Plain English Stories are about current events and trending topics. After listening to a Story, you can write a comment or a reaction to share with the Plain English team and other Plain English listeners.
✅ Story Discussions are available to members at the Plus+ level
What is a Story Discussion?
Plain English Stories are great resources for improving your listening and reading. They are about current events and trending topics. One major benefit of Plain English Stories is that they help you think in English.
After you finish listening, you can write a reaction to the story. Your reaction can be:
Sharing your opinion about the topic
Sharing a personal experience related to the topic
Sharing how things are similar / different in your country
Where to find it
First, find a Story that catches your interest. (See the full library of Stories here.)
Next, find the section called "Learn" and find the tab called "Talk about it":
Then, write your reaction in the box and press the blue "Post comment" button. You will receive an email for any response to your comment, either from the Plain English team or from other members.
Your comment will be visible to other Plain English Plus+ members and to those on a free trial. It will not be available to the public and it will not be visible in search engine results.
Why write a reaction
There are several reasons to write a reaction to a Plain English Story:
Engage with the topic: If you write about the topic, you engage your brain in English and you reinforce what you've learned.
Practice your writing: Writing a reaction is a great way to practice writing in an authentic, real-world context. You get to choose your own approach and can write whatever you like.
Tips and advice: We'll read your reaction and we may offer tips and advice for improving your writing in the future.
Connect with others: It's always fun to connect with others around a shared topic of interest. Now is your chance to do that in English!
Guidelines
You can write as much or as little as you like. Our only request is that you keep your comments respectful for a community of friendly colleagues. Our overwhelming experience is that Plain English Plus+ members are friendly, supportive, tolerant, and open-minded, even if we don't always agree. If any story reactions are not consistent with this spirit, we will remove the comments.