ForeignLanguage Graded Readers2.1 - App Store

Read for pleasure at your level and learn a foreign language the fun way! Teach Yourself Short Stories by Olly Richards is a series of easy graded readers for adult and young adult language learners. Featuring eight unmissable short stories for beginners, high-beginners and intermediate learners, the series is available in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian and English.

“Olly's top-notch language-learning insights are right in line with the best of what we know from neuroscience and cognitive psychology about how to learn effectively. I love his work - and you will too!” - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers

Expand your vocabulary and improve your comprehension in an enjoyable and natural way: Read in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian or English and improve your language learning skills!

The Short Stories collection is designed to give you a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment!

Each foreign language reader gives you:
. Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making learning fun, while you acquire a wide range of new vocabulary
. Controlled language at your level, including the 1000 most frequent words, to help you progress confidently
. Authentic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability
. Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way
. Vocabulary lists so you can quickly look up unfamiliar words without interrupting your flow.
. Chapter summaries and comprehension questions to help you follow the plot and understand the story.
. Enjoyment! It's much easier to learn a new language when you're having fun, and research shows that if you're enjoying reading or listening in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - “It's too hard!” “I don't understand!”

The Beginners collection is for students from high-beginner to low-intermediate level (A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference).
Intermediate is for low-intermediate to intermediate learners (B1-B2)! You can also purchase a sample to read a story before you buy the full collection.

Discover the joy of being entertained in a foreign language, while learning new skills at the same time - Short Stories for Beginners in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian or English!

These stories are Ideal for self-study, as well as in the classroom as supplementary learning material. If you are interested in using this content with your students, contact learningsolutions@teachyourself.com

What the experts say:
“As researchers in language acquisition, we need to study people like [Olly Richards]”. -Stephen Krashen, Emeritus Professor, University of Southern California

“Olly's advice on language learning is the real deal, and I recommend you pay attention to what he has to say!” - Benny Lewis, Fluent in 3 Months

“When we wanted to create a free online course on how to learn a language we asked Olly to write it with us”. - Dr Tita Beaven, The Open University

“Learning a language is challenging, but it's one of the best things you can do for your brain and your learning skill set... Olly Richards is doing some seriously incredible work to empower more and more people to rise to the challenge”. - Jonathan Levi

“Olly bridges the gap between theory and practice by helping you to use scientific principles to get real results with your language learning”. - Anthony Metivier, Magnetic Memory Method

Version History This update includes performance enhancements and minor bug fixes to ensure the app runs smoothly. 2.1 Aug 5 This update includes performance enhancements and minor bug fixes to ensure the app runs smoothly. 2.0 Mar 3 This update includes performance enhancements and minor bug fixes to ensure the app runs smoothly. 1.9 Feb 4 This update includes performance enhancements and minor bug fixes to ensure the app runs smoothly. 1.8 08/20/2025 Enhanced Stability: Improved app performance and reliability for a smoother experience.
Bug Fixes: Resolved various issues to ensure better functionality. 1.7 06/23/2025 Stability improvements.
Bug fixes. 1.6 01/22/2025 Bug fixes.
Stability improvements. 1.5 04/23/2021 Bug fixes.
Stability improvements. 1.4 04/21/2020 Bug fixes.
Stability improvements. 1.3 10/19/2019 Improved performance
Bug fixes 1.2 04/10/2019 Bug fixes and stability improvement. 1.1 10/11/2018 1.0 09/07/2018