The Newsstand
Issue — February 2026
In this issue
18 lessonsA2 — Elementary
4 lessons- 2025 Big Stories: News Made Simple A friendly guide to the year's biggest headlines, retold in easy English.
- Everyday Idioms: Sayings You Hear Every Day Learn common English idioms that native speakers use every day with easy explanations and examples.
- News for Kids: Easy Reading Practice A new website makes world news simple and fun for young readers.
- Greetings from Around the World: How People Say Hello Discover how friends and family say hello in different countries
B1 — Intermediate
5 lessons- 2025 in Review: Big Headlines from Around the World A B1-level look at the stories that shaped our world this year.
- Science in 2025: Discoveries That Shaped the Year From distant galaxies to medical breakthroughs, scientists made remarkable progress this year.
- The Louvre Break-In How did thieves steal treasures from the world's most famous museum in broad daylight?
- Crisis in Sudan: A Nation Divided Millions of people are suffering as fighting continues in one of the world's largest humanitarian disasters.
- Talking About Culture: Topics for Real Conversations Learn how to discuss cultural practices, values, and traditions with confidence
B2 — Upper Intermediate
5 lessons- DeepSeek-R1: The Open-Source AI Model Shaking Up Big Tech A new Chinese AI system is challenging Silicon Valley giants and changing the rules of global technology competition.
- Accents and Identity: English Speakers from Five Continents How the way we speak tells the world where we're from
- Trade Wars Explained: How Tariffs Shape the Global Economy Understanding how trade policy decisions affect everyday prices and international relations around the world.
- Figurative Language Today: Modern Idioms in Use Discover how contemporary English speakers create vivid, expressive meanings through evolving idioms and slang that reflect our digital culture.
- Listening Challenge: News Stories at Your Level Test your listening skills with graded news stories designed for A1–B2 learners.
C1 — Advanced
4 lessons- AI in the Classroom: Reimagining Language Learning How artificial intelligence is transforming TESOL — and what it means for the future of education
- Renewable Energy Triumphs: The 2025 Scientific Breakthrough Explore why the rise of renewable energy was named 2025's top scientific breakthrough, with analysis of policy, technology, and global impact.
- Gene Editing's Promise and Peril: A 2025 Reckoning Scientists celebrate breakthrough therapies while ethicists sound alarms about the boundaries of human intervention
- The Origins of Spoken Language: What 2025 Taught Us Breakthrough research reveals how ancient genetic mutations and auditory adaptations enabled humanity's most unique ability.