It is 1932 in Billund, Denmark. Ole Kirk Christiansen is a carpenter. Nobody has money. Nobody buys a house.
So Ole makes wooden toys: a car, a yo-yo, later a duck. Children must play.
One day his son varnishes the ducks two times, not three. Ole says no. For a child, only the best is good enough. The son varnishes every duck again.
Ole's workshop burns two times. He builds it again. He names his company LEGO: "play well".
Every Journeva story exists at four levels — same plot, same characters, richer language each step. Here is how this one begins at each level.
A2 · ElementaryIn 1932 Ole Kirk Christiansen was a carpenter in Billund, a small village in Denmark. Times were hard, and nobody ordered a house. …
B1 · IntermediateIn 1932, in the Danish village of Billund, nobody was ordering a house. Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter, had a workshop and almost no work. …
B2 · Upper intermediateIn 1932, in the Danish village of Billund, nobody was ordering a house, and the carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen had a workshop and little work. …
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.
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Read it in a language you already know to check your understanding — every Journeva story is written in all five.