ESL Reading Articles for Adults

Leveled reading with vocabulary and discussion questions, ready to teach with. Browse by level and topic.

New lessons every day.

Bright Holi color powders arranged in a circle of small dishes, from red and orange to green, blue, and purple.
New

Same Color, Different Story: Why Meanings Change Across Cultures

Culture & Everyday Life · Global

A common earthworm on soil, representing one of the terrestrial animal groups in which researchers found PHA-degrading enzymes.
TimelyNew

Some Animals Can Break Down Natural Bioplastic

Science & Nature · Germany

A painted lady butterfly rests on a purple flower; the species was among those represented by multiple range-shift records in the global study.
TimelyNew

Butterflies Are Moving Around the World

Science & Nature · Global

A fingerprint sensor on a smartphone, representing one common way a device can unlock a passkey.
New

Signing In With a Passkey

Technology · Global

A temporary tianguis fills a street on market day in Metepec, Mexico State.
New

Market Day in Mexico: The Tianguis

Culture & Everyday Life · Mexico

Outdoor exercise equipment stands in Banwol Lake Park in Gunpo, South Korea.
New

South Korea's Park Gyms Make Exercise Visible

Health & Wellbeing · South Korea

Leafy sauna whisks and herbal items are displayed inside a traditional Latvian pirts room.
New

Heat, Steam and Birch: Latvia's Pirts Tradition

Culture & Everyday Life · Latvia

Cyclists and local residents gather at the opening of a Christchurch cycleway section.
New

A Connected Ride: Inside Christchurch's Cycleway Network

Travel & Places · New Zealand

Indonesian rupiah banknotes from the 2022 series are displayed together.
New

Arisan: Saving Money Together in Indonesia

Culture & Everyday Life · Indonesia

Netherlands and Belgium women's field hockey players gather on a green hockey pitch.
TimelyNew

Hockey World Cup Across Two Countries

Sports · Belgium & Netherlands

Journalists work at desks in a large television newsroom.
TimelyNew

Which Disasters Reach the World News?

Culture & Everyday Life · Global

View down the aisle of a long-distance bus, with empty seats on both sides and soft light from the windows.
New

Unspoken Rules: The Psychology of Choosing a Seat on a Bus

Culture & Everyday Life · Global

Two bright red Parks Canada chairs look across the Red River at Lower Fort Garry.
New
B1 · Intermediate

Why Parks Canada Puts Red Chairs in Beautiful Places

Travel & Places · Canada

Close-up of an English-language Scrabble board mid-game, with tiles spelling out interlocking words.
New

The Strange Origins of Everyday English

Culture & Everyday Life · Global

An archival 2025 view of P&G Center Court during the Cincinnati Open.
TimelyNew

A Bigger Stage in Cincinnati: How a Combined 1000 Event Works

Sports · United States

A person uses WhatsApp on a smartphone outdoors.
TimelyNew

New WhatsApp Tools for Busy Group Chats

Technology · Global

The main street of Glenties in County Donegal, a town strongly associated with Ireland's TidyTowns competition.
New

TidyTowns and the Volunteer Effort Behind Irish Streets

Culture & Everyday Life · Ireland

Fossilized human footprints preserved at White Sands in New Mexico.
New

Ancient Steps at White Sands

Science & Nature · United States

A pedestrian corridor in Montréal's underground city network.
New

Walking Under Montréal

Travel & Places · Canada

A participant wearing colorful traditional clothing takes part in Davao City's Kadayawan Festival.
TimelyNew

Davao Celebrates Kadayawan 2026

Holidays & Festivals · Philippines

A Meituan food delivery rider travels through city traffic on a scooter in China.
New

Food Delivery Work in China

Work & Business · China

Gaelic football players compete in front of a large crowd at Croke Park in Dublin.
New

Gaelic Games: Big Crowds, Amateur Players

Sports · Ireland

A satellite view shows the enormous Mount Whaleback iron ore mine beside Newman in Western Australia.
New

