This fourth season of Simple Stories in Spanish is focusing on celebrations. Oaxaca, México is best known for its celebration of Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead. However, there is another festival in Oaxaca that bears mentioning: La Noche de Rábanos, or Night of the Radishes. This colorful evening of radish and vegetable sculptures is a feast for the eyes as professionals and amateurs alike compete to make the best radish sculpture. This story is told in the both the present and past ...

La Noche de Rábanos

Simple Stories in Spanish is a weekly production of the Small Town Spanish Teacher. Listen along as she tells easy to understand stories to help you learn or practice the Spanish language. Wherever you are in your language journey, Simple Stories will help propel you forward. You can find transcripts of the stories at smalltownspanishteacher.com. You can support the creation of these stories by buying me a coffee (or taco!) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SpanishTeacher

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Hector is the king of a distant kingdom. He has one daughter who he wants to see married to a strong knight before he dies. Laura, his daughter, has no interest in marrying. She just wants to read and study to become a novelist. Hector turns to Fausto the wizard to enchant his daughter into marrying a valiant knight.This story is in the third person and the past tense. It also includes complex grammar in the form of the conditional and past subjunctive tenses. Important vocabulary in the stor...

La princesa Laura

Many kings and queens are given nicknames along with their titles. Juana was the third child of Isabel and Fernando “the Catholics”. Her nickname, “la loca”, or “the crazy one” came from her dramatic outbursts, often related to her husband, Felipe “the Handsome”. The question remains, was Juana really loca? Or was she the victim of circumstances and manipulations well out of her control?This story is told in the third person and the past tense. Important vocabulary in the story includes: “her...

Juana "la Loca"

“Inca” or “Sapa Inca” is the title given to the kings of the Incan Empire. The incas did not have a written language, rather they had a rich oral tradition. Due to the lack of records, it is hard to know when exactly the Incan state, Tahuantinsuyo began. However, oral tradition tells of the Sun God, Inti, and his desire for a civilized people in the Andes mountains. He sent his son, Manco Capac, to make that dream a reality. Thus Manco Capac became the first Inca.This story is told in the thi...

El primer Inca

Sign Language is a beautiful form of communication. For many years, the Deaf community was denied education, in large part because of Aristotle. Thankfully, many people recognized the ability of deaf people to communicate using signs. Sign Language became documented and standardized. However, due to dictatorship and revolution, in 1980s Nicaragua, sign language didn’t really exist. So, a group of deaf students created their own language from nothing.This story is told in the third person and ...

El nacimiento de una lengua

In their attempts to convert the native peoples of the Americas to Christianity, Catholic missionaries destroyed many elements of preHispanic cultures, including their books. The mayan culture in particular had hundreds, if not thousands, of books and documents concerning mythology, astronomy, history and religion. Thankfully, one person thought to record this information and hid it. That book, El Popol Vuh, was found and preserved by a sympathetic friar. Today you can even read it online.Thi...

La Noche de Rábanos

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