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High Beginner (A1 High) Academic CEFR A1

The Silent Ocean of Kepler-62e

Duration

5 min read

Length

225 words

Story

3 paragraphs

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Story Excerpt

Sample preview reading passage

Paragraphs 1–2 of 3

Dr. Lena, a marine biologist, arrived on the alien planet Kepler-62e. The planet had a big, blue ocean, and she wanted to study its creatures. She had a small submarine, and she used it to go under the water. The ocean was very quiet, and she saw no fish or plants. She felt confused, and she wanted to find out why the ocean was empty.

Dr. Lena took water samples and looked at them with her microscope. She found tiny, glowing animals called plankton. They were everywhere, but they were very small. She also saw some strange, dark shapes on the ocean floor. They looked like rocks, but they moved very slowly. Dr. Lena thought, "These shapes are alive, but they do not move much." She watched them for many days, and she saw them eat the plankton. They were the only big animals in the ocean, and they were very quiet.

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Educational Objectives

Story Details

Grammar focus and learning objectives covered in this story.

Grammar Level

A1 · Past Simple, there was/were, conjunctions and, but, or

Learning Outcomes

Read a short story about a scientist on an alien planet and understand the main events.
Recognise and use the past simple form of common regular and irregular verbs.
Use 'there was' and 'there were' to describe past existence.
Connect ideas with 'and', 'but', and 'or' in simple sentences.
Answer comprehension questions about the story's characters and plot.

Grammar Focus

Past Simple: subject + verb-ed (regular) / subject + irregular past form

Use the past simple to talk about completed actions in the past. Regular verbs add -ed, while irregular verbs have special forms.

“ Dr. Lena, a marine biologist, arrived on the alien planet Kepler-62e.

Tip: Remember that irregular verbs like 'saw', 'took', and 'made' do not take -ed.

There was / There were + noun phrase

Use 'there was' with singular nouns and 'there were' with plural nouns to say that something existed or was present in the past.

“ The ocean was very quiet, and she saw no fish or plants.

Tip: Use 'there was' for one thing and 'there were' for more than one thing.

Conjunctions: and, but, or

Use 'and' to add information, 'but' to show contrast, and 'or' to show alternatives.

“ They looked like rocks, but they moved very slowly.

Tip: Place a comma before 'but' when it joins two long clauses.

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