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Channel: British Council - LearnEnglish - Stories and Poems PodcastsStories and Poems - The Cat that Walked by Himself
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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...

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Stories and Poems - The Day Bob Marley Died

A young man working as a tree-planter in the Highlands of Scotland experiences an incredible coincidence.

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Stories 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...

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Stories 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?

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Stories 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.

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Stories 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...

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Stories and Poems - On Chloris Being Ill

In this poem (written as a song), the great Scottish poet laments the illness of his loved one.

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Stories 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?

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Stories and Poems - Night's Mardi Gras

This poem compares the night to the Mardi Gras, where nothing is quite what it seems ...

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Stories 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.

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Stories 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.

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Stories 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 ...

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Stories and Poems - The Wild Colonial Boy

This ballad tells the story of the rise and fall of an Australian outlaw, Jack Doolan.

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Stories 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.

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Stories and Poems - Pronunciation

This clever and amusing poem explains why English pronunciation is so very difficult.

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Stories 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 ...

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Stories 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.

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Stories 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...

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Stories 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.

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Stories 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,...

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Stories 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...

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Stories and Poems - The Masalai of Lep Island

This Papua New Guinea folk story involves a masalai (a large ugly cannibal, similar to an ogre).

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Stories and Poems - The Seven Ages of Man

The famous lines from Shakespeare's play As You Like It.

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Stories 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 ...

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Stories 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...

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Stories and Poems - The stonecutter

This fascinating tale from Asian mythology has a very powerful message.

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Stories and Poems - The Tyger

This famous poem conjures up amazingly vivid images of the mighty tiger.

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Stories 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.

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Stories 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.

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Stories 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

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Stories 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.

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Stories 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...

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Stories 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!

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Stories and Poems - The Novels of J.M. Coetzee

Listen to synopses of some of the novels of the Nobel prize winning South African writer.

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Stories 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!

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Stories 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 ...

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Stories 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...

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Stories 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...

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Stories 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...

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Stories 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.

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Stories 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!

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Stories 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?

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Stories and Poems - The Sick Child

In this sad little poem a mother spends the night at her sick child's bedside.

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Stories and Poems - The Golden Boys

A bored teenager cannot take any more of the golden boys after twelve years of humiliation on holidays.

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Stories and Poems - The Flatulence Tax

This funny poem explores what would happen if we stopped farming sheep and cattle and started cultivating beans instead!

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Stories 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?

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Stories 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.

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Stories 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 ...

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Stories 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.

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