Learn English with inspiring true stories
Short videos about real people who did something brave, kind or surprising, turned into English lessons you'll actually enjoy. Free, from A1 to C2.
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A free Level Test, true stories, a word game and stamps to collect.
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A short, true story about a real person. Slow it down or repeat any sentence.
The transcript follows the video. Tap any line to jump there, and any highlighted word to see its meaning.
Flip the flashcards, hear each word, and keep practising the ones you don’t know yet.
A quick game: choose, fill the gap, build the sentence and match the pairs. Build a streak!
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Latest lessons
4:08DoneIn 1923, a family lost their dog Bobbie on a long car trip. Six months later, a thin, tired dog walked into their town. It was Bobbie! Learn five A1 words and 'him, her, them' with this true story.
4:55DoneIn Cambodia, millions of landmines were hidden in the ground. A rat called Magawa learned to find them by their smell, and he was too light to set them off. Learn five B1 words and 'can be + past participle' with this true story.
4:28DoneIn the 1940s, most doctors believed people with broken backs would live just a year or two. Ludwig Guttmann got them out of bed and gave them sport. His games became the Paralympics. Learn five B1 words and how to use believe (that) with the true story of Ludwig Guttmann.
3:43DoneLou Gehrig played 2,130 games in a row. Then a rare disease made him weak, but he told a huge crowd that he was the luckiest man on Earth. Learn five A2 words and how to use in a row with the true story of Lou Gehrig.
5:03DoneNobody offered young Albert Einstein a university job, so he checked inventions at the patent office in Bern. In his spare time, in 1905, he made four breakthroughs. In 1919, an eclipse made him world-famous. Learn five B2 words and how to use reduced relative clauses with the true story of Albert Einstein.
3:30DoneMilton Hershey's first candy shop failed, and his next shop failed too. First he made caramels. Then he made chocolate, and after that he built a factory and a town. Learn five A1 words and how to use first … then … after that with the true story of Milton Hershey.
4:19DoneAfter a bad car accident, a young French navy officer swam in the sea to get well, and a pair of goggles showed him a new world. With an engineer, he helped make the Aqua-Lung. Learn five B1 words and how to use for the first time with the true story of Jacques Cousteau.
4:02DoneIn Rome in 1960, Abebe Bikila's new shoes did not fit. So he ran the Olympic marathon without shoes, and he crossed the finish line first. Learn five A2 words and how to use without + noun with the true story of Abebe Bikila.
5:09DoneIn the 1860s, many people died of infection after surgery. Joseph Lister used carbolic acid as an antiseptic, and an eleven-year-old boy kept his badly broken leg. Learn five B2 words and how to use it wasn't until … that … with the true story of Joseph Lister.
3:18DoneA young man took his mother's old coat and a ping-pong ball, and he made a new friend: Kermit. Jim Henson was Kermit's voice for 35 years. Learn five A1 words and how to use made … from … with the true story of Jim Henson.
4:35DoneDuring World War Two, Irena Sendler and her helpers smuggled Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto. She hid their real names in jars under an apple tree, so that families could find them. Learn five B1 words and how to use so that with the true story of Irena Sendler.
3:35DoneWorkers' pockets tore again and again. A tailor had an idea: small metal rivets on the pockets. Levi Strauss helped him get a patent, and today people all over the world wear jeans. Learn five A1 words and how to use in, on, under, next to with the true story of Levi Strauss.
4:02DoneIn March 1966, someone took the World Cup in London. One week later, on a Sunday walk, a little dog called Pickles smelled something under a plant. It was the cup! Learn five A1 words and 'this / that' with this true story.
4:59DoneTu Youyou's team tested hundreds of plants against malaria. Then she read one sentence in a book written about 1,600 years earlier. Her discovery became the best treatment for the most dangerous type of malaria. Learn five B2 words and how to use the present perfect passive with the true story of Tu Youyou.
4:27DoneAt nine, Anne Sullivan was sent to a poorhouse, nearly blind. She begged to go to school, graduated at the top of her class, and opened Helen Keller's world. Learn five B1 words and how to use the past perfect with by the time with the true story of Anne Sullivan.
3:53DoneHis school yearbook did not use his drawings. But Charles Schulz kept trying, and in 1950 his comic strip Peanuts began. Learn five A2 words and how to use still with the true story of Charles Schulz.
3:28DoneAt about seventy years old, Hokusai made a picture of a really big wave with Mount Fuji behind it. Today, people everywhere know it. Learn five A1 words and how to use very / really + adjective with the true story of Katsushika Hokusai.
