The story on the right is created using the first 50 words from the New General Service List (NGSL 2800). These 50 target words are highlighted in blue. As you read the story, read the blue words aloud while reading the rest of the text silently. You can also listen to the complete story by clicking the play button located below the title. The audio can be adjusted to play at a slower or faster pace based on your preference. Following this story, you will find practice sets designed to help you reinforce and master these 50 NGSL words.
The Word Garden
In a certain village, Ananya, a curious girl, lived with her chatty parrot, Kiki. She loved adventures, but one sunny day, she stumbled upon a secret garden. “What is this place?” she asked. Kiki squawked, “It’s the Magic Word Garden! You can make it bloom if you practice special words.”
Ananya thought, “I want to try!” The garden had fifty dull flowers, each needing a word to shine. “Who will teach me?” she wondered. Kiki said, “We can do it! Go get the words by practicing with the village.”
So, they began. At the bakery, Mr. Sharma was tossing dough. “Do you have a word?” Ananya asked. He grinned, “Say ‘bake’ and ‘make’ as you knead dough with me!” Ananya tried, and the words sparkled, landing in her basket.
Next, at the school, Ms. Lakshmi taught, “Read ‘in’ and ‘of’ in a book.” Ananya read aloud, feeling the words glow. By the playground, kids shouted, “Run ‘to’ the slide, jump ‘on’ it!” Ananya joined, saying, “I’ll take ‘to’ and ‘on’!” Each word sparkled, filling her basket.
In the market, Old Ravi said, “Count apples ‘for’ me—one, two, three!” Ananya counted, adding ‘for’ and ‘one.’ At the park, kids played tag, yelling, “You’re ‘it’!” Ananya laughed, grabbing ‘it’ and ‘you.’ By the pond, she saw ducks and said, “They swim ‘there’!” adding ‘they’ and ‘there.’
Ms. Priya, planting flowers, shared, “Use ‘with’ and ‘by’ when you garden.” Ananya helped, and the words shone. At home, Kiki chirped, “Say ‘he’ or ‘she’ for friends!” Ananya practiced, naming pals, and ‘he’ and ‘she’ sparkled.
As Ananya moved through the village, she practiced more: ‘have’ when sharing, ‘not’ when refusing, ‘that’ for pointing, ‘we’ for teamwork, ‘this’ for showing, ‘I’ for herself, ‘do’ for tasks, ‘as’ for comparing, ‘at’ for places, ‘but’ for choices, ‘from’ for gifts, ‘will’ for promises, ‘or’ for options, ‘say’ for speaking, ‘so’ for reasons, ‘all’ for everyone, ‘if’ for dreams, ‘would’ for wishes, ‘about’ for stories, ‘can’ for trying, ‘which’ for picking, ‘more’ for extras, ‘get’ for finding, ‘who’ for asking, ‘like’ for loving, ‘when’ for timing, ‘think’ for ideas, ‘time’ for moments. Each word sparkled, filling Ananya’s basket.
Back at the garden, Ananya spoke each word with care. “Be kind!” she said, and a flower bloomed red. “Help one another!” and a yellow flower glowed. With all fifty words practiced, the garden burst into color. Kiki flapped, “Look at that! You learned them!”
The garden sang, “Words grow when you practice them!” Ananya realized practicing words builds confidence and joy. She vowed to keep sharing them.
From then on, Ananya and Kiki helped others practice words in the garden, making the village brighter and happier.