My name is Matthew and I want to bring you
the news in easy English

About me

I’m Matthew and I was born and raised in New York. I grew up surrounded by people speaking different languages. I’ve been interested in learning and trying to speak foreign languages since then.

I lived in Germany for about 10 years, in Italy for about a year, and now I am in Japan. In Germany, I started my English teaching career and have been a professional teacher for more than 10 years now.

My interest in languages led me to learn German and Italian. I’ve also tried French, Spanish and Polish. I’m working on Japanese now!

In both my teaching career and my language studies, using the news has been important. The news is a great study tool for improving your language skills.

It can be difficult to find news at a level that’s good for practicing. That’s why I decided to start this site and write the news in easy English.

This website

I created this website to provide English learners and English teachers with the news in easy English. 

Using the news to practice English is a great way to learn useful vocabulary and get used to correct sentence structure. On my site, you can also listen to the news in easy English! So, please practice your listening skills, too!

For English learners, please find more advice on how to use the news to practice English in this post.

If you are an English teacher, you’re also welcome to use my material in your lessons. Just make sure to share a link to my site with your students and coworkers! You can have a look at some of my ideas for using news articles for English learners in your lessons here.

I have an advice page with information about language learning, other useful English material, and tests like IELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL and the Duolingo English Test.

Content

Most of the content on this site is news from popular news agencies around the world. I try to use different sources to add a variety of topics and viewpoints. I rewrite the news in easy English so you can practice comfortably and enjoy it.

The level of the news articles I write is usually around B1/B2 (CEFR). It is a good challenge for lower levels, and quick practice for more advanced levels. You can also find some easy news stories in level A2.

If you have any suggestions for the site, please feel free to send me a tweet or message on Facebook! I am always happy to hear from readers.

Methods for practicing with the news in easy English

Reading

I recommend reading the news article first. Try your best to understand everything. Below the news article is difficult vocabulary with easy to understand definitions. 

Please try to understand the difficult words in English first! If you can’t, you can use your favorite translation tool to find the words in your language.

After you understand the article in simple English on my site, try reading the original article. I always include a link at the bottom of the page to the original story. How much can you understand?

For extra practice, try reading the easy news article out loud. It will help build confidence in speaking and fluency. How do you sound? Try recording your voice!

Listening

Most of the stories have audio so you can practice listening, too. Try listening to the news in easy English while reading the story. Then, try listening without reading! Can you understand everything?

You can also try “shadowing.” This means listening to someone speak and repeating what they say. Try to speak along with the person reading the news!

For more detailed methods of using the easy news stories on my site to study, please read my post on how to practice English with news.

Do you have a favorite way to study using the easy news articles? Please, let me know! And for more help with English language learning, check my advice here.

Thank you again for using my site!

Enjoy the news in easy English!