Our latest Level 4 graded reader “The Temple Treasure” is now available!
Shuzo is the head priest of a mountain temple in Japan. One night, an unexpected visitor comes to the temple and takes the temple’s most precious treasure. Shuzo has to get the treasure back, but it has been passed to a dangerous gang in Osaka. Shuzo can’t go to the police, so he has to act alone. He knows his life will be in danger, but he goes to Osaka and finds the treasure. Help comes from a very unexpected person, but will it be enough for him to escape back to the temple with the treasure?
Our latest Level 1 graded reader Ryokan Life is now available!
Yuka Nakata studies English. Her family owns a ryokan (Japanese-style hotel) near Kyoto. Now it is August. Yuka is helping her family at the ryokan. Yuka is happy. She can meet many guests and she can practice her English. Many things happen at the ryokan.
Two guests go out for a day, but don’t come back. Can Yuka find them? A guest loses his passport. Can Yuka help him? Is there a ghost in one of the rooms? Yuka tries to solve the mystery.
Working at the ryokan is hard, but it is always interesting for Yuka! Enjoy five stories from Yuka’s summer at the ryokan!
How is the COVID19 situation in your town or city? Here, in rural Japan, it is not so bad. We have had about 200 cases in total in our city. Tokyo has had a lot of cases, but here, there are few people, so the numbers are not very high.
Even so, we take precautions when we go out. We wear masks, and disinfect our hands when we go into shops or other places. There is disinfectant at the entrance of most public places.
Some countries and cities have had a “lockdown”, and people’s movements are restricted. We haven’t had a lockdown in our city. People are living their lives as normal. I went to a cafe for lunch yesterday, and it was full. Some people are avoiding going out at night though. I haven’t been out at night for a long time. We have also been told not to make unnecessary trips to other prefectures. I am looking forward to the day when the world gets back to normal.
This is a short story for learners of English from I Talk You Talk Press. You can read and listen at the same time, or you can try shadowing. We hope you enjoy the story!
THE WAITING DOG
Romero has a café in the park. It is called The Park Café. Romero thinks the name is boring, but he can’t think of a better name. The Park Café is very popular in summer. Many people come to the park to walk their dogs.
Romero likes dogs and he is a smart businessman. Dogs cannot come into the café, but Romero has a special area for dogs outside. Dog walkers can tie their dogs up there. They can see their dogs through the window. Romero has bowls of water and treats for dogs. It is good for business.
One Saturday, the café was very busy. The dog area was full. The café was full. Romero did not notice that one dog had been there for a very long time. The café closes at 4pm. All the customers left. Romero was surprised to see that there was still one dog tied up outside. He looked around his café. It was empty. He went outside to talk to the dog.
“Where is your owner? Did your owner forget you and go home without you?”
The dog wagged its tail and barked.
Romero looked at the dog. It was a nice dog. It was clean and well fed. He looked at the dog’s collar. There was a tag on the collar with the name Lucien, and a telephone number.
He went inside and called the telephone number. There was no answer. Romero did not know what to do.
He went into the kitchen and found some leftover hamburger. He put it in the bowl and took it out to the dog.
I will have to call the people who take dogs that are on the streets, he thought. But first I will clean up. While Romero was cleaning his café and kitchen he watched the dog out the windows. It was a very nice dog.
Finally Romero finished his work. His last job was to take the bags of garbage out. When he went out to the back of the café he got a big shock. There was a man lying on the grass. Romero thought he was dead, but he ran inside and called an ambulance.
The ambulance came. Romero was right. The man was dead. “It looks like a heart attack,” said the ambulance men. “He’s been dead for hours.”
The police came. It was dark and Romero went outside and brought the dog into the café. It’s against the rules, he thought. But I don’t care. That poor dog has been alone for hours waiting for his owner.
Romero sat in the café with the dog. The dog put his head against Romero’s knee and Romero patted him.
Finally the police said. “The dog belonged to the dead man. The man’s name was Raoul Findeas. It seems he had no family. We will take the dog now.”
“No,” said Romero. “I will keep the dog.”
“OK,” said the police and went away.
“Well,” said Romero to the dog. “It has been a hard day for you, but I will take you home. And I think I will change the name of my café. I think I will call it Lucien’s Café. What do you think?”
This is a short story for learners of English from I Talk You Talk Press. You can read and listen at the same time, or you can try shadowing. We hope you enjoy the story!
