This article was updated in October 2025. It contains some affiliate links (which means that if you subscribe through them, I will earn a small commission with no additional cost to you). Affiliate links are marked with *.

I’m a big fan of stories — reading them, watching them, writing them, you name it. So it’s not surprising that I’ve wanted to incorporate them into my language learning and teaching. That is, of course, after I realised that it’s not only possible but also practical and highly beneficial. And by “stories” I don’t mean short scenes and dialogues from textbooks but either real-life content (such as books or TV series) or graded reading or listening materials designed in such a way as to draw you into the story that is either compelling or relevant to you (or both!).

Below are some examples of what I mean by learning through storytelling from the work of language teachers I’ve had the pleasure to study or interact with — and my own! Because I’m drawing from my personal experience, the examples come from only a handful of languages, but hopefully, you’ll get the gist of what I’m talking about.

Stories for complete beginners? Yes, please!

The ultimate resource of story-based learning from scratch is StoryLearning by Olly Richards* and his collaborators. Olly offers complete courses in several languages — some of them for beginners only, others with a full spectrum from beginner to advanced.

I’ve had the pleasure of taking the German Uncovered* beginner course created by Kerstin Cable of Fluent Language together with Olly, and I must admit it’s extremely well-structured and thorough. It covers all sides of language learning: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, reading, listening and writing — only the speaking part you have to take care of yourself, but there are exercises and topics to follow with your tutor or language partner. And at the same time, it’s based entirely on an entertaining story divided into 20 chapters.

Olly’s company also publishes graded books for beginner and intermediate learners, so you have many storytelling bases covered, even if you are a complete beginner.

There is another approach, which I also categorise as storytelling-based, and which works for complete beginners, too. This one I also tried and tested myself (although, admittedly, I wasn’t a complete beginner but a false beginner with a leg-up for being a native Slavic speaker). What I’m talking about is the Russian course by Vladimir Zhalibo, which is based on podcasts, written and recorded by Vladimir in a conversational style. Again, the vocabulary and grammar parts are based on the stories from the podcasts and speaking is at the heart of the program, as group and individual conversation sessions are a part and parcel of it.

Both these approaches are based on Stephen Krashen’s comprehensible input, and both, as Krashen suggested, make sure that the input is not only comprehensible but also compelling. Where they differ most is the fact that German Uncovered is based on one carefully crafted story — a typical “written” story with accompanying audio — while Vladimir’s podcasts are separate entities covering various aspects of reality, recorded as a friendly banter with accompanying transcripts.

Both these courses are excellent examples of how you can learn a foreign language from scratch using stories from the very first lesson.

Story-inspired conversations for intermediate students

Now, since we progressed immensely and we can now call ourselves intermediate students, we are onto what I love the most — conversations about books, films and TV series!

For a few years, my chief example came from my favourite resource discovered during the first pandemic lockdown: the Language TV Club. Sadly, the club disbanded in 2024, but its premise — watching a TV series in your target language, one or two episodes per week, with the questions and vocabulary prepared beforehand by the tutor, and then joining a group discussion — has been practised one way or another by several teachers (some who were involved in the Language TV Club and some who weren’t).

Films, books, and TV series I watched (and podcasts I listened to) are one of my favourite topics of conversation (ask my friends about all the true crime shows I told them about…). I also firmly believe that there is a great benefit in talking to other non-native and non-fluent speakers when we learn a new language. Combine the two, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for an ideal language-learning activity: film and book conversation clubs.

Watching a movie or a series (or reading a book) in your target language is an adventure and challenge in itself, but if at the end of it you plan to talk about it with a group or with a teacher during a one-to-one class, it adds a completely different dimension to it. You are more present and focused, you prepare what you want to say, you follow the questions or instructions, and you listen to others and formulate your own thoughts — and before you know it, you’ve learned heaps. (I’ve actually used this word for the first time. I learned it from an Australian TV series I was translating into Polish. Am I even using it correctly? Is it an Aussie word? Someone please tell me!)

If you are learning Polish, I’d like to invite you to my Polish TV Club. It will follow the tested and trusted formula: three weeks, three 90-minute group classes, a series of six episodes (two episodes a week), and a workbook with questions and vocabulary you’ll receive a week before each class. And, of course, a small group of like-minded people to chat about the series with! Join the waitlist to be first to know when the next club open its doors.

If you are learning Italian on an upper-intermediate level, I wholeheartedly recommend Irene’s Italian Book Club for Solo Readers at Love Live Italian, which I have been a part of on and off for a few years. You do the reading solo, a.k.a. in your own time, and then you gather once a month to discuss the part of the book you’ve been reading. It’s delightful and, actually, dare I say, soul-nourishing because there is no better feeling than realising that you’ve just read a book that you seemed way out of your linguistic level (like Elena Ferrante’s “My Brilliant Friend”, in my case). Also, once you are visiting Irene’s website, sign up to the waitlist for her film discussion club. Can’t wait for this one to start!

