The Selfish Giant (Part 1) The Beautiful Garden

In this gentle and relaxing episode of Quiet English with Jacque, we begin a new story: The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde.

Follow along as children discover a beautiful garden filled with soft green grass, blooming trees, and bright flowers. But one day, everything changes when the giant returns.

This episode is designed for intermediate English learners, with clear pronunciation, natural pacing, and simple, descriptive language to help you understand and enjoy the story.

Take a deep breath, listen closely, and let the story carry you.

✨ In this episode, you will learn:

• Nature vocabulary (garden, blossoms, grass)
• Descriptive language
• Emotional expressions

🎙️ Perfect for listening practice, relaxation, and improving your English naturally.

Stay with me for Part 2… where something unusual happens in the garden.

God bless.

Slow, kind, calm English for listeners everywhere.

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Thanks for listening. God bless.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

This is Jackie. How are you doing? My name is Jackie, and I am a voiceover artist. I love the English language. I love any language really, but English is my favorite since it's my first language. I have been an actress, a teacher, a mom. I have been a fundraiser, an event coordinator in my life. But today I'm going to give you the advantage of both my acting skills and my love for reading. Today we're going to start a new story. And last weekend my family celebrated Easter. Easter for my family means new life, the beginning, like spring. Therefore, I attempted to look for a story that felt to me like a new beginning. I found The Selfish Giant which was written by Oscar Wilde. Chapter one The Beautiful Garden Take a deep breath, relax, and listen carefully. Every afternoon when school was over, the children went to play in a large garden. It was a beautiful garden. The grass was soft and green, like a fresh carpet. Here and there bright flowers grew. They looked like stars resting on the soft green ground. And there were tall peach trees that in spring were covered with soft pink and white blossoms. When the wind moves through the trees the branches swayed gently, and the petals floated down like quiet snow. All the children love this garden. They ran across the grass, they laughed together, they played games and rested under the trees. How happy we are they said to each other, and it was true. They were very happy. But one day something changed. The owner of the garden returned. He was a giant. The giant had been away for a long time. He had been visiting his friend, a large ogre far away. For seven years he stayed there, but now he was home again. When the giant arrived he saw the children playing in his garden. What are you doing here? he cried in a loud, angry voice. The children stopped. They looked at the giant, and they were afraid. This is my garden, the giant said. No one can play here but me. The children ran away as fast as they could, and suddenly the garden became quiet. Very quiet. The next day the giant built a high wall all around the garden. It was strong and tall. No one could see inside, and on the wall he placed a sign. Do not enter. Trespassers will be punished. The giant was very selfish. Now the children had nowhere beautiful to play. They tried playing in the road, but it was dusty and hard. There were no trees, no soft grass, no flowers. They remembered the garden. They missed it very much. How happy we were there they said. And inside the garden something strange began to happen. The birds did not come out to sing. The trees forgot how to bloom, and the soft green grass slowly began to disappear. The garden was no longer full of life. It was waiting waiting for something to change. Thank you for listening to Quiet English with Jackie. In the next episode we will see what happens when the seasons stop and winter does not leave the garden. Until next time, take care. Please like and share this podcast. Please subscribe and leave me a message, and most of all, God bless.