Pablo in the park
Learn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
Release Date: 06/29/2023
Learn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
Explore all episodes and download from the full library: Once Pablo had turned on the bench, he could feel his body almost swaying gently with the wind. And in his dream, he remembered more of the story. The story was about: How the wind slowly turning along with the shape of the land began to move it. It began to slowly move the land, millions of little particles at a time from one place to another. He remembered the story of how mountains were made, how rocks were turned, and how smooth edges would appear on cliff faces. How the wind moved the ocean across the rocks to make slow,...
info_outlineLearn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
Explore all episodes and download from the full library: As Pablo slept, a small snake slithered behind his chair and back into the long grass, slowly making its way through the field up the hill towards the lighthouse. It was almost as if it were listening to the wind. Pablo was fast asleep and could not hear the snake in the grass, but he could almost hear the wind in his dream as it moved slowly and softly. He turned over on the bench with his back facing the ocean and felt the wind gently sweep over him, swirl as it hit the top of the bench, and then move out across the grass and up the...
info_outlineLearn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
When Pablo was dreaming, he dreamt of a house. He'd been to this house before. It was a very beautiful house, and it had felt like a place that he knew was home, once, long ago. When he walked through the house, he was thinking, as he looked out the window, to try and see the open field below. But then suddenly he appeared in the kitchen, and he was sitting at the table, drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate. And while he was looking around in the dream, he suddenly thought something. He remembered a simple story somebody had once told him about two winds: A wind that moved slowly around the...
info_outlineLearn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
Pablo lay stretched out along the bench. His body relaxed. His legs extended. He closed his eyes. And once again… He drifted into sleep. In his dream, he could sense something moving. A strange wind. It moved across the land. Over the hills. Through the desert. Across the tops of a rainforest. Then down through a river gorge. Flowing toward the place where the river met the sea. And then… Out across the ocean. As it travelled over the water, it began to change. The air shifted. The wind turned slowly. Softly. As if it were alive. Circles began to form above the moving air. A second current...
info_outlineLearn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
Pablo walked slowly along a quiet path. He had taken off his shoes and socks earlier, leaving them behind near the rocks, choosing instead to walk barefoot. The path beneath his feet felt smooth. As if many people had walked it before him, shaping it gently over time. With each step, he could feel it softly pressing into the bottom of his heels, almost like a quiet massage. The surface was warm from the sun. He felt his toes against it. Grounded. Present. He felt free. Connected to the earth. Alive. A gentle breeze moved around him. He could smell small flowers he had never noticed...
info_outlineLearn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
When Pablo stood up again, he looked down to the valley below. The sand on his shoulders and arms blew off in the light breeze. The valley stretched quietly out below a wide basin of colour and sharrow. From where he stood he could see the deep reds, soft yellows and hints of blue and green. As if somehow someone had sprinkled wildflowers magically across the valley floor. As if the earth had somehow helped to paint its own little secret. The wind travelled up from the ocean, not harsh and not strong, just enough to move the air as the grass swayed back the other way in a long gentle hush....
info_outlineLearn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
The long grass moves slowly across the hill in wide rolling waves from the bottom up through the middle towards the top corner as if the land was almost breathing itself sweeping up towards the top of the hill and towards the lighthouse. Pablo stood for a moment struck by the sheer beauty of it. The hillside was alive. Thousands and thousands of blades of grass moving and rising together. It was almost as if someone was somehow guiding the movement like a conductor with invisible hands brushing across the surface of the hillside. He walked towards the edge of the old lookout platform and sat...
info_outlineLearn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
It was ancient looking, so ancient from where he stood. He couldn't make out the shapes that were carved into the sides. Though he imagined they could have been of creatures that may have clung there over time. Mollusks, large seashells from sea snails that had been worn by years of sea and wind over the time. You could just see at the very top a kind of strange spike up into the air that looked like it had some sort of lump inside it of some description. It wasn't quite straight as if it had been handmade somehow. It was difficult to see from here. He wondered what it was used...