(And if you happen to be learning German and get the feeling of “crumbs! I wish I could do this as well!”, fear not. Contact Etai at Etai’s Corner — he may have a German TV Club running).

Not a fan of speaking in a group or find it difficult to make space in your unpredictable schedule? I’ve got you covered for Polish and Italian again!

If you are an intermediate and higher learner of Polish, join me for a 3-week completely asynchronous programme “Let’s Read & Chat”, where you read three short stories by Olga Tokarczuk, get the workbook with advanced vocabulary and grammar points, as well as questions to discuss with me through voice messaging. It’s the ideal option if your life is “lifing” unpredictably or your time zone doesn’t match with classes you’d like to attend.

And if you are learning Italian and love Commissario Montalbano (who doesn’t?!), you need to get yourself to the All About Italian website and contact Elfin about her Coffee Break with Montalbano programme, where you’ll be talking about episodes from the series about the Sicilian detective, pronto.

Listening to stories for intermediate learners

This is a big one because if we want to speak in a foreign language, we need to be adept at listening, too. (To be honest, that applies to any communication, in any language, including our mother tongue — but that’s a different topic).

In my subjective opinion, the best source of stories is the varied and colourful world of podcasts: the ones designed for language learners, but also — if your level of understanding the language is upper-intermediate (or you are comfortable with feeling a bit out of your depth now and then) — podcasts aimed at native speakers, in a genre that is particularly interesting to you. An example? I very much like listening to podcasts in Czech: about true crime, like this one, and about dog behaviour, like this one. I also listen to native content in Italian, and of course in English and Polish. I love podcasts and audiobooks. They accompany me everywhere, whenever my full attention is not required (so not when I’m writing, for example!).

What I also love about podcasting is that it has this “old-time internet” vibe. Podcast apps are not governed by discovery algorithms (yet! I truly hope it won’t happen), and small shows are still likely to get discovered if you are searching for a particular topic.

I will recommend two things here: the first is a podcasting app that is excellent for filtering your search by language. That’s why I started using it, and I’ve stuck with it since. Unfortunately, it works on Android only, so if you’re an iPhone user, you may need to do your own search which apps work best for this purpose. It’s called Podcast Addict, and you can find it in the Play Store here.

And the second recommendation is for learners of Polish: my very own podcast, Polish Stories for intermediate+ learners who love books, films, stories about interesting people and places, as well as honest conversations about all things language. And if you want downloadable transcripts, you can get them here.

Creativity, writing and playing with language

And if, on top of being a story lover, you are also a creative soul, a poet, a painter (even an amateur one!), and you are learning Italian, you just have to get to know Silvia Perrone of Italearn. Silvia is taking the storytelling concept to a completely new level, helping students to unleash their creativity and find their own words in Italian through her interactive books. They are poetic, engaging, and beautiful, so if you’re learning Italian, do check them out.

And that’s all for today. I hope I inspired you to think about incorporating storytelling into your language learning, regardless of the language(s) you are studying now! (Especially Polish and Italian, of course…)

You may also like:

Why talking to non-native speakers is good for your language learning

Learning languages through storytelling was originally published in Language Stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This article was updated in October 2025.

I must admit I’ve never been a fan of talking to random strangers about general topics. I also don’t like repeating myself, re-living the reasons why I started learning a particular language, where I live and whether I visited this or that country. Also, after years of living in London, UK, I realised I hated talking about the weather.

Don’t get me wrong — repetition has a very valid place in language learning but what you need to do is to use and re-use the same words and phrases but in different order and context. Also, ideally, you would use them in contexts that are relevant to you and your life and interests. That sounds like a pretty tall order when you are an intermediate speaker with fairly limited vocabulary and definitely limited self-confidence (hello, intermediate plateau! …It can’t be only me, right?). But bear with me on that.

There is another elephant in the room, as far as speaking practice is concerned — if we want to improve our command of the language, should we only talk to native or fluent speakers? Well, I’ll tell you straight away: no. And it’s a big “no” in my humble opinion.

Talking to people who are on a similar level as you helps you open up and chat without the shame of being “less than” (which many of us feel, although we know it’s unhelpful and untrue); talking to people who are a bit more advanced than you allows you to pick new phrases and ways of expression; and talking to people whose level is lower than yours puts you in a mentoring position which, frankly, is the best way to learn. (If you want to really internalise something, teach it to someone else.)

Also, making friends with folks who learn the same language as you is fun! And why are we learning foreign languages in the first place? Unless we need them for work, school or relocation, we probably do it for fun (and if you’re reading this blog, I bet you are a language geek who thinks learning languages is the best pastime ever, right?).