Inside Australia's Fly-In, Fly-Out Work Life

Work & Business · Australia

A previous Brussels Flower Carpet fills the historic Grand-Place with a large colorful floral design.
TimelyNew

A Giant Flower Picture in Brussels

Holidays & Festivals · Belgium

The Silja Serenade ferry waits at Olympia Terminal in Helsinki before a Baltic Sea journey.
Students' favoriteNew

Across the Baltic Overnight: Weighing the Helsinki–Stockholm Ferry

Travel & Places · Finland & Sweden

An earlier-generation Google Pixel smartphone showing the company's distinctive horizontal camera design.
TimelyNew

When AI Disappears Into the Device: Google's Pixel 11 Strategy

Technology · United States

A flock of chickens inside a commercial poultry building.
TimelyNew

A Natural Molecule May Help Chickens Fight Bacteria

Health & Wellbeing · United Kingdom

A wooden walkway passes through mangrove forest in Demak, Central Java.
New

Mangroves Help Protect a Coast in Indonesia

Science & Nature · Indonesia

A large flat building roof covered with a bright reflective white surface.
New

Reflecting the Sun: How Cool Roofs Change Urban Heat

Science & Nature · United States

A black carrion crow stands with its body in profile.
New

How Crows Learned to 'Count' Their Calls

Science & Nature · Germany

Players take part in a badminton game on an outdoor court in India.
TimelyNew

Badminton's World Championships Come to New Delhi

Sports · India

An archival photograph shows residents walking through a flooded street in Calumpit, Bulacan.
TimelyNew

Philippines Pauses Housing Payments After Severe Weather

Work & Business · Philippines

A ringed seal rests on snow and ice.
New

Ringed Seals Balance Food and Polar-Bear Risk

Science & Nature · Canada

A round silicon wafer contains many small electronic chip designs.
New

Vietnam's Semiconductor Ambition Starts in the Classroom

Education · Vietnam

People gather mushrooms in a Swedish forest under the Right of Public Access.
New
B1 · Intermediate

Why Sweden Lets People Walk Across Privately Owned Land

Culture & Everyday Life · Sweden

Rows of small allotment garden plots beside a path in England.
New

The British Allotment: Where Food Growing Meets Community

Culture & Everyday Life · United Kingdom

NASA imagery shows a bright solar flare and material erupting from the Sun.
TimelyNew

NASA's PUNCH Makes a Sharper Solar-Storm Forecast

Science & Nature · United States

A close-up photograph of a dog's nose and face.
New

The Chemistry of Stress: What Dogs May Smell in Us

Science & Nature · United Kingdom

A filmmaker speaks during an earlier Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.
TimelyNew

Cinemalaya 22: Filipino Stories on the Big Screen

Holidays & Festivals · Philippines

A traveler holds a Suica card near an IC card reader at a Japanese railway station.
New

From Plastic Card to Phone: How Suica Became Everyday Infrastructure

Technology · Japan

A bridge crosses the DuPage River along the green Riverwalk in suburban Naperville, Illinois.
Students' favorite
B1 · Intermediate

Five U.S. Suburbs to Compare Before You Move

Travel & Places · United States

A person typing on a keyboard.

What Your Emails Say About You

Work & Business · International

Two people chatting and smiling while they eat lunch.

How to Make Small Talk with New People

Culture & Everyday Life · International

A business man talking on the phone.

