard at school. They are very clever children. Little Joseph is a nervous boy, but he is very kind. My father also lives with us. He came from Canada when he was sixty years old. He has grown older here, but he is still very strong. We live in a house close to the mountains. He loves the mountain air and he still cooks the best campfire food! My father and I like to spend time together walking in the mountains. Joseph likes to cook with his grandfather over a campfire. At the weekend, the family likes to make TikTok videos together. We always have a fun time. We laugh a lot. My family are amazing!
My story "A Mountain Vacation"
It's too warm outside for a winter coat today. I am wearing my leather jacket for the journey from my apartment to work this morning. Finally, it feels that spring is here in Romania.
But up in the mountains, it is still cold. That's where I took my mom and my little brother on a short vacation. We spent two days in Brasov. It's just 2 hours away by car from their home Bucharest. It was cold but sunny; great weather for mugs of hot chocolate or a few glasses of mulled wine - semi-sweet red wine heated with spices and a dash of orange juice.
On the tops of mountains, you can still see snow. But there is no snow in the city now. We had to climb the mountain to enjoy the best views of the snow around us. Up on the mountains we had a lunch of grilled sausages. I wished I could ski too. But it is not cold enough for skiing now.
There are a lot of villas, you can rent in Brasov. I rented one for us for two nights for $150. The rent included a breakfast and an evening meal being cooked for us at the villa each day.
My little brother was very excited to go on vacation to the mountains. He would run around everywhere. He screamed. He laughed. Everyone knew that he was my brother and made a fuss of him.
On the last night, it was midnight and he still didn't want to sleep. That fresh mountain air was magic. It gave him even more energy than usual. And he is a very active little boy normally. And I'd thought if only we could bottle it and sell it to the tired folk down in the city
***My Story for 2/26/***
*Helensville*
Helensville is a small town on the ocean. It is a strange town. Derek’s wife told him that he should not go to Helensville because it is very strange, but Derek goes there anyway. Derek wants to see what is so strange about the town.
When Derek gets there, he parks the car on the side of the street. He sees that all of the people in the town are walking backwards. Derek says, “This is very strange.” He steps out of his car, and takes one step forward, but he trips on his shoelace and falls to the ground. Derek ties his shoe, stands up, and takes another step, but he falls again.
An old lady sees Derek on the ground. She says, “Try walking backwards.”
Derek turns around, and walks backwards down the street. When he gets to the beach, he sees people throwing money into the ocean. He says, “This is very strange.” A young girl near Derek throws ten dollars into the water. He asks her why she is throwing away her money. She says, “You have to pay your dues.”
Derek asks, “How much should I pay?”
“Whatever you think is right.”
Derek throws one dollar into the ocean and his feet start to sink into the sand. He screams and throws in twenty dollars. Then he rises back to the top of the sand.
Derek says, “I’m leaving!” He runs backwards back to the street, but his car is not there. He yells, “Where is my car?!”
The same old woman walks up to Derek and says, “You don’t need it anymore. Once you come to Helensville, you can never leave.”
Derek should have listened to his wife.
This is a fun writing exercise.
Bo and the Fish Store
Bo was a black cat with yellow eyes, large ears, and a long tail. He lived in the alley behind a fish store. He did not have any people. Some cats have two or three people. Some have four or five. Those cats always had breakfast in the morning and dinner at night. That is why cats like to have people.
The owner of the fish store was a man named Sam. He looked like he ate breakfast and dinner more than once a day. Sam knew that Bo did not have any people, so he gave Bo some bones from the fish he sold. Sometimes he gave Bo the heads or tails of the fish. People do not want those, but cats like to eat them.
Bo was happy living there, but he would jump over the fence if Sam tried to pet him.
Sometimes, Sam would sing while he was working in the store. If the kitchen door was open, Bo would sit outside and sing, too. Sam thought that Bo had a very good voice.
One day, a lady was buying some fish and heard Sam and Bo singing. This lady had a little girl. When she saw Bo, she thought he was very handsome, and wanted to take him home. Sam asked Bo if he wanted to go home with them.
Bo thought about it. If he went home with the lady and the little girl, they would be his people. They would feed him breakfast and dinner. The little girl might want to pet him. Would they have a fence at their house that he could jump over?
Bo decided to stay with Sam, and sing duets, and eat the bones and heads and tails of the fish that Sam sold in the store.
Nice story! Thanks!
"Midnight Feast"
A slow walk under trees can be a great pleasure on a warm day.
But when it gets dark, it can become stressful. I don't want to pass by a house and not see it out there in the night. Where to stay? This is becoming serious. No sign of a village nearby.
Shit!
Why haven't I quit this silly trip before now? Which way to go?
I think about my young wife far from here.
In my opinion, there is not a better sound to hear than children having fun.
Their house must be somewhere close by.
Wow! There before me, very near on the right, I get my first sight of the house. A pink door. Closed. An old key on a nail. I try the key. The door opens. I sit at the table to rest a few minutes. Maybe I doze off. Then in front of me, appear a group of guys.
"Do you speak English?", I ask. They reply in a language in no way similar to any I know. Alright then. Let's learn from the moment. I mime a request for food and drink.