So where do we find people who share our interests and the languages we learn? Well, I can’t exactly tell you where to go if you are a Swahili-learning chess player (sorry!), but I can give you an example that will hopefully inspire you to look around. And if you are a TV series-loving learner of Polish, then sit back and read, as I’ve got a recommendation just for you.

What would you say to this? For a month, you commit a couple of hours a week to watching one or two episodes of a cool TV series on Netflix (you can watch with subtitles if you want — in the target language or your fluent one), you prepare some thoughts with the help of a comprehensive show guide you receive in advance, and on weekend you meet online for 90 minutes with a group of fellow learners and binge-watchers led by a teacher to chat about the episodes you all have watched this week.

Sounds fun to you? If so, head over to Polish Stories and sign up to the waiting list for the next edition of the Polish TV Club.

Learning German? Contact Etai at Etai’s Corner — he may have a German TV Club running. Italian, anyone? Sign up for Irene’s waitlist at Love Live Italian — the more, the merrier! I’m waiting for this one to open :) And once you’re there, check out her Book Clubs too… because talking about books is an equally engaging activity (with an added bonus of a reading practice!).

You may also like this:

Learning languages through storytelling

Why talking to non-native speakers is good for your language learning was originally published in Language Stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Sometimes there is a time when you struggle with stringing words together. For me, it’s the pandemic. Being under intermittent house arrest for a year with no ability to do the only thing that helps my mental health — travel — is probably the most challenging time in my life. But that’s not what I want to write about today.

Being mentally unable to write something new, I turned towards working with what I’ve already written before. Sometimes the opportunity came thanks to an amazing soul whose lockdown projects involved sending words of other people out into the world. Such was the background o “The Tip of the Iceberg” anthology curated by Trisha Traughber. On other occasions, I created these opportunities myself.

From 2019 until the subsequent lockdowns in the UK disrupted everyone’s life, I used to visit my local arts centre to print postcards and zines with my poetry on a risograph press. I didn’t have a clear idea of what to do with them. There were some loose talks about an exhibition locally but then the pandemic happened. In the end, I put them aside somewhere deep in the bottom of my wardrobe.

A couple of months ago though, while scrolling through Etsy I found quite a few poetic and artistic zines created by others. Why keep mine buried under my clothes then? Long story short, that’s how my Etsy shop happened— which at the moment is selling two risograph-printed zines, four postcards and a digital pamphlet about my journey through grief after my Dad passed away.

I will be honoured if you, dear Reader, stop by and have a look. Maybe it will inspire you to search your local area for risographs — it’s such a fun, satisfying way to create prints, whether they are words or illustrations or both.

See you soon when the sun shines on us again and words start flowing (maybe.)

Keep reading…

• Visitors
• April

Printing words in colour was originally published in 365 Days of Poetry by Gosia Rokicka on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

As I probably mentioned before, I started learning German to test my ability to learn a foreign language from scratch as a self-guided learner, to engage with my heritage language (one of my great-grandmas was German) and to be able to argue my way out when I get into a kerfuffle on a German train which happened to me pretty much every time I was on a German train. (A half of a cup of tea for a full price from a tea-trolley-man? A local train to Duisburg instead of an international one to Amsterdam? No ticket for a dog? Yeah, me too.)

So today I’d like to share with you some resources I’ve been using and tell you what works for me and why. And if you are a similar type of learner as I am, maybe you’ll find them useful.

A note of warning

“A self-guided learner” is not someone who learns completely on their own, choosing textbooks at random and building their own learning plan from scratch, not knowing what is actually useful (for them or in general) which results in chaos and jumping from one book to another, from a podcast to a YouTube video and so on. At least not as I understand it. To me, a self-guided learner is someone who chooses their own guiding resource and a limited number of complementary resources and decides their own routine; someone who doesn’t have a teacher to tell them how and when to study but does find a tutor (or tutors) to assist them in achieving goals.

Testing the waters

When I decided to start learning German I wanted to check whether it was a language for me, so to speak — whether I felt a connection and actually wanted to learn more than a bare minimum. At this stage, I didn’t want to spend money but I also wanted something structured rather than a bunch of YouTube videos titled “German for absolute beginners.”

My local library has a stock of Pimsleur audiobook courses in various languages (albeit nothing beyond level 1) — German being one of them. I probably wouldn’t want to spend money on it as the method doesn’t sit with me too well — I need to see how words are written and I need to understand the grammar behind sentence structures — but as a free library loan, it was a perfect starting point.

Pimsleur courses are divided into half an hour audio lessons during which you learn words and phrases. They are structured in a way that you keep reviewing material you’ve encountered before with a well-designed spaced repetition. If you are familiar with looking for language patterns, you are able to figure out quite a lot of grammar on your own too.

After completing German Level 1 I made my decision: yes, it is a language for me; yes, I want to continue; now I need to find a resource that really resonates with me.

