A growing library of dialogues, articles, stories, and more — every text adapted across six CEFR levels with activities, vocabulary, and teacher notes.
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Asking People What They Think And Reporting It Carefully1
Changing A Habit1
Community Life And Language Learning1
Community Life And Public Space1
Community Life And Shared Spaces1
Cooking Simply, And What It Teaches Us1
Describing A Shared Place Fairly And Carefully1
Displacement, Memory, And The Small Persistent Things One Keeps1
Doing Simple Things Well1
Education And Small Scale Work1
Encounters Between Strangers1
Environment1
Everyday Life2
Family1
Family, Loss, And Emotional Life1
Food And Everyday Life1
Food, Home, And Traditional Skills2
Getting Around1
Getting Help1
Health3
Helping Wildlife1
Long Practice And Ordinary Expertise1
Looking After Yourself1
Looking For Work And Changing Direction1
Making Plans Together1
Making Something With Your Hands1
Music, Work, And A Long Career1
Nature1
Presenting Yourself Honestly When Offering Help For Money1
Professional Communication1
Protecting Local Places1
Relationships And Emotional Life1
Saying Sorry Honestly In Writing1
Seeking Help2
Small Ethical Decisions1
Small Griefs And What They Teach Us1
Small Mysteries And Family Memory1
Social Skills And First Impressions1
Sport, Community, And Shared Events1
Starting Your Career1
Sunrise And Small Attention1
Technology And Modern Living1
The Quiet Test Of Who We Are When No One Is Watching1
The Small Careful Conversation By Which Strangers Decide To Work Together1
The Small Connections That Make Ordinary Life Less Ordinary1
The Small Generous Practices That Make Local Life Work1
Things Left Unsaid1
Travel2
Trying Something New1
Wellbeing2
What Artists Say In Interviews And What They Cannot1
What Is Actually There To Be Noticed At The Start Of A Day1
What Is Learned By Doing The Same Thing For A Long Time1
What We Carry From The Places We Have Left1
What We Find Out About People We Thought We Knew1
Work And Study1
Writing About What Happened, Accurately And With Care1
Skills
32texts
ReportDescriptive Report
A Report on Our Local Park
Community Life And Public SpaceDescribing A Shared Place Fairly And Carefully
“INTRODUCTION”
InterviewMusician Interview
An Interview with Marina Bell
Music, Work, And A Long CareerWhat Artists Say In Interviews And What They Cannot
“Last Thursday, I met the singer-songwriter Marina Bell at a small café near the venue where she was due to perform that…”
DialogueStranger Stranger
Asking for Directions
TravelGetting Around
“Tourist: Sorry to bother you — I'm trying to find the art museum. Do you know where it is?”
DialogueDentist Patient
At the Dentist's
HealthSeeking Help
“Dentist: Hello. What brings you in today?”
DialogueDoctor Patient
At the Doctor's
HealthSeeking Help
“Doctor: Hello. What brings you in today?”
DialogueCustomer Pharmacist
At the Pharmacy
HealthGetting Help
“Pharmacist: Hi there. What seems to be the problem?”