The sad little mother shakes her head. Her children gather closer around her.
What...? None.
I open my rucksack and take out the contents. The children grin and the mother dabs at her big blue eyes with an embroidered handkerchief. What it means to share food with this sad little family.
I like these guys. We feast on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cola.
It's time to sleep.
"Good night!"
In the morning, I wake alone in this old dusty deserted house with its pink door.
My story called TV Dinner
Susan was pleased because there were always more customers for her taxi on rainy days. It was hard work behind the wheel, picking customers up, driving around the familiar streets, working the clutch pedal, shifting up and down the gears, peering through the wet windshield, the constant swiping back and forth of the wipers clearing away the downpour. She would be glad to get back home at the end of the day.
Back at her apartment, she changes into her pyjamas. She heats a TV dinner in the microwave and sits herself down in front of the TV, feet up on the footstool. There is a good movie on TV tonight. She loves a film with fast car chases. She thinks how good it would be to be on TV.
A few days later the landlord comes around to see what has happened to Susan. All the lights are on although it is daytime. He see all Susan's clothes are still in the wardrobe. Her work clothes in the laundry basket. A cold TV dinner on a small table by the couch.
From behind the glass of the TV screen, Susan looks out at her apartment. She sees the landlord in her living room. He picks up her half eaten TV dinner and goes to the kitchenette, pops it into the sack with her other rubbish and sends the sack down the refuse chute. Susan knocks furiously at the screen to attach his attention. He's switching off the lights. He comes over to the TV set. Susan breathes a sigh of relief. She's going to be rescued. The tiny taps coming from the screen are inaudible above the noise of the channel jingle. He unplugs the TV set. The screen turns opaque. Susan can no longer see her living room. The faint afterglow of the channel test card fades to blackness.
Thanks so much for this! I'm going to post a new video talking about this project in a few minutes.
My story "Lunch (Part 2)"
The restaurant is a rather grand place. Sam wonders if he will be able to pay the bill.
Sam: Hi Jarka!
Jarka: Good afternoon Sam!
Jarka flashes her lovely white teeth in a smile.
Sam: I'll just go to the bathroom to clean up.
Sam checks his hair in the bathroom mirror, before returning to the table.
Jarka: What do you want to eat?
Sam: it's not easy to pick. I think I'll have a mix of taster bowls.
Jarka is very clever and the conversation flows on easily. Sam is beginning to feel more and more attracted to her as he listens to her talk. He's met nobody like her before.
Jarka: By the way, what team do like?
Sam: Fulchester United.
Jarka: Oh, really?
Sam: Billy Thompson is a very ugly player though.
Jarka: He's my cousin!
Sam: Oh. My bad!
Jarka: He's a really crazy guy. He practically never stops partying. I don't know when he fits in time for training.
Sam smiles.
Jarka: Billy's given me a couple of tickets for the directors' box for Saturday, if you are able to go with me?
Sam: That would be amazing!
Jarka: Would you like some more to eat?
Sam: I couldn't physically eat another thing. Luckily, I don't have to go back to work today.
Jarka waves the waiter over and hands over a credit card.
Sam: Let's split the bill.
Jarka: No. No. It's my treat. I asked you out.
As they leave the restaurant.
Sam: What are you doing tomorrow?
Jarka: I'll give you a call
SamL OK. I'll look forward to it. Bye now!
Jarka: Bye Sam!
* Nature Explorers *
Javier is a boy who likes nature. He goes out to the park every day to explore the plants and animals.
One day, Javier met a girl named Maria in the park and said: "Hello, how are you? Are you coming to play in the park?" No, she said. "I come to explore nature". Great said Javier, "we can explore together".
They both went for a walk and they found a squirrel. "look what a beautiful animal" Maria said. "Yes, I like that animal too!" They tried to get closer, but the squirrel was moving fast. After spending the whole day together, Javier and Maria became friends.
When Javier and Maria grew up and became adults, they got married and moved to Australia, as they wanted to travel and explore new plants and animals.
However, being in Australia, Javier and Maria were very busy with their office work and could not explore anymore. So, they changed office work for field work where they could work and explore again.
In Australia Javier and Maria met kangaroos, koalas and spiders for the first time. They are saving money to travel to Japan and continue their lovely story of exploration.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
I very very very love you คุณครูของพวกเราคนไทย
Thank you! That is so nice :)
***My story for 3/2/22***
*Butter*
A strange man comes to the grocery store almost every day. He comes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but not on Sunday. He always comes to the grocery store and buys one stick of butter. He does not buy anything else. He only buys butter.
Brenda is a girl who is 19 years old. She works at the grocery store. Brenda sells butter to the strange man on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but not Saturday. She does not work on Saturday. So Brenda sees the strange man five times every week. He always buys one stick of butter, and he always says, “Brenda, you are very pretty. You look like my daughter.” Brenda always says, “Thank you.”
Today is Tuesday. Today the strange man comes to the grocery store and he buys one stick of butter again. He says, “Brenda, you are very pretty. You look like my daughter.” Brenda says, “Thank you.” The man leaves the store. But today, Brenda has an idea. Brenda thinks, “Why does that strange man always buy one stick of butter? I want to know.” So Brenda follows the man.