info_outlineLearn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
When he looked up the hill, he could see a windy old road that climbed up slowly into the distance, meandering its way up towards what looked like a large cluster of trees, almost a forest in a way. He wondered why there wasn't a lighthouse here. The sea was blowing rough enough, and he knew this as the Shipwreck Coast. He had heard the stories. Surely there would have been a place for one up here somewhere. And then he turned towards the right, and there it was, a lighthouse perched high on top of the hill. It wasn't like anything he had seen before. It was older somehow, abandoned as...
info_outlineLearn English by audiobook or video with Cullen at eattmag.com
Pablo climbed carefully up the steps, his feet searching for the worn holes in the rocks. The stone was cold beneath his skin, his feet almost wrapped around each rock as he slowly made his way to the top, every now and then brushing against a sharp shell. He moved slowly, feeling each step, grabbing the next rock as he finally reached the top. And there at the top, the ghost of an old platform. The wood was faded by the sun, it had been made of old railway sleepers that had been bound together very carefully, somehow the whole structure hanging there. On the right hand side a large...
info_outlinePablo sat down on the stool in the kitchen and closed his eyes to think back for a moment.
He remembered a few weeks ago being in the park near his apartment, sitting on a bench in the sun and noticing a small blackbird. “It can’t be the same one,” he thought.
Then he remembered that was the day it rained.
He had gone for a walk, turned his phone on silent, and sat on a park bench.
One of his teachers had told him years ago that he should improve his skills in observation. So, when it rained, he stayed on the bench with his rain hat and raincoat for a few minutes, observing the people running through the park to get out of the rain.
When he saw a little bird, a little bird that liked to jump around. He seemed to love the rain, unlike the people running in all directions. And sometimes he made an exciting chirp when he flew up high and down low quickly.
Pablo wondered if he loved the rain because there were fewer people around and therefore he could jump around everywhere.
Pablo opened his eyes and smiled at the memory. He decided to go back to the park and see if he could find the little bird again. He grabbed his raincoat, just in case, and headed out the door.
As he walked through the park, he looked around for the little bird. He saw many other birds, but not the one he was looking for. He sat down on a bench and waited, hoping the little bird would appear.
After a while, he heard a familiar chirp and looked up to see the little blackbird hopping around on a nearby tree branch. Pablo smiled and watched as the bird flew from branch to branch, chirping happily.
Pablo felt grateful for this moment of peace and connection with nature. He sat there for a while longer, watching the bird and enjoying the beauty of the park.
In today's English lesson—listen to the first sentence
“Pablo sat down on the stool in the kitchen and closed his eyes to think back for a moment.”
“In this sentence, we have two new vocabulary words: ‘stool’ and ‘moment’. A ‘stool’ is a type of chair without a back or arms, often used in kitchens or bars. A ‘moment’ is a very short period of time.”
“Can you use the words ‘stool’ and ‘moment’ in your own sentences? For example, ‘I sat on the stool at the bar and ordered a drink’ or ‘I only need a moment to finish this task.’”
“He remembered a few weeks ago being in the park near his apartment, sitting on a bench in the sun and noticing a small blackbird. ‘It can’t be the same one,’ he thought.”
“In this sentence, we have two new vocabulary words: ‘
An ‘apartment’ is a type of housing where people live in individual units within a larger building. A ‘bench’ is a long seat for several people, often found in parks or public places
Practice using the new vocabulary: “Can you use the words ‘apartment’, ‘bench’, and ‘blackbird’ in your own sentences?
For example, ‘I live in an apartment building with many other people’ or ‘I sat on the bench and watched the people walking by.’”
Play the lesson again and listen carefully
Then test your English and try to remember the answers to these questions.
Then test your English
-
“Where did Pablo go for a walk?”
-
“What did Pablo see in the park?”
English language exercises
Can you retell the story in your own words?
Can you write a continuation of the story?
Why is the importance of observation, appreciation of nature and mindfulness important