Poem / SongFirst Person Poem
Five Thirty in the Morning
Sunrise And Small AttentionWhat Is Actually There To Be Noticed At The Start Of A Day
“Five Thirty in the Morning”
InterviewCommunity Profile
Forty Years on the Allotment: A Conversation with Mr Okafor
Long Practice And Ordinary ExpertiseWhat Is Learned By Doing The Same Thing For A Long Time
“Our community newsletter is running a small series of profiles of long-serving members of the Riverside Allotments. (For readers who do not…”
AdvertisementCommunity Notice
Free English Conversation Group — Saturdays at the Library
Community Life And Language LearningThe Small Generous Practices That Make Local Life Work
“I helped to write the advert for our English conversation group last year. We have been running the group for three years…”
InstructionsHow To Guide
How to Calm Yourself Down When You're Angry or Stressed
WellbeingLooking After Yourself
“Everyone gets angry or stressed sometimes. You are not weak or strange — you are human. The steps below will not solve…”
RecipeHow To Guide
How to Cook Rice
Food, Home, And Traditional SkillsDoing Simple Things Well
“When I was young, I did not realise that cooking rice was something you could do well or badly. Rice was just…”
InstructionsHow To Guide
How to Dig a Wildlife Pond
NatureHelping Wildlife
“Step 1: Choose the right spot. A wildlife pond should be in a place with some sun and some shade. Avoid putting…”
InstructionsHow To Guide
How to Introduce Yourself to New People
Everyday LifeSocial Skills And First Impressions
“The first thirty seconds of meeting someone often matter more than the next thirty minutes. That is not because first impressions are…”
RecipeHow To Guide
How to Make a Simple Bread
Food, Home, And Traditional SkillsMaking Something With Your Hands
“When I was about ten years old, my father taught me how to make bread. I had thought, before that day, that…”
RecipeHow To Guide
How to Make a Simple Soup
Food And Everyday LifeCooking Simply, And What It Teaches Us
“I learned how to make this soup from my grandmother, although I should admit straight away that the version I make now…”
InstructionsHow To Guide
How to Organise Your Digital Life
Everyday LifeTechnology And Modern Living
“Most of us did not choose to have a digital life. It happened to us slowly, one app, one account, one device…”
InstructionsGuide To
How to Write a Good CV
Work And StudyStarting Your Career
“A CV is often the first thing an employer sees. Most employers spend less than a minute on each one. Your job,…”
AdvertisementService Advert
Maths and Science Tutor Available — In Person or Online
Education And Small Scale WorkPresenting Yourself Honestly When Offering Help For Money
“I wrote my tutor advert for the first time about six years ago, when I decided to start teaching maths and science…”
DialogueFamily Conversation
Planning a Family Meal
FamilyMaking Plans Together
“Mum: Right, what should we cook for Sunday lunch? Everyone's coming.”
Letter / EmailApology Email
The Apology Email
Professional CommunicationSaying Sorry Honestly In Writing
“Sam realised at twenty past nine that the meeting with Priya had started twenty minutes earlier. The realisation came in the small…”
Blog PostPersonal Travel
The Best Decision I Made This Year
TravelTrying Something New
“Earlier this year, I did something I had never done before. I booked a long weekend away on my own.”
Blog PostReflective
The Day We Lost Our Dog
Family, Loss, And Emotional LifeSmall Griefs And What They Teach Us
“Three weeks ago, our dog Sam died. He was thirteen years old, and he had been part of our family for almost…”
ReportMatch Report
The Greens Beat the Blues 3–2 — A Sunday Morning Match Report
Sport, Community, And Shared EventsWriting About What Happened, Accurately And With Care
“The Greens beat the Blues 3–2 in a close and entertaining match at the community pitch on Sunday morning. Both teams played…”
InterviewJob Interview
The Job Interview at the Bookshop
Looking For Work And Changing DirectionThe Small Careful Conversation By Which Strangers Decide To Work Together
“Sam had been working at a small office for the past five years, doing a job that had once seemed reasonable and…”
Blog PostReflective
The Letter I Never Sent
Relationships And Emotional LifeThings Left Unsaid
“I have a letter in the bottom drawer of my desk. It is in a white envelope. It has a stamp on…”
StoryShort Mystery Story
The Letters in the Drawer
Small Mysteries And Family MemoryWhat We Find Out About People We Thought We Knew
“Mira's grandmother had died in early spring. She had been ill for several months, and her death, when it came, had not…”
Blog PostOpinion Piece
The New Road Through Our Woods
EnvironmentProtecting Local Places
“When I moved to this village fifteen years ago, I fell in love with Green Wood. It's not a big forest —…”
StoryShort Realistic Story
The Wallet
Small Ethical DecisionsThe Quiet Test Of Who We Are When No One Is Watching
“It was a Tuesday evening in October, and Alex was walking home from work. The day had been long, the weather was…”
StoryShort Realistic Story
The Woman on the Bench
Encounters Between StrangersThe Small Connections That Make Ordinary Life Less Ordinary
“Anna had been coming to the same bench in the small park near her flat for almost thirty years. She was nearly…”
Poem / SongFirst Person Poem
What I Carry
Displacement, Memory, And The Small Persistent Things One KeepsWhat We Carry From The Places We Have Left
“What I Carry”
ReportSurvey Findings
What People Want from the Saturday Market — A Community Survey
Community Life And Shared SpacesAsking People What They Think And Reporting It Carefully
“INTRODUCTION”
Blog PostPersonal Lifestyle
Why I Stopped Using My Phone in the Morning
WellbeingChanging A Habit
“A few months ago, I realised something uncomfortable: the first thing I did every morning was reach for my phone. Before my…”