Brenda goes to her car, and she follows the man to his house. When the man goes inside, Brenda leaves her car, and she looks into the window of the house. The strange man takes off his shirt, and he rubs the butter on his body. He rubs butter in his hair, on his face, and on his arms and legs. Then the man says, “It is time for dinner!”
The man opens a box and takes out a very big snake. The snake wraps around the man’s body and eats the butter off his skin.
Now Brenda knows why the strange man buys one stick of butter almost every day.
My story "Night Out"
It’s Friday today. I’m happy to be able to go for a beer with the lads after work. The barmaid is pretty. It seems it will be a good night.
When it’s my turn to buy a round, I ask her what her favourite colour is. She says, “Orange”. She smiles. She says, “Why?” I say, “It doesn't matter”.
Too soon she calls, “Last orders!”. We get a quick round in, drink up, and leave.
Later, I see her coming out of the pub. “Can I walk you home?”, I say. “Yes”, she says.
We walk home without further words.
Great idea !
So happy you will keep learning Thai Aaron! Good luck with your project!
Thanks Jon!
***My story for 2/25***
*Eastern Sun*
One morning, Jake wakes up and walks downstairs. It is 5:00 am and it is still dark outside. Jake goes to the kitchen and makes coffee. Then he sits down at the table to drink it.
Then something strange happens. The sun is shining in Jake’s face. Jake stands up and looks out the window. The sun is rising in his backyard. He yells, “Beth! Beth!” He runs upstairs and wakes up his wife. He says, “Beth, something strange is happening. The sun is rising in the west today.”
They turn on the television, and there is a news alert on every channel. At 3:30 am UTC, the Earth changed directions. Scientists everywhere are confused. Hawaii has had sunlight for almost 24 hours, while people in Europe have been in darkness for an entire day. Nobody knows why this happened, or what will happen next.
Jake does not go to work today. He stays at home with Beth and tells her how much he loves her. They spend all day together in their backyard. They are afraid, but happy to be together.
In the evening, they go back into their house and turn on the news again. Democrats and Republicans have agreed to work together. Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Bhuddists have come together to pray for the world. Today people have donated more money to the children’s hospital than any other day in history. Russia has ended the war in Ukraine and has taken its army back home. Energy companies have decided they will stop polluting in order to protect the Earth.
Jake feels very calm. He takes a drink of tea and holds Beth’s hand. He smiles as he looks out his bedroom window. The sun is setting in the East.
My story called "Musketeers vs Power Rangers"
*Three lads in the pub*
Alfie: Who would win in a fight between the Power Rangers and the three Musketeers?
Marco: The Musketeers because they have the experience that comes with age whilst the Power Rangers are only kids and new to fighting.
Luca: The Power Rangers because they have awesome weapons whilst the Musketeers have only swords and muskets.
Alfie: The Musketeers because they are used to keeping out of trouble and ambushing their opponents when they don't expect it.
Luca: The Power Rangers because they have great vehicles and the Musketeer have only horses.
*They take a break from chatting to drink some beer*
Alfie: Would you rather have feet for hands or hands for feet?
*And so the chat goes on*
My story "Lunch (Part 1)"
Sam had met a pretty girl at a party a few nights ago. Now here she was, out for a walk in the sun under a clear blue sky. It was a big difference from rainy yesterday.
Sam: Good morning!
Girl: Good morning Sam!
Sam: What a lovely day!
Girl: How are you?
Sam: I'm fine, thank you. How are you?
Girl: Fine, thanks.
Sam: I was meaning to ask, what is that cool accent you have?
Girl: Slovak.
Sam: It's lovely.
Girl: Thanks.
Girl: See you soon.
She starts to leave.
Sam: hey there!
She turns back towards Sam and looks at him.
Girl: Yes?
Sam: Can I have your phone number?
Girl: Sure.
They tap phones to exchange numbers. He checks the screen. Her name is Jarka.
Sam: What are you doing later?
Jarka: Meeting a friend for lunch.
Sam. Sounds fun.
Jarka: Yes.
Sam: OK. Well, see you soon, Jarka.
Girl: Bye Sam!
Sam: Bye!
Around midday Sam phone rings. He accepts the call. It's Jarka.
Sam: Hi!
Jarka: Hi Sam! Are you free for lunch? My friend has had to return to work for an important meeting.
Sam: Yes. I'd love to join you, Jarka.
Jarka: I'll text you directions to the place. See you soon.
***My story for 2/28/22***
*Benny*
Patrick is 8 years old. He does not have a dog, but he really wants to have a dog. He wants a little brown dog. Patrick asks his mother to give him a dog.
On Patrick’s birthday, his mother gives Patrick a dog. Patrick is so happy. The dog is little and brown. Patrick names the dog Benny. Patrick and Benny play outside all day and all night. Patrick loves Benny very much. At night, Patrick and Benny sleep in Patrick’s bed. They are very happy.
The next morning, Benny is gone. Patrick does not know where his dog is. Patrick looks under the bed, and in the closet, but he cannot find Benny.
