The war is raging on, and the government needs a part from her wheelchair. The only problem is, her wheelchair is now a part of her body. And she's illegally modified it. Today's story is The Digital Fugitive. Go to EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Digital for the full transcript and PDF. Level: Advanced. Genre: Science Fiction. New Vocabulary: Fugitive, Nerve endings, Powerchair, Cog, Prosthetic, Middle management, Underclass, Scrap, Merge, Accessibility, Physiotherapy, Painkiller, Bodybuilder, Puff. Setting: Future. Word Count: 1170. Author: Ariel Goodbody. If you enjoy the podcast, you can support me on Patreon, buy me a coffee or follow me on Instagram and Twitter. Support Easy Stories in English by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/easystoriesinenglish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A young man called Arran hates eating his vegetables. One day, his mother locks him out. Arran finds a house with a strange old woman inside, and a dog that talks. Will he find his way home, and will he discover the secret of the house? Today's story is The Turnip Princess. Go to EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Turnip for the full transcript and PDF. Level: Beginner. Genre: Children's. New Vocabulary: Turnip, Princess, Chest, Lock out, Witch, Curse, Familiar, Collapse, Bite, Carve. Setting: Fairytale. Word Count: 1648. Author: Ariel Goodbody. If you enjoy the podcast, you can support me on Patreon, buy me a coffee or follow me on Instagram and Twitter. Support Easy Stories in English by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/easystoriesinenglish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

God is trying to make humans, but something is wrong. His calculations look right, but the humans are staying babies for fifty years. What is the problem? Today's story is His Latest Experiment. Go to EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Experiment for the full transcript and PDF. Level: Pre-Intermediate. Genre: Science Fiction. New Vocabulary: Graduate, Move on, Economy, Drag (art), Gender, Heartwarming, After-show party, Flash fiction, Disaster, Earthling, Calculation, Magnesium, Error, Coding, Bark (dog), Pregnancy, Rounding (maths), Heaven, Lifespan, Times (maths). Setting: Ancient. Word Count: 522. Author: Ariel Goodbody. If you enjoy the podcast, you can support me on Patreon, buy me a coffee or follow me on Instagram and Twitter. Support Easy Stories in English by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/easystoriesinenglish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The North Wind and the Sun are always arguing about what true power is. Does power come from strength, or from kindness? So the North Wind challenges the Sun to a competition to see who is right. Today's story is The North Wind and the Sun. Go to EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/WindL2 for the full transcript and PDF. You can listen to the beginner-level version of this story at EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Wind. Level: Pre-Intermediate. Genre: Children's. New Vocabulary: Retreat (holiday), Bathe, Harmony, Strength, Bam, Kindness, Weakling, Suffocate, Bitter cold, Hold tightly, Sweat. Setting: Fairytale. Word Count: 862. Author: Aesop's Fables. If you enjoy the podcast, you can support me on Patreon, buy me a coffee or follow me on Instagram and Twitter. Support Easy Stories in English by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/easystoriesinenglish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harold has terrible luck. Bus shelters collapse on him, he makes his dates vomit, and no matter how many good-luck charms he wears, his luck won't change. So he decides that this New Year's Eve, he's going to follow every tradition and superstition in the world, to see if he can change his luck around. Today's story is A Lucky New Year. Go to EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Year for the full transcript and PDF. Level: Intermediate. Genre: Comedy. New Vocabulary: Superstition, Good-luck charm, Signify, Noodles, Doughnut, Pomegranate, Lead (metal), Ashes, Choke, Clock strikes midnight, Coal, Shortbread. Setting: Modern. Word Count: 2081. Author: Ariel Goodbody. If you enjoy the podcast, you can support me on Patreon, buy me a coffee or follow me on Instagram and Twitter. Support Easy Stories in English by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/easystoriesinenglish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Easy Stories in English is back! But there are a few changes: There will only be a new episode once a fortnight (once every two weeks) I am stopping teaching I am going to start scripting the conversation section instead of improvising it The email newsletter will just contain information about new episodes and other news I am changing the content of the Patreon levels For all the details, check out the transcript. New Vocabulary: Fatigue, Burn out, Fortnight, Evergreen content, To do with, Improvise, Script, Pledge, Bonus, Q&A, Sum up. If you enjoy the podcast, you can support me on Patreon, buy me a coffee or follow me on Instagram and Twitter. Support Easy Stories in English by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/easystoriesinenglish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Update from 04/06/2022: The podcast is returning! Listen out for an official announcement on 14th June. Today's episode is voiced by John Rayment. You can find him on Twitter here. Transcript Welcome to Easy Stories in English, the podcast that will take your English from OK to Good, and from Good to Great. I am not Ariel Goodbody. I'm Ariel's friend, John. I'm recording this message for Ariel, because he's unable to speak at the moment. So here’s what Ariel has to say: ‘Hello, everyone. Some of you may know that