Stories and Poems - The Banyan Tree
Indian Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, once said �To study a banyan tree, you not only must know its main stem in its own soil, but also must trace the growth of its greatness in the...
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Day Bob Marley Died
A young man working as a tree-planter in the Highlands of Scotland experiences an incredible coincidence.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Eye Halve a Spelling Chequer
In this amusing poem the correct words have been substituted by homophones (two or more words that are spelt differently, but pronounced the same). It proves that computer spelling checkers are not...
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Hunting Bird
Samir�s grandfather told him that once, a long time ago, the bird had been a famous hunting bird. But now it looked old and tired and it seemed it couldn't fly. But could it?
View ArticleStories and Poems - Ozymandias
This poem was written in 1818 by the famous Romantic poet Shelley. In this poem Shelley reflects on the nature of political power, and those who hold it.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Chinese Zodiac
The Jade Emperor (Emperor of Heaven) called for a contest on his birthday: a race! All the animals of the kingdom were invited to participate, but there would only be 12 winners, and the prize was a...
View ArticleStories and Poems - On Chloris Being Ill
In this poem (written as a song), the great Scottish poet laments the illness of his loved one.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Beginner's Luck
When James Milner lands a job in his uncle's bank he rides his luck for a while and even a huge earns himself a huge bottle of vintage champagne for one transaction. But how long can his luck last?
View ArticleStories and Poems - Night's Mardi Gras
This poem compares the night to the Mardi Gras, where nothing is quite what it seems ...
View ArticleStories and Poems - Athletes of the ancient Olympic Games
Listen to short biographies of 5 great athletes from the Ancient Olympics and do an activity in which you compare the information in them.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Landlocked
This poem by Celia Thaxter, who during her lifetime and briefly thereafter, was one of the better known women poets in America, vividly portrays the feelings of someone who yearns for the sea.
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Comeback
When the once-great opera singer Fausto Ruiz returns to the place where he was born, things do not work out as he had expected ...
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Wild Colonial Boy
This ballad tells the story of the rise and fall of an Australian outlaw, Jack Doolan.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Funny Sports Quotes
You'll never believe what some people say! Read these hilarious quotes from sports people involved in football, tennis and other sports, and work out why they're funny or strange.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Pronunciation
This clever and amusing poem explains why English pronunciation is so very difficult.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Superstitions
Nikos was an ordinary man. One thing that he absolutely did not believe in was superstition. But when so many things that are meant to cause bad luck started bringing him good luck he began to wonder ...
View ArticleStories and Poems - No
This poem takes a negative view of winter in a cold, urban climate, but expresses it with a nice sense of humour.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Burke and Wills
In 1860-61 Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills led an expedition of 19 men with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a...
View ArticleStories and Poems - The travelling post office
This ballad by one of Australia's favourite poets shows what an enormous task it was delivering mail in a country as vast as Australia before modern technologies existed.
View ArticleStories and Poems - A game of go
Two people sit down opposite each other to play a game. Between them is a large wooden board. One of the players is an old man. He is now 89 years old. He has spent all of his life playing this game,...
View ArticleStories and Poems - To Autumn
Autumn, or "fall" as it is called in the USA, often arouses feelings of loss and melancholy. However, in this ode the end of summer is not a cause for sadness but for celebration, of the wonderful...
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Masalai of Lep Island
This Papua New Guinea folk story involves a masalai (a large ugly cannibal, similar to an ogre).
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Seven Ages of Man
The famous lines from Shakespeare's play As You Like It.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Two Peas in a Pod
Edie and Evie are identical twins. Identical in appearance, but their personalities are not at all identical. Things get very weird when one of them pretends to be the other ...
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Einstein and the Eddington
This nonsense poem (which is based on Lewis Carroll’s "The Walrus and the Carpenter" in "Through the looking-glass") was written for a faculty club dinner on the eve of the physicist Eddington's...
View ArticleStories and Poems - The stonecutter
This fascinating tale from Asian mythology has a very powerful message.
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Tyger
This famous poem conjures up amazingly vivid images of the mighty tiger.
View ArticleStories and Poems - King of the pumpkins
A young boy and his cat go in search of the King of the Pumpkins, to try and find out what - if anything - is true about his mother's stories.
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Blind Boy
In this short poem, the Poet Laureate describes the feelings of a boy who has never been able to see.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Quotes about the United Kingdom
Read what young people in countries around the world think about the United Kingdom. Compare their opinions, work with the vocabulary and let us know what you think about the UK
View ArticleStories and Poems - Address to the Haggis
This famous poem by the great Scottish poet is regularly recited during celebrations throughout the world, whenever Haggis makes an appearance on the menu.
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Fix
The four judges have been sitting in a small room in the Milton Hotel in London for three hours now. They must agree on who will win the four awards in the important Global Music Awards. But there is a...
View ArticleStories and Poems - Town and country (two poems)
In Progress, Osbert Sitwell provides negative images of the city and conjures up fond memories of the country. In The City, Charles Hanson Towne does the opposite. Compare them!
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Novels of J.M. Coetzee
Listen to synopses of some of the novels of the Nobel prize winning South African writer.
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Tay Bridge Disaster
The most famous poem from a man who is renowned as one of the worst poets in the English language!
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Christmas the Lights Went Out
Five people, whose lives interrelate, live the build up to Christmas in different ways in different places. A sudden blackout changes their lives forever ...
View ArticleStories and Poems - Poetry as a Foreign Language
In this poem the author says that he is in a big hall with a crowd of people who are standing and clapping. Why do you think the people are there? What do you think comes next in the poem? Finish the...
View ArticleStories and Poems - Uncle Tom's Cabin
Sub-titled Life Among the Lowly, this anti-slavery novel was published in 1852, and had a profound effect on worldwide attitudes toward African Americans and slavery. In the United States, it is widely...
View ArticleStories and Poems - Let America Be America Again
This poem, whose title was chosen by John Kerry as the slogan for his 2004 US Presidential campaign, was written by a poet particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in...
View ArticleStories and Poems - Mr Smith's New Nose
It is the 22nd century and the world is very different. With new technologies, people can have the bodies that they want. Read this story and see what happens when Mr. Smith decides to change his body.
View ArticleStories and Poems - Mountain Fable
In this fable by the American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement, a squirrel and a mountain have an argument!
View ArticleStories and Poems - April Fool's Day
Danny Applewhite was developing into a rather arrogant young man. He was among the top five achievers at his school, but would he be smart enough to avoid being a fool on April 1st?
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Sick Child
In this sad little poem a mother spends the night at her sick child's bedside.
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Golden Boys
A bored teenager cannot take any more of the golden boys after twelve years of humiliation on holidays.
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Flatulence Tax
This funny poem explores what would happen if we stopped farming sheep and cattle and started cultivating beans instead!
View ArticleStories and Poems - Three jokes
Have you heard the one about the chicken and the frog? How about the one about the firing squad? And the one about the parrot who didn't want to talk?
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Bright Dresses
This poem is about teaching English and conveys powerful emotions through observation of impersonal details which in a different context would be trivial or even banal.
View ArticleStories and Poems - The Dinosaur in Jake's Garage
When Jake finds a dinosaur in his garage, nobody believes him. But when he finally brings it out to show them, the result is not what he expected either ...
View ArticleStories and Poems - The White Room
This lovely short poem was written by a learner of English, a student at the British Institute for Young Learners in Madrid.
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....