Patrick talks to his little brother James. Patrick says, “James, do you know where my dog is?”
James says, “I saw poop on the bathroom floor. Maybe your dog is in the bathroom.”
Patrick goes to the bathroom. There is poop on the floor, but Benny is not there. James says, “Haha! That is not Benny’s poop. That is my poop!”
Patrick is very angry. Then Patrick goes to the kitchen. His mother is cooking breakfast. Patrick sits at the table, and says, “Mom, do you know where Benny is?”
His mother says, “Yes. Of course. He is right here.” His mother puts some meat on his plate.
Patrick says, “Where?”
Patrick’s mother says, “Right here on your plate. I thought you wanted to have a dog so that you could eat it for breakfast.”
Patrick says, “No! I want to have a pet dog that I can love!”
Patrick’s mother says, “Oh okay. I will give you a new dog for your next birthday.”
My story called "Oliver"
Oliver was dead. Very dead.
But they still found him guilty of killing the king. They dug his body out of the wall of the church. It was difficult to work the wood and the cloth free. Then, one last trip to the pub. But no beer for him this time.
In the morning, another trip for his body, covered in a sheet, in an open box, through the city to the place where they hanged law breakers. Hanging there in chains in full public view until four in the afternoon. Then, taken down and his head chopped off. It took eight blows to free his head from his body. His head was put on a metal spike on a 20-foot oak pole and placed above Westminster Hall until, many years later, a great storm broke the pole and sent the head tumbling to the ground.
My story entitled "Work"
Simon took the tram out to the industrial estate. He sat with his eyes closed, happy to be occupying his regular seat. He was too tired to think about his future. Too accustomed to the journey to take in the scenery through the windows yet another time. The automated system took him from stop to stop, doors opening and closing with a whoosh at each platform. He scarcely needed to count the stops to his destination.
A short walk from the tram stop to his place of work. He swiped himself into the factory. He dropped off his kit bag in the staff locker room. He walked over to his bench. He started up the workstation. The familiar patterns on the screen. The familiar sequence of actions and reactions to the readings, performed like a well practiced dance without the need for too much thought.
The whistle for the midday break sounded. He switched off the workstation and headed for the lunch room. He remember the days when every table and chair was occupied. The room filled with chatter. Now he was alone. He plugged himself into the only remaining working charging point.
Thanks so much Ben! These are great!
My story "The Greens"
Mr and Mrs Green have two children - a son and a daughter. The son's name is Peter. Peter's sister's name is Jane. Jane loves her big brother very much.
The Greens live in an apartment. The apartment has four bedrooms. The children like to play games in their bedrooms. Jane listens to pop music in her bedroom. Peter reads comics in his bedroom.
There is a living room. They watch TV and play board games in the living room with their mother and father.
In the kitchen, the father cooks their meals. They eat in the kitchen too. When they have guests they eat in the dining room.
The apartment has one bathroom. They like to play in the bath in the bathroom.
There is no garden. When their mother or their auntie are free to take them, Peter and Jane play in the playground close to their apartment block.
They have a small dog. Its name is Sandy. Peter and Jane like to play with the dog and take it for walks.
***The first story I wrote tonight***
*The Dangerous Street*
Jazzelin runs quickly down the road. She holds her baby tightly in her arms. He is wrapped in a blanket. The baby cries loudly. Jazzelin says, “Sshhhh.” She does not want the soldiers to hear her baby. If the soldiers find her, they will kill her.
There are houses on both sides of the street. Some of the houses are on fire. Some of the houses have big holes in the walls and in the roofs. But some of the houses are not damaged. Jazzelin is afraid that soldiers might be hiding in the houses. She says, “Please be quiet my baby.” But her baby keeps crying, and Jazzelin keeps running.
She runs so fast that her legs hurt. She breathes very deeply. There is smoke in the air. She breathes the smoke and it hurts her lungs. She coughs as she runs. Her clothes are dirty and they have holes in them. Her shoes are very old. As she runs, one of her shoes falls off, but she keeps running. Jazzelin continues running down the street with only one shoe.
There is an explosion by the side of the road. Jazzelin falls down and drops her baby. The baby cries even louder. Jazzelin says, “Sshhh, please be quiet.” Then a man comes near to them. He is a soldier with a big gun and he looks angry. The soldier aims his gun at Jazzelin. Jazzelin says, “No! Please don’t shoot me!” She holds her baby tight to her chest. The soldier looks at her for a long time. Jazzelin starts to cry. The soldier lowers his gun and looks away. Jazzelin stands up and runs away with her baby.
My story called "Friends"
Tom: Hey there!
Pete: Hello Tom, how are you?
Tom: I'm fine. And you and Nancy?
Pete: We're both great.
Tom: I'm going to the pub to watch the football. Do you want to come?
Pete: Yes. That'll be great. Thank you.
Tom: You're welcome.
*They cross the road to the pub and go in*
Tom: Are you thirsty?
Pete: Yes, I'm very thirsty. Two beers?
Tom: Yes please. I'm hungry too. I'll order a pie and chips.