4:51DoneIn 1942, Polish soldiers in Iran adopted a hungry bear cub. Pets were not allowed on British ships, so they made him a private. At Monte Cassino, the soldiers said he carried boxes of ammunition. Learn five B1 words and 'be allowed to + verb' with this true story.
4:53DoneIn 1947, Grace Hopper's team found a real moth inside a computer. Computers were supposed to use only numbers — but she built a compiler and persuaded people to use words. Learn five B2 words and how to use be supposed to with the true story of Grace Hopper.
3:47DoneIn 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges walked into a white school with federal marshals beside her. She was the only child in her class, and she never missed a day. Learn five A2 words and how to use the only + noun with the true story of Ruby Bridges.
4:42DoneSatyajit Ray had a tiny budget for his first film, Pather Panchali. He filmed on Sundays for about three years. The film won acclaim around the world — and in 1992 he received an honorary Oscar. Learn five B2 words and how to use no matter how with the true story of Satyajit Ray.
4:43DoneIn 1969, two young friends bought a lion cub in a London shop. When he grew too big, they took him to Kenya to live in the wild and said goodbye. A year later they went back. Would he remember them? Learn five A2 words and 'ago' with this true story.
3:17DoneA poor girl walked on the beach after storms, looking for strange stones. One day, Mary Anning found the bones of a sea animal from long ago. Learn five A1 words and how to use a lot of and many with the true story of Mary Anning.
4:07DoneIn 1926, people said women were too weak to swim the English Channel. Gertrude Ederle swam it through a storm — nearly two hours faster than any man. Learn five B1 words and how to use too … to with the true story of Gertrude Ederle.
3:21DoneA farm woman saw a man in an orange suit come down from the sky. It was Yuri Gagarin — the first person in space. Learn five A1 words and how to use around, over, down with the true story of Yuri Gagarin.
4:48DoneAs a teenager, Tolkien invented imaginary languages for fun. One day, marking exams, he wrote one sentence on a blank page — and a whole world began. Learn five B2 words and how to use the more…, the more… with the true story of J. R. R. Tolkien.
5:34DoneIn the 1960s, archaeologists found date seeds at Masada, an ancient desert fortress. In 2005, a scientist planted three of them, and one grew. Years later, a female tree from more ancient seeds, Hannah, gave real dates. Learn five B2 words and 'enable + someone + to + verb' with this true story.
3:23DonePeople say a boy in Norway slept with his window open in winter. In 1911, Roald Amundsen went to the South Pole with four other men and 52 dogs. Learn five A1 words and how to use had to + verb with the true story of Roald Amundsen.
4:06DoneAt about twelve, Charles Dickens stuck labels on pots of shoe polish while his father was in prison for debt. He kept it a secret. Later, his novels made people think about poor children. Learn five B1 words and how to use make + someone + verb with the true story of Charles Dickens.
3:43DoneNick Vujicic was born without arms or legs. Step by step, he learned to write with his toes, to swim and to surf — and today he is a speaker. Learn five A2 words and how to use learned to + verb with the true story of Nick Vujicic.
4:09DoneAfter something terrible happened, a little girl stopped speaking for about five years. A neighbour asked her to read aloud and learn a poem by heart — and Maya Angelou found her voice. Learn five B1 words and how to use stop / start + -ing with the true story of Maya Angelou.
3:57DoneIn 1971, the astronaut Stuart Roosa took small bags of tree seeds around the Moon. Back on Earth, the bags broke open. Would the seeds still grow? They did — and you can still see Moon trees today. Learn five A1 words and can / can't with this true story.
3:52DoneIn 1969, the US government wanted to cut money for public TV. A quiet man named Fred Rogers spoke for six minutes about children's feelings — and a tough senator listened. Learn five A2 words and how to use it's + adjective + to with the true story of Fred Rogers.
4:31DoneWhen the First World War began, Marie Curie realised X-rays could help wounded soldiers. She learned to drive and took X-ray cars to the front line — 'the little Curies'. Learn five B2 words and participle clauses with the true story of Marie Curie.
DoneIn October 1918, about 550 American soldiers were surrounded in a forest in France, and their army's guns began firing at them by mistake. They had one pigeon left. Learn five B1 words and the first conditional with the true story of Cher Ami — and why historians still ask questions about it.
3:13DoneIn 1955, a bus driver in Alabama told Rosa Parks to stand up. Did she stand up? No, she didn't. Learn five A1 words and Did…? questions with the true story of Rosa Parks.
4:59DoneIn 1952, Rosalind Franklin's X-ray photo showed the shape of DNA. Someone showed it to her rivals without asking her, and for years her work was overlooked. Learn five B2 words and how to use whose in relative clauses with the true story of Rosalind Franklin.
