Podcast 149 - B1 (with a children's story at A1/A2 levels)

Carlos and his English (story for primary school children aged 8 to 10)

Story starts at 5:18

Three wise men

Christmas is not over yet! I know in some countries, such as the UK, Christmas Day comes, the 25th of December, and then Boxing Day, which is the 26th of December and then it seems like it's over. It's all finished! Well, as you may be aware, there are 12 days to Christmas if you live in western Europe or the United States of America. That means the 5th of January is, in fact, the last day of Christmas. And the 6th of January is referred to as Epiphany, which in Greek means to reveal or to show - it's the day that Christians celebrate as when Jesus was shown to the world.

In Spain, where I live, the 6th of January is a Bank Holiday, as we say in the UK. That means a national holiday, not just for schools but for all shops and businesses. The day before, traditionally, the Three Kings, also known as the Three Wise Men, arrived at Bethlehem to bring Jesus presents. This is celebrated in Spain by processions in the streets of major cities, towns and villages. The processions consist of decorated floats, which are tractors pulling brightly coloured carriages representing Christmas themes and themes from the Bible. It's a great favourite for children to watch. They enjoy catching the sweets and presents thrown by the Kings in the floats.

So, the following day is when fortunate children will wake up to presents left to them by the real Three Kings, who have visited the night before.

So today I'm going to offer you a children's story. It is, in fact, an illustrated book for learning English for children from 8 to 10 years old. The book is called Carlos and his English. It's about a Spanish boy of nine years old, who has difficulties with English lessons at school. His parents decide to send him to England to stay with his Aunt Mary and improve his English skills. But when Carlos arrives, he doesn't understand his aunt and so the adventure begins.

The dialogue is shown in the book exactly as it is - full of English mistakes made by Carlos. Therefore, the child reader/learner is invited to correct Carlos's English while they read. The idea is not that this is just another homework task but that the child reader can show off their superiority over the unfortunate Carlos by correcting his mistakes. Of course, the book provides the correct version at the end of the story.

Today, to celebrate Epiphany, I'm going to release the audio version of the book, so you can try to correct Carlos's mistakes as he makes them. The level is at A1 to A2. However, I invite you to buy this brightly illustrated book (written and illustrated by myself) for your children or a younger member of your family as much of the story will be better understood when the pictures are seen. I enclose a link here to a full synopsis of the book and a link to Amazon, where it can be bought.

So here is the audio version of my book: Carlos and his English...

The audio script is provided in the illustrated book, Carlos and his English...on all Amazon platforms.