*They find a table just as the match is about to begin. Tom's team is playing today*
Pete: Good luck Tom!
Tom: We won't need it.
*The opposition score the first goal*
Pete: What a shame!
Tom: It doesn't matter. We'll soon take the lead.
*Tom jumps to his feet as his team score*
Tom: See! I told you.
*Tom's pie and chips arrive*
Tom: Mm. The chips are delicious. Have a few, Pete.
Pete: Mm. Yes, you're right.
*Tom jumps to his feet as his team score again and go into the lead*
*The pie and the chips are now on the floor*
Great! Thanks so much. You're last few stories have been perfect for beginners!
Here’s my French story:
Le travail de Sam
Sam est un petit garçon de 8 ans. Il vit avec ses deux parents, son frère Tom et sa sœur Eva. Sam se pose beaucoup de questions, car il ne sait pas encore ce qu’il veut faire, plus tard, comme travail. Cela l’angoisse énormément!
Un jour, sa mère vient le voir dans sa chambre.
- Sam, sais-tu ce que tu veux faire comme travail plus tard?
- Non maman…
- Tu ne voudrais pas devenir policier comme ta sœur?
- Je ne sais pas. Pour être policier, il faut être rapide et très organisé. Il faut suivre les lois et toujours être alerte. Moi, je n’ai pas ces qualités…
- Tu pourrais devenir pompier comme ton frère?
- Je ne sais pas. Pour être pompier, il faut être très fort et courageux. Il ne faut pas avoir peur de sauter dans l’action. Moi, je n’ai pas ces qualités…
Sa mère réfléchit un instant puis elle dit:
- Alors je sais ce que tu peux faire comme travail plus tard!
- Ah oui? Quoi donc?
- Scientifique!
- Scientifique?
- Oui, bien sûr! Les scientifiques se posent toujours toutes sortes de questions. Ça, c’est une qualité que tu as, j’en suis sûre!
- Oh! Quelle bonne idée! Merci maman!
- Peu importe ce que tu décides de faire comme travail plus tard, le plus important, c’est que tu sois heureux.
Sam est en effet très heureux, car maintenant, il sait ce qu’il deviendra: le plus grand scientifique du monde!
Merci Olivier ! J'aime beaucoup l'histoire. En fait, je l'ai traduit en Anglais :) docs.google.com/document/d/1zQniCTkXJlYmIE04oW_4gFpDStItlV9mmCJ8pmqo-YI/edit?usp=sharing
@@FingtamLanguages Super! I wrote it right after watching your video yesterday at around 11 p.m. so I kinda tried to write something quick and easy, but I'll try to think of a better and more interesting story! Thank you for this awesome project of yours
My story entitled "The Box"
A large man with a box walks through the city.
A brown dog comes up to him and sniffs at the box.
Two old women talk together on the other side of the street. They point at the box. They move their heads closer together. They speak more quietly.
The man walks down to the river and across the bridge. At the other end of the bridge are a number of spikes. The man opens the box and takes out the head of King Charles. The man slams the head onto a spike. Everyone coming into the city will see it.
I love the new name! Very cool :)
For the cause 😃:
One Friday, Aria went to school as usual. It was a boring day. But what she didn't know was that her mum had a surprise waiting for her when she got home.
Walking home, she dragged her feet. She kicked stones along the path. Her bag was heavy.
When she got home, the gate was shut. "That's strange," she thought. Opening the gate, she came around the side of the house. There was her mum, sitting on the grass next to a dog. It was very fluffy. It had black and white fur and it's eyes were different colours. It wagged its tail. It looked friendly.
"Hi Aria," said Mum. "Come and meet Kyra. She's ours."
"A dog for us?" asked Aria.
"Yes," her mum said. "This dog is ours now. Can you help us take care of her?"
"Yes, please!" said Aria excitedly, rushing over.
Soon Aria and her dog were best friends. Aria always looked forward to coming home from school now. She and her dog could play together.
That’s great! Thanks so much!
My story entitled "No Mayonnaise"
Tom wanted to make a salad for lunch. He had a red apple, celery, walnuts, some cooked chicken and a handful of rocket. In the refrigerator, he found only a very empty jar of mayonnaise.
Let's go to the store. It's a sunny day and a pleasant walk through the street market. Stalls piled high with colourful fruit and vegetables, stylish clothing, curious old books and the latest DVDs. He had to make a few purchases. Finally, he's at the store. He buys a few more items and heads home.
Back at home, he unpacks his bags. A blue t-shirt and a baseball cap for his head, an old book about the south sea islands, six juicy peaches, a bag of pasta, a pack of butter, and a tin of tomatoes.
No mayonnaise. He frowns. He looks in the cupboard. Eggs, oil, a lemon and mustard. He smiles. He will make the mayonnaise for his salad.
One question, what is Rocket? Haha
@@FingtamLanguages Annual plant whose leaves are edible and used in salads. Eruca sativa or Eruca vesicaria.
I was more worried about walnuts being obscure!
***My Story for 4/5/22***
*Breakfast*
Daniel is a young boy. He is 11 years old. Today, Daniel will go to a new school. In the morning, Daniel’s mother makes breakfast for him. She makes eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Daniel likes bacon and pancakes, but he does not like eggs. Daniel says, “Mom, I don’t want to eat the eggs. I only want to eat the pancakes and bacon.”