3:26DoneFor his sixth birthday, a boy in Australia got a big snake. His parents had a small zoo, and at nine he helped his father catch a small crocodile. Learn five A1 words and how to use his, her and their with the true story of Steve Irwin.
DoneA Saint Nicholas Day special. About 1,700 years ago, a kind bishop called Nicholas lived in Myra, in today's Turkey. The story says he secretly threw gold through a poor man's window for his three daughters. Today, his Dutch name, Sinterklaas, gives us Santa Claus. Learn five A1 words and how to use give someone something.
4:33DoneChristopher Reeve was famous for playing Superman. In 1995, a fall from a horse left him paralysed from the neck down. He became a campaigner for medical research — and five years later, he moved a finger. Learn five B2 words and the difference between used to and be used to with the true story of Christopher Reeve.
3:24DoneOnce a year, every player in the big baseball league wears the number 42. Why? In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first Black player in the big leagues. Learn five A1 words and how to use because with the true story of Jackie Robinson.
4:22DoneIn 1945, soldiers in the Philippines needed a cable under a runway. Digging would take three days. Their smallest friend, a Yorkshire terrier only 18 cm tall, went through a narrow pipe instead. Learn five A2 words and small enough to with Smoky's true story.
4:17DoneHis first piston rings were a failure, Toyota rejected most of them, and war and an earthquake destroyed his factories. In 1946, Soichiro Honda put small engines on bicycles — and started again. Learn five B1 words and the phrase learn from your mistakes with the true story of Soichiro Honda.
4:00DoneIn 1940, hundreds of Jewish families stood outside a small office in Lithuania. His government said no, but Chiune Sugihara wrote more than 2,000 visas by hand — until his train left. Learn five A2 words and how to use until with the true story of Chiune Sugihara.
4:53DoneAlthea Gibson learned the game on a Harlem street closed to cars. The biggest tournaments kept her out — until 1950. In 1957, the Queen handed her the Wimbledon trophy. Learn five B2 words and how to use despite / in spite of with the true story of Althea Gibson.
5:43DoneIn the 1960s, only 14 giant tortoises were left on Española, one of the Galápagos Islands. One more was living far away, in a zoo in California. Diego went back to the Galápagos to join a breeding programme, and today more than 2,000 tortoises live on Española. Learn five B2 words and the expression 'on the brink of' with his true story.
4:17DoneIn 1854, Mary Seacole from Jamaica asked to help British soldiers in the Crimea. Office after office said no. So she paid for the journey herself and built the British Hotel close to the camp. Learn five B1 words and how to use managed to with the true story of Mary Seacole.
3:59DoneEmil Zátopek trained in heavy army boots, even in the snow. At the 1952 Olympics he won the 10,000 m, the 5,000 m — and then his first marathon ever. Learn five A2 words and how to use even with the true story of Emil Zátopek.
3:27DoneA war hospital was very dirty and many soldiers were sick. Florence Nightingale and other people made it clean, and every night she walked with her little lamp. Learn five A1 words and every day / every night with the true story of Florence Nightingale.
4:52DoneIn 1913, a poor, self-taught clerk in India sent pages of strange formulas to a famous mathematician in Cambridge. Fraud or genius? Learn five B2 words and as if / as though with the true story of Srinivasa Ramanujan.
3:53DoneIn 1956, a scientist put a tag on the leg of an albatross. In 2002, he found the same bird again. Today Wisdom is at least 75 — the oldest known wild bird — and she still flies over the ocean. Learn five A1 words and the present simple with her true story.
3:54DoneA young man sat in a farm garden. An apple fell — and Isaac Newton asked why it always falls down. Learn five A2 words and the zero conditional with the true story of Isaac Newton.
DoneA Thanksgiving special. Sarah Josepha Hale, a young widow with five children, became America's most famous magazine editor and wrote "Mary had a little lamb." For seventeen years she wrote to governors and presidents. In 1863 she urged President Lincoln to act, and five days later Thanksgiving became a national holiday. Learn five B2 words and how to use urge someone to.
4:51DoneAs a boy in segregated Richmond, Arthur Ashe couldn't play on his city's best tennis courts. In 1975, almost nobody thought he could beat the world's number one at Wimbledon. Learn five B2 words and imperatives for advice with the true story of Arthur Ashe.
3:24DoneThomas Edison and his team wanted a better light bulb. They tried thousands of things, again and again. In 1879, a thin, burnt cotton thread glowed for more than 13 hours. Learn five A1 words with the true story of Thomas Edison.
5:08DoneIn January 1925, children in Nome, Alaska, were getting sick, and the medicine was more than 1,000 km away. About 20 mushers and 150 dogs carried it in a relay — and a 12-year-old husky called Togo ran the longest part. Learn five B1 words and 'while + past continuous' with his true story.
4:29DoneIn the early 1950s, American parents were afraid of polio every summer. Jonas Salk's team worked for years on a vaccine, and in 1955 it was announced: safe and effective. Then he said: Could you patent the sun? Learn five B1 words with the true story of Jonas Salk.
5:16DoneIn 1939, a young London stockbroker helped 669 children escape from Prague to Britain. For almost fifty years he hardly spoke about it — until a TV programme in 1988 sat him among the people he had saved. Learn five B2 words and Little did he know… with the true story of Nicholas Winton.
5:07DoneLeonardo da Vinci filled thousands of pages with mirror writing, anatomy drawings and flying machines — about 400 years before the first airplane. Why did he write backwards? Learn five B2 words and must have / might have with the true story of Leonardo da Vinci.
DoneA Vietnamese Teachers' Day special. Long ago, Chu Văn An taught the king's son at the royal school in Thăng Long (today's Hanoi). When the king's officials became bad, he asked the king to punish seven powerful men. The king did not agree, so he quit and went to live on a mountain. Learn five A2 words and how to use ask someone to.
4:11DoneEvery evening, Hachikō met his owner at Shibuya Station in Tokyo. In 1925, the professor died suddenly at work, but Hachikō kept going back to the station for nearly ten years. Learn five A2 words and 'wait for someone to do something' with his true story.
3:28DoneAt sixteen, Neil Armstrong could fly a plane but not drive a car. On 20 July 1969, he landed on the Moon with very little fuel and took one small step. Learn five A1 words with the true story of Neil Armstrong.
4:26DoneClara Barton was a very shy girl. In 1862, at the Battle of Antietam, the surgeons had no bandages — and her wagon was full of them. Later she founded the American Red Cross. Learn five B1 words with the true story of Clara Barton.
DoneA World Children's Day special. In 1919, Eglantyne Jebb was arrested in London for a leaflet with a photo of a hungry child. The court gave her a £5 fine, and the lawyer who spoke against her gave her £5 for her new fund: Save the Children. Learn five B1 words and how to use have the right to.
3:47DoneIn the war, Audrey Hepburn was so hungry that her family made flour from tulip bulbs. United Nations workers helped her get well. Years later, the famous actress worked for UNICEF and helped children get food. Learn five A2 words with the true story of Audrey Hepburn.
4:19DoneRoberto Clemente made his first bat from a guava branch and became one of baseball's greatest stars. On New Year's Eve, 1972, he flew with supplies for earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Learn five B1 words with the true story of Roberto Clemente.
3:52DoneAt five, Mozart made his first pieces. At fourteen, in Rome, he heard secret music in the Sistine Chapel — and wrote it all down from memory. Learn five A2 words with the true story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
5:18DoneIn the summer of 1816, a volcano had dimmed the sun and storms trapped a group of friends by Lake Geneva. Lord Byron set a challenge to write a ghost story. Eighteen-year-old Mary found hers in a waking dream — Frankenstein. Learn five B2 words with the true story of Mary Shelley.
3:49DoneWalt Disney loved drawing animals on his farm. His cartoon company closed, and another company took his cartoon rabbit. On the long train home, he had a new idea — a little mouse. Learn five A1 words with the true story of Walt Disney.
4:30DoneBefore Gutenberg, every book in Europe was copied by hand. He made letters from metal, a new ink and a printing press — and printed a Bible so clear you could read it without glasses. Learn five B1 words with the true story of Johannes Gutenberg.
3:37DoneIn 1914, a Canadian soldier paid $20 for a bear cub with no mother and named her Winnie, after his city, Winnipeg. She went to London Zoo, where a boy called Christopher Robin loved her so much that he gave his toy bear her name. Learn five A1 words and the possessive 's with the true story of the real Winnie.
4:05DoneVincent van Gogh painted for only ten years and sold very few paintings. His brother Theo helped him, and in the south of France he painted a yellow house and sunflowers. Today the whole world loves his work. Learn five A1 words with the true story of Vincent van Gogh.
4:44DoneA small Japanese white pine, cared for by one family for about five generations, survived the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. In 1976 it became a gift to the United States — but nobody at the museum knew its story until two young brothers walked in in 2001. Learn five B2 words and the pseudo-cleft 'What … was …' with its true story.
New · 100 comicsBright & Fun ClassroomOne comic, one common mistake, one minute. Read it, get Sonia’s tip, then help Barry.Read the comics →“When you care about a person, you remember the words they used.”
Textbook dialogues are easy to forget. A true story about courage, kindness or a crazy dream stays with you, and so does its English. That's why every Bright Lives lesson starts with a real life.
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