MAISIE AND THE LIFEGUARD
Maisie goes swimming every morning before she goes to work. She leaves home at 5:30am and drives to the swimming pool. She swims for an hour, then hurries home for a shower and breakfast before she leaves for work at 8am.
On Wednesday night, Maisie had a big fight with her boyfriend and they broke up. On Thursday morning, Maisie drove to the swimming pool as usual. She did not feel happy. She was crying. She was thinking about her ex-boyfriend. They worked in the same office and so Maisie did not want to go to work.
I’ll feel better when I am swimming, she thought. She parked the car opposite the sports centre, took her sports bag from the back seat and hurried into the building.
While Maisie was swimming, her car started to move. Very, very, slowly the car moved out of the car park and across the road. It was early morning so the road was empty. There were no people walking and no other cars on the road.
There was an announcement on the loud speaker system in the swimming pool. “Is the owner of a white Honda, number plate XJY436, in the pool?”
XJY436! That’s my car, thought Maisie. She swam to the side of the pool and climbed out. A lifeguard was standing next to the pool. Maisie ran up to him. “That’s my car,” she said. “Did I leave the lights on?”
“No,” said the lifeguard. He was laughing. “Come and see.”
Maisie followed the lifeguard out to the entrance of the sports centre. “Look!” said the lifeguard. He pointed to the big entrance doors.
“Oh, no!” shouted Maisie. Her car was in the doorway. It was half inside the building and half outside. No one could go in or out of the sports centre.
“Do you have your car keys?” asked the lifeguard.
Maisie ran to the changing rooms and came back with her car keys.
“I’ll drive it out for you,” said the lifeguard. “You are too wet.”
He took Maisie’s keys, got into the car and reversed out onto the road. He parked the car and came back in.
“The hand brake was not on,” he said. “The road goes down a little from the car park to the sports centre. The car must have rolled from where you parked it, to here.”
Maisie was very red. “I am an idiot!” she said. “I broke up with my boyfriend. I was thinking about that all the time and I forgot to put the handbrake on.”
The lifeguard gave her the car keys. “I think your boyfriend is the idiot. Who would want to break up with you?”
Maisie looked at the lifeguard. He was very cute. Perhaps I am not so sad. I wonder if this guy works every morning?
This is a short story for learners of English from I Talk You Talk Press. You can read and listen at the same time, or you can try shadowing. We hope you enjoy the story!
Andy came with his parents to stay with his grandparents for Christmas. His father was a doctor and his mother worked in an animal shelter. They had to go back to work at New Year, so Andy was staying alone with his grandparents for New Year.
On December 31st, his grandmother said. “What is your New Year resolution?”
Andy was seven years old, and he didn’t understand. “New Year what?” he asked his grandmother.
“New Year resolution,” answered his grandmother.
“What is that?” asked Andy.
His grandmother smiled. “Well, you make a promise. You make a promise to yourself, that you will be a better person next year. Maybe you promise you will stop doing something, or maybe you promise you will do something good.”
His grandmother could see that Andy was still puzzled.
“My New Year resolution is that I will walk for an hour every day. I am too lazy. If I walk for an hour every day, my health will be better.”
“And Grandad? What does he plan to do?”
“You must ask him yourself,” said his grandmother.
Andy found his grandfather in the garden. “What is your New Year resolution?” he asked.
“Well,” said his grandfather. “I have two New Year resolutions. I am going to stop buying more roses for the garden because we have too many. And I am going to get up early every morning, and take your grandmother a cup of tea in bed.”
“Oh,” said Andy. Andy went to his room and thought about New Year resolutions.
I can stop doing something, he thought. Or I can start doing something. What does ‘be a better person’ mean? I think it means to be a happier person.
After breakfast on New Year’s Day, Andy said,” Grandma! Grandad! I thought about New Year resolutions. I have two resolutions. I wrote them down. Here is the paper. You can read it.”
Andy gave the paper to his grandmother and went outside to play.
His grandmother sat down at the table and poured herself another cup of tea.
She read Andy’s New Year resolutions. She laughed a lot. She was laughing so much she couldn’t talk.
“What is it?” asked Andy’s grandfather. “Why are you laughing?”
She gave him the piece of paper, and he laughed too.
“I guess you didn’t explain very well!” he said. “Andy didn’t understand!”
Andy’s New Year resolutions were:
Stop cleaning my teeth – cleaning teeth is boring.
I Talk You Talk Press EXTRA 
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