Daniel’s mother says, “Son, you have to eat the eggs too. They are healthy.”
Daniel eats the eggs, but he does not like them.
Then Daniel goes to his new school. Today is Daniel’s first day of 6th grade. But when Daniel is at school, he hears many people screaming. People are running down the hallways. They are very afraid. Daniel’s teacher says, “Look! There are two big monsters! They are eating people!”
Daniel looks out the window and he sees two monsters. One monster is very big, and the other monster is very very very big.
The monster that is very very very big puts her hand through the window and grabs Daniel. She pulls Daniel out through the window, and gives him to the smaller monster. But the smaller monster says, “Mom, I don’t want to eat this one. I don’t like the students. I only like to eat the teachers.”
But the very very very big monster says, “Son, you have to eat the students too. They are healthy.”
Then the smaller monster eats Daniel.
I'll definitely try writing some simple stories to help out
Good! I’d love to see them!
***My Story for 2/24***
*Family Ununion*
Cheyanne is laying down on a chair next to her father-in-law’s pool. She is wearing a bikini and getting a suntan. She wants to relax, but it is hard. Many young children are playing in the pool and running around the back yard. They splash water and scream loudly as they play. Brandon is standing at a picnic table. He is talking to his cousin’s wife, Emily. Cheyanne watches them through her sunglasses. She doesn’t like Emily.
Brandon and Emily laugh together as Brandon takes two beers out of the ice cooler. Then they walk to Cheyanne. Brandon sits on a pool chair next to Cheyanne. Emily stands next to him. Brandon says, “Here you go.” He hands a beer to Cheyanne.
“Thanks.”
Brandon says, “Jeff and Emily recently bought a cabin on Lake Winnebago. It is a small house, but it is very nice and it is right on the lake. They will let us stay there with them on the 4th of July weekend.”
“That’s nice.”
Emily says, “Yeah. I think it will be a lot of fun. The kids can go swimming in the lake every day, and us girls can drink wine and paint in the evenings.”
Brandon says, “And I can go fishing with Jeff on his boat. Maybe I should buy a boat. I want a boat like the one that Jeff has.”
Emily says, “Jeff wants to buy a new boat. Maybe he will sell you the one he has now. Let me go ask him.” She walks away.
Brandon says, “She’s really nice.”
Cheyanne doesn’t say anything.
They sit silently for five minutes while Brandon drinks his beer. Then Cheyanne says, “I want a divorce.”
***My Story for 3/6/22***
*Videogame Love*
Jane is a young woman. She is 21 years old. She has a boyfriend named Cooper. Jane loves Cooper. But Jane is afraid. Jane thinks that she loves Cooper more than he loves her.
Cooper likes Jane, but he loves to play video games. Jane is afraid that Cooper loves videogames more than he likes her. That makes her feel bad. Jane loves Cooper so much that she wants to marry him. But Jane thinks Cooper does not want to marry her. Jane is afraid that Cooper will leave her.
One day, Jane goes to Cooper’s house. Cooper is playing video games. Jane says, “Cooper, do you love me?”
Cooper says, “Yeah.” But he does not look at Jane. He only looks at his videogame.
Jane says, “Do you want to marry me?”
Cooper stops playing his videogame. He looks at Jane. He says, “I don’t know. I need to think about it.” Then Cooper walks out of the room.
Jane starts to cry. She thinks, Oh no! Cooper is going to leave me!
Then Cooper comes back into the room.
Jane says, “Cooper! You are not going to leave me?”
Cooper says, “No. I will never leave you. I love you.” Then he holds a diamond ring. He says, “Jane, will you marry me?”
***My story for 2/23***
*Different Gravity*
I walk home from school. It is a sunny day. The birds are singing, the sky is blue, and the clouds are white. When I get home, I see an Amazon package in front of my door. The package has my name on it. I pick up the package and go to my room.
I sit on my bed and open the package. It is a black box with a red button. Should I press the button? I think for a minute. I don’t know if it’s a good idea or a bad idea. What will happen if I press it? I look all over the box, but there is nothing on it. There is only one button.
Finally, I decide to press the button.
When I press the button, I feel strange. The bedroom turns upside down, and I start to fall towards the ceiling of my room. Everything in my bedroom falls towards the ceiling. I stand up on the ceiling. The ceiling is now down beneath me like the floor used to be! What happened?
I see that my fish bowl is knocked over and most of the water has spilled out. My fish is flopping in a puddle of water. Oh no! I run across the ceiling and put my fish back into its bowl. There is only a little bit of water still in the bowl. What should I do?
I pick up the little black box and push the button again. The box explodes with a blinding light, and then it disappears. Everything in my bedroom falls back down to the floor.
Now my bedroom is a big mess. But at least my fish is safe!
My story "A Yellow House"
The politician sits at his desk in his office. His secretary has looked out the files for today's appointments for him. They are on his desk. He picks them up. The files are light. Not many people to see today. Today is Saturday. Once in a while, there is an interesting case to deal with. But today they are all about litter, in the streets, in the parks, in the shopping center. Everybody hates litter.