Don’t get me wrong — Pimsleur works. It’s also very enjoyable, easy to fit within a daily routine and strangely satisfying. But it’s not ideal for me for a few reasons: I’m a grammar nerd, I need grammar explanations and that’s it; I’m a visual learner, I remember vocabulary better if I see it written; English is not my mother tongue and although now I use English more than I do Polish, when learning another language I prefer to have Polish as the medium. (But now I’m going through Pimsleur Russian Level 1 so you know… I still recommend it in a way!)

My guiding resource

A guiding resource is a self-guided learner’s best friend: a comprehensive tool that encompasses all skills (reading, listening, reading and writing), explains the grammar and introduces new vocabulary in a coordinated way. It needs to allow you to self-pace while at the same time prompting you to come back regularly. Yeah, I know, a lot to ask for.

But actually, choosing one was a no-brainer for me. German Uncovered by Kerstin Cable and Olly Richards ticks all the boxes. It’s a self-paced story-based course which covers the material from an absolute beginner to B1 level. I’m half-way through at the moment and I’m absorbing a lot of language with every lesson.

Each chapter is structured in the same way: a part of an intriguing story to read, graded for an appropriate level with accompanying audio; a video lesson about English/German cognates and an English translation of the story; a video about new vocabulary with a worksheet with additional explanations and exercises; a video about grammar with a worksheet as well; a short video addressing a specific pronunciation point with exercises; and a speaking worksheet with tasks to practice with your tutor or a German speaker.

It’s really full-on but also fun and structured in a way that makes it easy to organise your studies in well-defined chunks. In the introductory video, Olly recommends doing two chapters a week — to me it’s way too much. It takes me about 4 days to go through one chapter but then everyone is different, has different amounts of time and personal goals. It is definitely doable to complete two chapters a week if you’re a full-time German learner.

There is this interesting aspect of learning German through English here as well but, unlike in the case of Pimsleur, it doesn’t bother me too much. While watching pre-recorded lessons I am able to pause when I need to think how certain things work in Polish (let’s face it, noch and schon translate better into Polish than English!) but actually, being able to think about German in two languages is helpful, especially as far as cognates are concerned.

Complementary resources

What German Uncovered doesn’t offer is a live element which would allow you to practice speaking. There are exercises, however, so what you need to do is to find a tutor or a language partner to practice. At the moment the course is heavily discounted (Black Friday anyone?) and one of the bonuses offered is a little black book of German tutors in which Kerstin recommends teachers who she personally knows and who are familiar with the German Uncovered methodology.

I found my tutor on italki though. I figured I didn’t need a professional teacher for my study goals at the moment and a friendly community tutor would be perfect — and she is. Ideally, I’d like to have a half-our conversation practice every week but I’m lagging behind a bit. Mostly because German is not the only language I’m currently learning! But in general, I do recommend italki wholeheartedly — you can find true teaching gems there.

Another resource I absolutely love is Easy German — YouTube channel and podcast. I’m big on podcasts in general so I’m really pleased the Easy German team entered this scene as well! At the moment I’m not a regular user because studying with German Uncovered takes up the most of my German study time but once I finish the course I’m sure I will be binging on Easy German. Its founder, Janusz, is originally from Poland so he’s a big inspiration for me!

This month I also tried a completely different approach with the Translation Cubed Challenge by David Martin. I must admit I’m very much behind due to the lack of time but luckily, the access to the challenge doesn’t expire and I’m determined to pick up where I left off next month. It’s a very interesting method based on translation and back translation and as a translator myself, I feel very much at home with it. I also love the authentic materials that David chose for this project — I even found my favourite German music through it!

Last but not least, another fabulous companion is 30 Day Speaking Challenge which I talked about previously so won’t go into details this time. I participated in it mostly in Italian but in December I’m aiming to record myself speaking German.

Grammar books & dictionaries

I mentioned being a grammar nerd, right? I also mentioned that I prefer to learn foreign languages through the medium of Polish. So it comes as no surprise that my favourite grammar textbook comes from Poland, from the absolute best publishing house, Edgard. Every language book and resource they publish is simply brilliant so if you happen to be Polish, don’t look any further.

Leo, my indispensable dictionary is multilingual — I use it as a Polish<>German dictionary but you can pick another source language. I actually find the web-based version slightly confusing but the app is unbeatable (I’m an Android user but I’m sure it exists for iOS as well.) Apart from translation, Leo offers recorded pronunciation and conjugation tables which are very useful.

There are plenty of other fantastic resources for German learners — challenges, YouTube channels, podcasts… And I feel bad for not mentioning those that I also like very much but the point of this post is to tell you what works best for me — and this is it.

Viel Spaß mit Deutsch!

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links which means that if you click through them and make a purchase, I will earn a commission from the seller at no additional cost for you.