It is the 1940s. Edson is a boy in Bauru, in Brazil. His family is poor. He has no ball.
He fills a sock with old paper. This is his ball. He kicks it in the street every day.
He also works in tea shops. At fifteen he is in a big club. At sixteen he is in Brazil's team.
It is 1958. Edson is seventeen. In the World Cup final he scores twice. The world knows his name: Pelé.
Every Journeva story exists at four levels — same plot, same characters, richer language each step. Here is how this one begins at each level.
B1 · IntermediateEdson Arantes do Nascimento, whom the world knows as Pelé, was born on 23 October 1940 and grew up in Bauru, Brazil. …
B2 · Upper intermediateThe ball was a sock. In the 1940s, in the streets of Bauru, Brazil, a boy called Edson Arantes do Nascimento stuffed it with newspaper, since his family could not afford a real one. …
Read the whole story at A2, B1 and B2
In the app you can tap any word for its meaning, listen to the story read aloud with the words lighting up, and save words to practise later. Ten stories are free at every level, and every story is free at A1.
Get Journeva on the App Store
Read it in a language you already know to check your understanding — every Journeva story is written in all five.