The hour arrives.
A knock at the door.
"Please come in and sit down there."
"The council say I can't paint my house yellow. Not even if I buy it from them first. They say it must stay in keeping with the area. Is there something you can do to help me?"
"Where is your house?"
"In The Cresent."
"That's a lovely area."
"It's very important to me to have a yellow house."
"Have you thought about moving to a different area? Maybe you could buy a yellow house in another part of town."
"That's a great idea! Thank you!"
My story called "Fish"
"Hello!"
No answer.
The light from the computer makes Morgan's face look blue in the dull early morning.
"Where are you, dude?", Morgan thinks, trying to make sense of what was happening.
Morgan would try again later.
A week ago, Morgan had been perfectly happy. Morgan was thinking they might possibly be getting into boyfriend territory. Had things been moving too fast? Was it wrong to want to date someone you met online? Morgan had been happy to send the money for the plane ticket.
Morgan has a lesson to deliver at college. Today Morgan has to speak about modern foreign languages and their use with technology. Morgan needs to get going as soon as possible.
Back at home, Morgan's face reflects in the computer screen. Morgan types: "Look here, you really can't treat me like this".
Morgan will cook a piece of fish for supper. Morgan likes fish.
My story "A Young Life"
Mum wakes me up. I do not like waking up. I go downstairs. I eat breakfast. I like breakfast. I go to the bathroom. I have a shower. I like warm showers. Mum has laid out my clothes. I put on my clothes. I like my clothes.
Mum walks with me to school. We do not catch the bus. I do not take my skateboard. I do not take my bike. I do not ride on my scooter. I like to go to school.
I do some sums. I do not like sums. I read a book. I like to read books.
I eat lunch. I eat a cheese sandwich and a yogurt. I like cheese. I like yogurt.
I play outside. I like to play. It rains. I do not like rain.
I paint a picture. I like painting. I sit on the floor in the book corner with my classmates. My teacher reads a story. I like stories.
I catch the bus home. The bus is noisy. I do not like the bus.
Mum cooks pasta for tea. The pasta is too hot. Mum blows on it. I like pasta.
I watch TV. I like TV. Then the news is on. I do not like the news.
I go to bed. I do not like to go to bed.
This one is very easy for beginners! Thanks!
Hopefully you’ve reached out to the other Thai learners on TH-cam, like Paddy Thai from Australia 🇦🇺 👍🏾
- His followers could help, and of course Olly Richards with his book series.
Also reach out to LinqQ and the persons currently doing his Thai short stories. I think they have up to 20 so far. Which are great bc they repeat verbs in each.
Wait, they have Thai on LingQ now??!!
@@FingtamLanguages I don't think it is on there but he said I believe for any language they can get 40 or 45 (or more) short stories they will add it.
C'est une bonne idée !
Merci :)
Excellent idea! I have had a very difficult time finding beginner A1-A2 in Turkish. I have an English book for a toddler than I plan to translate for myself. So your video comes at an excellent time.
Are you looking for short stories in English that can be translated into Thai or are you looking for short stories that can be translated into any language?
I do write, but everything is still in editing phase. I am not yet published.
I would be very interested in writing short stories in English that I would allow translation to any language as free-source.
I almost had to give up my Turkish lessons but my teacher waived her fees due to my job loss. I can’t even tell you how much I cried when I understood that she was gifting all future lessons to me. We average 5 hours per week. Thank you for sharing this plan. The Lord truly works in mysterious ways!
Wow, it’s amazing that your teacher was so generous!
And yes, I plan on paying a translator to translate the stories into Thai, but I also will put up the original story, which can be translated into any other language.
One condition though: since the stories are meant for beginners, they should use simple, beginner-friendly language. I don’t want to translate stories that are meant for native speakers. There are plenty of those already out there.
I would be very happy if you joined the movement and helped create simple stories! 😊
My story called "The Stars Align"
Once in a while, a man sees a woman and he asks himself: Is she the one?
What are the chances of that happening?
In my opinion, the universe makes sure this meeting will take place when the time is right.
The Greeks believed, that in the beginning, humans were a double being, both male and female in one body. They had 4 arms and 4 legs and a head with two faces. Then due to a terrible mistake, everyone was cut in two. And so the two halves of each person walk the earth looking for their lost part.
And so one day, John saw Mary working in a café. She was beautiful. He was funny. She was smart. He was dumb. She was serious. He was nervous. She was amazing. Their life together would not be without difficulties, but it would be the right life for them.
Nice story!
I’m on vacation now and I can’t copy/paste with my phone, but I will add this when I get back to my laptop.
My story "Games Night"
The friends get together once a week for a games night. Tonight, they will play a new game. They are interested to see how it goes. They look through the cards and they all admire the great design and artwork.
Paul shuffles the decks. Mary places the continent cards in a vertical line in the middle of the table. Freda deals the player-character cards out. Paul is the Musician. Mary is the Programmer. Julie is the TH-camr. Joe is the Friend. Xander is the Politician. And Freda the Student. They place the card in front of them and their 3 dice to the right of their card. Then they all roll a die to decide their starting continent and place their token on it.