The Quiet Decline of the Phone Call

Culture & Everyday Life · International

Scientists examine DNA sequencing results on an illuminated display.
C1 · Advanced

Latvia's Genome Reference: A Local Map for Precision Medicine

Health & Wellbeing · Latvia

A disc golfer throws from a tee during a tournament in California.
B1 · Intermediate

Disc Golf: When a Walk Becomes a Game

Sports · United States

Children gather around a mobile library truck in rural Tennessee in 1943.
B2 · Upper Intermediate

America's Bookmobiles: When the Library Comes to You

Culture & Everyday Life · United States

A full-size snooker table prepared for the beginning of a game.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

Snooker Returns to the China Open in Taiyuan

Sports · China

A young lunar impact crater photographed by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Timely
B2 · Upper Intermediate

A Rocket Stage Hits the Moon: An Accidental Experiment

Science & Nature · United States

Young Man in a Interview
B1 · Intermediate

Answering 'Tell Me About Yourself'

Work & Business · International

Thomas Müller smiles while wearing the red kit of Bayern Munich.
Students' favorite
B1 · Intermediate

Thomas Müller: The Chaos Genius of Empty Space

Sports · Germany

Two people in a relaxed interview setting, with the candidate leaning forward to ask a question.
B1 · Intermediate

Questions You Should Ask the Interviewer

Work & Business · International

A person in business clothing sitting thoughtfully before an interview panel.
B1 · Intermediate

Talking About Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Work & Business · International

A diverse group of professionals shaking hands at a conference table.
C1 · Advanced

Job Interviews Across Cultures

Work & Business · International

A laptop screen showing a video call interface, with a ring light and tidy desk visible.
B2 · Upper Intermediate

Video Interviews: Getting Comfortable on Camera

Work & Business · International

A wooden boardwalk crosses the open peatland at Clara Bog in County Offaly.
C1 · Advanced

From Turf to Restoration: Ireland's Changing Peatlands

Science & Nature · Ireland

A pale International Style residential building with rounded balconies in Tel Aviv.
B2 · Upper Intermediate

Tel Aviv's White City: Modernism in a Mediterranean Climate

Travel & Places · Israel

An Irish-language road sign marks the edge of a Gaeltacht area in County Kerry.
B1 · Intermediate

Inside Ireland's Gaeltacht: Where Irish Is an Everyday Language

Culture & Everyday Life · Ireland

Large colourful Tanabata streamers decorate a central street in Sendai.
Timely
B2 · Upper Intermediate

Sendai Tanabata Turns Shopping Streets into a Festival

Holidays & Festivals · Japan

A G:link tram stands at Helensvale station on the Gold Coast.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

Gold Coast Trams Reach Burleigh Heads

Travel & Places · Australia

People ride the covered Central–Mid-Levels Escalator in Hong Kong.
Students' favorite
B2 · Upper Intermediate

Hong Kong on Screen: When the City Becomes a Film Set

Entertainment · Hong Kong

Long, dark grains of northern wild rice are shown close up.
Brando's pick
B1 · Intermediate

Canada's Wild Rice: The Rice That Isn't Really Rice

Culture & Everyday Life · Canada

A child in remote Australia takes part in a School of the Air lesson using two-way radio around 1960.
C1 · Advanced

From Crackly Radios to Online Classrooms: Australia's School of the Air

Education · Australia

An Irish Cob stands with its handler in front of spectators at the Dublin Horse Show.
Timely
B2 · Upper Intermediate

Dublin Horse Show: Puissance, Tradition and a Very Irish Day Out

Sports · Ireland

Customers sit in booths beside a long counter inside the historic Wellsboro Diner in Pennsylvania.
B1 · Intermediate

The American Diner: Coffee, Chrome and a Seat at the Counter

Culture & Everyday Life · United States

A mirrored stage light and a festival-branded panel glow during the Festival Interceltique de Lorient.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

Lorient Goes Celtic: Ten Days of Music by the Sea

Holidays & Festivals · France

Dumpling Hut sits below steep green mountains on New Zealand's Milford Track.
B1 · Intermediate

A Bed in the Wild: New Zealand's Great Walk Huts

Travel & Places · New Zealand

A house cat looks directly at the camera while reaching forward with one paw.
Students' favorite
B1 · Intermediate

Canberra’s Cats Are Grounded: The 24-Hour Cat Rule

Science & Nature · Australia

A basket contains purple cauliflower, carrots, peppers and eggplant.
Brando's pick
B2 · Upper Intermediate

What Kind of Vegetable Are You? The Art of a Ridiculous Icebreaker

Culture & Everyday Life · International

The chairs of two Irish Citizens' Assemblies stand outside Dublin Castle at their 2022 launch.
C1 · Advanced

Can Ordinary Citizens Shape Irish Policy?

