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John watched the river flow. The water was green and blue and full of fish. He looked at the leaves on the trees and tall grass. They were moving softly in the quiet wind. This was a beautiful and wild place. But suddenly John heard a crack in the woods. When he turned to look, [...]

The computer sat in a funny little room at the Lakeside School in Seattle. It was a gift from the Mother’s Club. Costing $3,000, it was expensive at the time. But the mothers wanted the students to have a computer so they could have a computer club. At the time, this was an amazing gift. [...]

One day Yukichi went to Yokohama for sight-seeing. At the time, the place was not much of a town. Foreigners had made a few temporary buildings there for living and selling their goods. Yukichi tried to speak with them, but to his distress and embarrassment, they could not understand anything he said. Yukichi knew Dutch, [...]

Al’s Marijuana Story This is Al’s marijuana story. Al was lazy a lot of the time. He didn’t want to do his school work, and he lost his desire for physical activity and sports. He was often depressed, and he often felt bad about himself. He knew he should stop smoking marijuana, but he could [...]

BeeOasis: So this is our our second question with Dr. Richard Day. And this is from a student, and basically it’s this: What would you say to a student who doesn’t want to do ER because, let’s say, he or she wants to spend more time improving their listening or speaking skills. Dr. Day: Good. [...]

Shaun White is a world famous snowboarder. Watch him slide down the pipe in slow motion. He goes up one side and flies into the air at an extreme height. Time stands still. Coming down, he gains speed and lands smoothly. Then he rises to the other side of the pipe. As he takes off, [...]

BeeOasis: So here we are with Dr. Paul Nation, Professor Emeritus at the University of Wellington, Victoria (New Zealand).  And of course one of the most well-known linguists in the world. It’s an honor to have him. Just one quick question for our learners: How can extensive graded reading help you, help a student with their [...]

An old man is walking along a rocky river bed. He is a traveller, but he is carrying only a few things. He can hear the songs of birds and the breath of the wind. The sound of the River Fuji is clear in his ears. It’s the voice of fresh water running over rocks. [...]

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!” The crowd of college students screamed at Steve. He was quickly downing his sixth large glass of beer in less than an hour. When he finished, he slammed the glass down on a large glass table. There was a smashing sound, but nothing broke. With the force, [...]

Clive Wearing sits at the piano. He stretches out his hands and fingers. He takes a deep breath. Then he begins to play. His fingers strike the keys, and the piano hammers hit the strings. The strings vibrate in beautiful harmony and precise rhythm. Beautiful music floats up in the air. It dances around in [...]

“One beautiful spring morning I was alone in my room, reading. Suddenly, a wonderful smell in the air made me get up and put out my hands. The spirit of spring seemed to be passing in my room. ‘What is it?’ I asked. The next minute I knew it was coming from the mimosa tree [...]

President Clinton stood in front of the microphone. He took a breath and swallowed. Then he began his apology. He was not apologizing for being with another woman. Not yet. And he was not apologizing for a personal failure. Not this time. He was apologizing for the actions of the U.S. Government. Doctors and scientists [...]

BeeOasis Step 2 (Part 1) Click here to read the Step 3 version of this story. It was a cloudy day in summer. The sun’s light lit up the green grass as clouds moved across the sky. The colors of the German countryside danced in the changing light. A soft, cool wind blew through the [...]

  “Then I saw the beauty of primitive music.” W.C. Handy, Father of the Blues W.C. Handy grew up in a small town in Alabama in the southern part of the US. His father was the pastor of a church, and Handy was raised in the faith of his father. When he was young, he [...]

Beauty found herself liking the Beast. And she thought she could be happy, but she worried about her father and sisters. She knew that her father would be suffering great sadness because of her. The thought of his sadness made her very sad, too. And one night, when the Beast came to visit her at [...]

By Tim Brown (TED) So this guy, this guy is a guy named Bob McKim. And he was a creativity researcher in the ’60s and ’70s, and also led the Stanford design program. And in fact, my friend and IDEO founder, David Kelley, who’s out there somewhere, studied under him at Stanford. And he liked [...]

Interview with Dr. Charles Browne, Professor, Meiji Gakuin University. This is “Charles the Great,” from Meiji Gakuin University, and of course, English Central and many other places. And [he is] affectionately known as “Charlie.” We are going to ask him a couple of questions about extensive reading. [The] first question is, “What’s good about it?” [...]

Click here to read a Step 1 version of this story. In August 2003, electrical power went out in a large part of North America. Ten million people in Ontario, Canada, lost power. And forty-five million people in eight U.S. states had their lights go out. Eleven deaths were related to this event. It was [...]

This is Professor Thomas Robb from Kyoto Sangyo University, and he is one of the world’s renowned experts on extensive graded reading.  Q: Tell us. Why should students do extensive reading? Dr. Robb: Why? Because it works. I’ve done it for Japanese as well. Really? Yeah. So I chose a mystery novel writer and I read 35 of [...]

King Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. But he had a problem. He was married to Catherine of Aragon. Henry was the king of England, but he had to follow the rules of the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman church said Henry could not divorce his wife. But Henry had a plan. He chose a [...]