Paul says, "To win, we must work as a team to get green stars to be the most common card all around the world."
For the first phase they take it in turns to roll their dice and place them to the left of their character card. In the second phase, they take their character action, they draw an event card and take the action needed, they draw game cards, move their tokens to other continents, play or remove a game card from a continent. They pay for each action with a die score from the rolled dice.
It takes a number of rounds, but when the played cards are counted up, they find that the team has lost, this time.
Julie says, "That was a fun game".
Xander says, "I enjoyed stealing other people's cards".
Freda says, "We must think out a smarter game plan next time".
They all agree with a chuckle.
Hahaha this is a great story! 😆
@Hogbenfan Thank you so much for all your contributions to this project! Would you be interested in doing some translations of them into Esperanto? I would love to work with you to get some of these stories out into Eaperantujo!
@@fingtamesperanto505 Yes, that would be fun
@@hogbenfan Amazing! Can you send me your email address?
@@hogbenfan Bonege! Sendu al mi vian retpostadreson! :)
There was no milk. Fred checked the fridge again. He picked up bottles and cans and packets and looked behind them. Nothing. He looked down at the empty bowl on the breakfast table. The big yellow flower, that looked like a child had painted it on to its shimmering deep blue glazed surface, made him smile briefly. He picked up the box of cereals and shook it. It rattled comfortingly. He wanted cornflakes this morning. He wanted ice cold milk. But the milk jug wasn't going to appear on the table today.
Upstairs, in the apartment above his, the lady was waking up. Today, like an Egyptian queen she would bathe in milk. They had had no luck finding she-donkeys to milk in the town. Instead, Laverna had snuck into all the apartments in the block and gathered up all the milk jugs she could find. She gently warmed each jug up to body temperature in the microwave before pouring the contents into the bath. The lady would be pleased with her work, she was sure.
The lady slid into the bath, careful not to slosh the milk over the rim. Her aged skin, now as delicate as ancient parchment or autumn leaves, would be restored to its youthful beauty. She had no doubts. She rose from the bath and looked at herself in the mirror. Yes, she thought to herself, Proserpina is indeed beautiful again.
In the apartment below, Fred pulled on his jeans and stepped into his shoes. It was a long walk to the little shop, but he was out of milk. He smiled as he set out into the warm sunlight. The long winter had ended overnight and spring had come to town today.
Dankegon! I list the author on every story. Should I list you as Hogbenfan?
Haha I commented before I even read your story. Very interesting read!
Also, can you suggest a name? I have tentatively titled it "No Milk", but I will leave it up to you to decide.
@@FingtamLanguages I would go with "Milk" for the title
@@FingtamLanguages Preferably, under my human name, "Ben Jones"
* My first story of tonight *
Earth's intervention
It was night, it was very cold, and Gabriel was running for his life through the desert. The red walkers were getting closer, and Gabriel could hear them already. This is it, he said; this is the end.
Suddenly, he saw a blue light coming through the sand. Thinking it was an alien weapon, he began to stir up the sand as fast as he could. When doing that, he felt a gravitational force that sucked him in, and then he disappeared.
When Gabriel woke up, he was on an alien ship . Some strange beings spoke a language that he had never heard before; one of them turned to him and said, "Are you ready?" Gabriel thought that the worst was yet to come.
However, these beings quickly explained that they had orders from a superior to free planet Earth from the red walkers, but to do this they needed the consent of the humans. Why do you require the consent of humans? Gabriel asked.
The beings explained to him that humans should express their unanimity and their desire to be rid of the red walkers before intervening, since the received orders established it that way.
After a long conversation with the beings, Gabriel told them about human behavior and how humans themselves were responsible for the Walker invasion and that many of them cooperated and worked with them in the first place during the Martian wars.
However, Gabriel and his entire family had been suffering for a long time, and this led him to cooperate with the beings. This is how Gabriel prepares to go back to planet Earth, this time with extraterrestrial help, in order to get a consensus and define the future of humanity.
Interesting story! I would love to hear more from you! :)
I posted it under the Micro stories, but classified it as intermediate because this story uses some more advanced vocabulary.
An interesting project. Are you considered the use of slang or colloquial speech?
That could be okay as long as it is easy for beginners to understand. Too much would not be good.
What do you think about the method of reading a book that begins with simple language and gets more complex slowly short chapter by short chapter?
Like Gerda Malaperis? I like it! That is also how I structured my books La Eta Drako and Zombia Koramikino.
Why not go on TikTok and ask your Thai subscribers to write stories and donate them?
That’s not a bad idea. It’s still kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around how many people follow me on Tik Tok that I sometimes for get about it.
I'm Thai and I am interested. ผมสนใจครับ ผมเองก็ชอบเรียนภาษาต่างประเทศ ตอนนี้ผมพูดได้ 5 ภาษาแล้ว ตอนนี้กำลังเรียนภาษาที่ 6
Amazing! I would love to read some Thai stories if you can write in Thai :)
you don't speak thai
I don’t?
@@FingtamLanguages lol