I’m autistic. I talked about it earlier this year, when I did the pre-intermediate version of The Little Frog with the Big Mouth. ‘Basically, it means that my brain works a bit differently to most people’s. I am more sensitive to bright lights, loud sounds and strong smells. I don’t talk or act like most people do, so I often mask. Masking is when an autistic person “puts on a mask”, basically pretends to be like everyone else. ‘Because of these things, being autistic can be very tiring. It’s very hard for us to just exist in the world, because the world is full of bright lights, loud sounds and strong smells, and people want us to pretend we’re different to who we actually are. ‘So often, when things are too difficult for us, we shut down. This is when your body says, “No more!” Sometimes, it just means being alone in a room for a long time and resting. ‘But this year, I’ve been having more serious shutdowns. I’ve started going non-verbal—losing the ability to speak. As I’m writing this message, I’ve been non-verbal for 12 days. As well as this, I’ve also had movement difficulties, and I can’t easily do lots of things that I was able to do before, like travelling or shopping. ‘I’m telling you all this because, obviously, if I can’t talk, I can’t record Easy Stories in English. I really hate not being able to do the podcast, but right now, my body needs to rest. I don’t know how long it will be for, and to be honest, I don’t know how reliable my voice will be in the future. I’ve done some research into what’s happening to me, and I seem to have a health problem called autistic catatonia. There isn’t much research on it, and it’s difficult to treat, but I’m trying my best. ‘I want to thank you all for your support. I already talked about this on Patreon and in my email newsletter, and so many of you sent kind messages. I’m sorry I couldn’t respond to them all. I have found it very hard to keep up with emails. ‘So, for now, I will have to take a break from the podcast. Hopefully, I’ll be able to start again in the new year. I hope you all have wonderful holidays, if you do celebrate holidays around this time of year. ‘Thank you for listening, and hopefully I’ll see you soon.’ Support Easy Stories in English by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/easystoriesinenglish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buy me a coffee to say thank you for the podcast! === Grella is a strange dragon: she'll eat everything except jewels, and what dragon doesn't eat jewels? So one day, her mother takes away all the other food in the house, and Grella is forced to try the dreaded jewels. Except she finds out she likes them, and in fact, she likes them a bit too much... Today's story is The Very Hungry Dragon. Go to EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/DragonL1 for the full transcript. You can listen to the intermediate level version of this story at EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Dragon. Level: Beginner. Genre: Children's. New Vocabulary: Jewel, Dragon, Taste of something, Spit out, Smell, Ignore, Cart, In one go, Reputation, Freezer, Hug, From now on. Setting: Fairytale. Word Count: 1290. Author: Ariel Goodbody. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting me on Patreon. For just a few dollars a month you can get extra episodes, conversational podcasts, exercises, and much more. Support Easy Stories in English by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/easystoriesinenglish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buy me a coffee to say thank you for the podcast! === Everyone gets their tattoo when they turn 18, but Gary doesn't want one. Finally, his parents make him get one. So he shaves off all his hair and gets an X-shaped tattoo on his head. Everyone hates it, and things only get worse... Today's story is The Tattoo. Go to EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Tattoo for the full transcript. Level: Beginner. Genre: Science Fiction. New Vocabulary: Tattoo, Months in advance, Lie, Shape, Anxious, Hidden, Bum, Treat someone like, Barber, Shave your hair off, Go bald, Original, Remove. Setting: Modern. Word Count: 2244. Author: Ariel Goodbody. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting me on Patreon. For just a few dollars a month you can get extra episodes, conversational podcasts, exercises, and much more. Support Easy Stories in English by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/easystoriesinenglish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buy me a coffee to say thank you for the podcast! === Hale's lover, Bulan, has died. He went off in hunt of the dragon they were supposed to kill together. With nothing left to live for, Hale wanders the streets alone, drunk and miserable. But then the dragon returns, and something is very different about it... Just a warning: today’s episode contains mentions of sex, bodily functions—specifically going to the toilet when you don’t want to, as well as throwing up—strong swearing and mild gore—that’s blood and violence and things like that. This episode will not be suitable for children. Today's story is The Flesh and Blood We Share. Go to EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Flesh for the full transcript. Level: Intermediate. Genre: Romance. New Vocabulary: Flesh and blood, Dragon, Slay, Prostitute, Armour, Bladder, Alley, Sorcerer, Beast, Disarm, Claw, Dignity, Tame, Choke on your own spit, Penance. Setting: Medieval. Word Count: 4436. Author: Ariel Goodbody. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting me on Patreon. For just a few dollars a month you can get extra episodes, conversational podcasts, exercises, and much more. Support Easy Stories in English by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/easystoriesinenglish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices