Video lessons

Real stories. Real English.

Each lesson is a short video about a real person who did something brave, kind or surprising. Watch, read along, learn the words, then take the Story Challenge.

Animals and Plants

5:03
B2 Upper intermediateScience · Curiosity

Albert Einstein: A Patent Clerk's Miracle Year Changed Physics Forever

Nobody 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.

4:35
B1 IntermediateKindness · History

Irena Sendler: She Hid Children's Names in Jars Under a Tree

During 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.

5:34
B2 Upper intermediateTrees · Science

The Judean Date Palm: A 2,000-Year-Old Seed Was Planted… and It Grew

In 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.

B1 IntermediateAnimals · History

Cher Ami: Hundreds of Soldiers Were Trapped… One Pigeon Was Their Last Hope

In 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.

A1 BeginnerKindness · History

Saint Nicholas: Gold Through a Window at Night… The Real Saint Nicholas

A 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.

4:33
B2 Upper intermediateFilm · Disability

Christopher Reeve: He Played Superman… Then Showed a Different Type of Strength

Christopher 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.

4:17
B1 IntermediateBusiness · Invention

Soichiro Honda: He Failed Again and Again… Then Built a World Brand

His 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.

5:43
B2 Upper intermediateAnimals · Nature

Diego the Tortoise: Only 14 Were Left… Then One Old Tortoise Helped Save Them

In 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.

4:17
B1 IntermediateHealth · Women

Mary Seacole: They Said No to Her… So She Went to the War Anyway

In 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.

B2 Upper intermediateWriting · Women

Sarah Josepha Hale: She Wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb"… Then Gave America Thanksgiving

A 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.

5:08
B1 IntermediateAnimals · Adventure

Togo: Children Were Sick and No Plane Could Fly… So the Dogs Ran

In 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.

A2 ElementaryEducation · Asia

Chu Văn An: He Told the King the Truth… Then Walked Away From the Palace

A 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.

4:44
B2 Upper intermediateTrees · Peace

The Hiroshima Bonsai: A Tree Survived Hiroshima… and Nobody Knew for 25 Years

A 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.

5:13
B1 IntermediateHistory · Women

Moina Michael: A Teacher Read a Poem… Now Millions Wear a Red Poppy

A Remembrance Day / Veterans Day special. On 9 November 1918, a teacher in New York read a poem about red poppies, made a promise and spent 10 dollars on 25 silk poppies. Today millions of people wear one every November. Learn five B1 words and how to use remind someone of with the true story of Moina Michael.

4:41
B1 IntermediateScience · Nature

George Washington Carver: Farmers Had Tired Soil… He Gave Them Peanuts

Born into slavery, George Washington Carver taught poor Southern farmers to make tired soil healthy by planting peanuts — and found about 300 uses for them. In 1921, Congress gave him ten minutes and then said: your time is unlimited. Learn five B1 words with the true story of George Washington Carver.

4:28
B1 IntermediateScience · Women

Hedy Lamarr: A Film Star by Day… an Inventor by Night

Hedy Lamarr was one of Hollywood's biggest stars. At home, she invented things — and in 1942 she and George Antheil patented a way for radio signals to jump between frequencies. Learn five B1 words with the true story of Hedy Lamarr.

6:02
B2 Upper intermediateFreedom · Writing

Frederick Douglass: He Was Forbidden to Read… So He Taught Himself

As a boy, Frederick Douglass was forbidden to read, so he taught himself in secret. He escaped slavery, became one of the most eloquent speakers in America and wrote an autobiography that proved his story. Learn five B2 words with the true story of Frederick Douglass.

3:36
A1 BeginnerScience · Curiosity

Albert Einstein: A Little Compass Made Him Ask Why

When Albert Einstein was five, he was sick in bed. His father gave him a compass, and the needle moved by itself. Why? He asked questions all his life, and his answers changed science. Learn five A1 words with the true story of Albert Einstein.

4:35
B1 IntermediateNature · Science

Rachel Carson: What If Spring Had No Birds?

Imagine a spring with no birds singing. In 1962, a quiet scientist named Rachel Carson wrote a book about chemical sprays that were harming nature. Powerful companies tried to stop her, but her book changed the law. Learn five B1 words with the true story of Rachel Carson.

5:10
B2 Upper intermediateScience · Women

Ada Lovelace: She Saw the Future of Computers… 100 Years Early

The daughter of a famous poet, Ada Lovelace loved numbers. In 1843 she wrote notes about a machine that was never built, and imagined what computers could do a hundred years before they existed. Learn five B2 words with the true story of Ada Lovelace.

5:25
B2 Upper intermediateScience · Invention

Alan Turing: The Codebreaker Who Imagined the Computer

Every night, the enemy's secret code changed. Alan Turing helped design a machine to break it, imagined the computer and asked whether machines could think. Then his own country punished him. Learn five B2 words with the true story of Alan Turing.

4:32
B1 IntermediateMusic · Disability

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Music He Couldn't Hear

He was losing his hearing, but he kept writing music. At the first performance of his Ninth Symphony, he couldn't hear the applause. Learn five B1 words with the true story of Ludwig van Beethoven.

3:48
A2 ElementaryArt · Women

Frida Kahlo: She Painted Herself

At eighteen, a bus accident kept her in bed for months. So she looked in a mirror and painted herself. Learn five A2 words with the true story of Frida Kahlo.

3:10
A1 BeginnerDisability · Invention

Louis Braille: Letters You Can Feel

He was blind at five, but he wanted to read books. At fifteen, he invented letters you can feel. Learn five easy English words with the true story of Louis Braille.

3:31
B1 IntermediateDisability · Science

Temple Grandin: She Thinks in Pictures

When Temple Grandin was two, doctors said she would never talk. She grew up to change the way farms treat animals. Learn five B1 words with her true story.

4:30
A1 BeginnerDisability · Education

Helen Keller: Everything Had a Name

Helen Keller couldn't see and couldn't hear. Then a teacher spelled one word into her hand: water. Learn five easy English words with her true story.

5:11
A2 ElementaryCourage · Health

Terry Fox: The Run That Never Ended

He lost his leg to cancer when he was 18. Three years later, he started to run across Canada, a marathon every day. The story of a young man who never gave up.

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