Culture & Everyday Life · Ireland

The blue track and seating areas of Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
Timely
B2 · Upper Intermediate

Birmingham 2026: Europe Meets on the Track

Sports · United Kingdom

An aerial performer hangs above a crowd during the Sziget Festival in Budapest.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

Sziget 2026: Budapest Builds a City of Music

Holidays & Festivals · Hungary

A small barangay health center stands beside a local road in Iriga City, Philippines.
B1 · Intermediate

Barangay Health Workers: Care Close to Home

Health & Wellbeing · Philippines

The modern glass building of Michi-no-Eki Oguni in Kumamoto, Japan.
B1 · Intermediate

Japan's Roadside Stations: More Than a Rest Stop

Travel & Places · Japan

Four adults walk together across a grassy area during a community health walk.
C1 · Advanced

Can Social Prescribing Reduce Loneliness in England?

Health & Wellbeing · United Kingdom

A New Zealand road sign displays the Māori place name Paekākāriki with its macrons.
B1 · Intermediate

Te Reo Māori in Everyday New Zealand

Culture & Everyday Life · New Zealand

Small holiday homes stand beside calm water and green trees in New Zealand.
B1 · Intermediate

A Bach by the Water: New Zealand's Simple Holiday Home

Travel & Places · New Zealand

A bright Perseid meteor crosses a star-filled sky above dark trees in West Virginia.
Timely
B2 · Upper Intermediate

The Perseids Return: A Dark-Sky Show in August

Science & Nature · United States

Large festival crowds fill Castlehill and the Royal Mile in central Edinburgh.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

Inside the Edinburgh Fringe: A City Becomes a Stage

Holidays & Festivals · United Kingdom

Passengers sit and stand inside a clean, modern train in the Seoul metropolitan transport system.
C1 · Advanced

How South Korea Is Supporting Shorter Working Hours

Work & Business · South Korea

The Milky Way and thousands of stars appear above trees and buildings near Lake Tekapo, New Zealand.
B2 · Upper Intermediate

How New Zealand Protects the Night Sky in Aoraki Mackenzie

Science & Nature · New Zealand

Visitors relax inside a modern Korean jjimjilbang with heated rooms and shared spaces.
B1 · Intermediate

Why Jjimjilbangs Are More Than Saunas in South Korea

Culture & Everyday Life · South Korea

Representatives gather beneath the ASEAN emblem during an ASEAN Day celebration in Jakarta.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

Why ASEAN Day Brings Southeast Asia Together Every August 8

Holidays & Festivals · Indonesia

Uniformed personnel carry the Ivorian flag during an Independence Day parade.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

How Côte d'Ivoire Is Preparing for Its 66th Independence Day

Holidays & Festivals · Côte d'Ivoire

Republic of Ireland women's national football players applaud after an international match.
B1 · Intermediate

How Women's Football Is Building a Larger Audience in Ireland

Sports · Ireland

A Latvian passport and electronic identity card rest on an open book.
C1 · Advanced

How Latvia Turned Its Identity Card into a Digital Key

Technology · Latvia

A small sari-sari store displays snacks, drinks and household products behind its front window.
B1 · Intermediate

Why Sari-Sari Stores Remain Important in Philippine Neighborhoods

Culture & Everyday Life · Philippines

Performers use illuminated props during a National Day Parade show inside Singapore's National Stadium.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

How Singapore Marks National Day at the National Stadium

Holidays & Festivals · Singapore

White doves fly above Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park during a memorial ceremony.
Timely
B2 · Upper Intermediate

Why Hiroshima Pauses at 8:15 Every August 6

Culture & Everyday Life · Japan

A classroom at Austin Community College’s Highland Campus.
C1 · Advanced

Why Many Americans Begin at a Community College

Education · United States

Brazil plays Panama at the 2025 FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup.
Timely
B2 · Upper Intermediate

How Futsal Shapes Brazilian Football

Sports · Brazil

QR code payment signs used for mobile payments in China.
B1 · Intermediate

How QR Codes Changed Everyday Payments in China

Technology · China

Several credit cards illustrate one part of the wider American credit-reporting system.
C1 · Advanced

Why Credit History Can Affect More Than Borrowing in America

Work & Business · United States

People participate in a neighbourhood Bon Odori summer festival in Japan.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

Why Obon Creates One of Japan's Busiest Travel Periods

Holidays & Festivals · Japan

People perform Radio-Taiso together at a public event in Japan.
B2 · Upper Intermediate

Can Three Minutes of Radio Exercise Support Healthy Aging?

Health & Wellbeing · Japan

The Toronto Reference Library interior with reading and study spaces.
B1 · Intermediate

Why Canadian Libraries Are Becoming Community Living Rooms

Culture & Everyday Life · Canada

A pickleball player practises a stroke while holding a paddle on an outdoor court.
B1 · Intermediate

Why Pickleball Appeals to So Many American Adults

Sports · United States

A community canteen in Beijing serves affordable cooked meals to older residents.
B2 · Upper Intermediate

How Community Canteens Support Older Adults in China

Health & Wellbeing · China

The Canadian flag flies above Vanier Park in Vancouver.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

Why Canada's August Holiday Has Different Names

Holidays & Festivals · Canada

Masqueraders in blue and yellow feathered costumes parade during Barbados’s Crop Over Festival.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

Why Barbados Ends Crop Over with Grand Kadooment

Holidays & Festivals · Barbados

A map of northern Spain showing the centerline and limits of the August 12, 2026 total solar eclipse path.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

How Spain Is Preparing for the August 2026 Solar Eclipse

Science & Nature · Spain

A film crew records a scene outdoors in Nigeria.
B2 · Upper Intermediate

How Nollywood Turned Local Stories into a Global Industry

Entertainment · Nigeria

A shop worker welcomes customers at the entrance of a British charity shop.
B1 · Intermediate

Why Charity Shops Are Common on British High Streets

Culture & Everyday Life · United Kingdom

Members of a South African stokvel count cash together in Alexandra Township.
C1 · Advanced

How Stokvels Turn Trust into a Financial System

Work & Business · South Africa

A traditional Swiss National Day bonfire in Geneva.
Timely
B1 · Intermediate

Why Switzerland Celebrates Its National Day on August 1

Holidays & Festivals · Switzerland

A technician processes donated human milk in Brazil.
Timely
B2 · Upper Intermediate

How Brazil's Human Milk Banks Support World Breastfeeding Week

Health & Wellbeing · Brazil

Developers working inside Ubisoft Montreal.
C1 · Advanced

Why Canada Became a Major Video-Game Development Centre

Entertainment · Canada

Adults study in a Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada class.
B1 · Intermediate

How Settlement Services Help Newcomers Build a Life in Canada

Culture & Everyday Life · Canada

Pedestrians cross a busy street in Tokyo.
B2 · Upper Intermediate

Why Walking Is Part of Everyday Travel in Japanese Cities

Travel & Places · Japan

Fresh vegetables displayed at a farmers' market.
B1 · Intermediate

Why Farmers' Markets Are More Than Places to Buy Vegetables

Culture & Everyday Life · Canada

A high-speed train at Xi'an North Railway Station.
B1 · Intermediate

How High-Speed Rail Changed Domestic Travel in China

Travel & Places · China

A player uses a computer in a professional gaming space.
B2 · Upper Intermediate

Why American Colleges Are Treating Esports Like a Campus Sport

Sports · United States

A young footballer practises close control on a training field.
C1 · Advanced

How English Football Academies Balance Training and Education

Sports · United Kingdom