Graded News for Language Learners

Graded news takes real journalism and adapts it into multiple difficulty levels. Instead of struggling with full-strength news writing — which uses idioms, complex grammar, and assumed cultural knowledge — language learners can read the same story rewritten at their own CEFR level. Read in Levels publishes a new story almost every day across all 5 levels from A1 to C1.

CEFR is the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages — the international standard that grades language ability from A1 (beginner) through C2 (mastery). Other graded news sites sometimes use generic "Level 1, 2, 3" labels. Roughly: Level 1 ≈ A1, Level 2 ≈ A2, Level 3 ≈ B1. Read in Levels uses the CEFR scale directly, which gives finer-grained progression and matches what English teachers and exam boards use.

Yes — A1, A2, and B1 levels are completely free, no signup required. B2 and C1 are part of an optional paid tier for advanced learners, but the core graded news experience (audio, vocabulary, exercises) is free for anyone.

Three main differences: (1) we publish at 5 CEFR levels (A1–C1) instead of 3 generic levels, giving finer-grained progression; (2) our audio is synced word-by-word with the text so you can read along karaoke-style — News in Levels offers static MP3 only; (3) every word is clickable for instant translation in 12 languages.

Yes. Every article includes TTS audio with word-level timestamps. As the audio plays, each word highlights in real time — like karaoke. You can tap any word to hear it pronounced again, or jump back to any sentence to re-listen. This is one of our biggest differences from MP3-only graded news sites.

If you're not sure, start with B1 — it's intermediate and works well as a diagnostic level. If sentences feel too hard, drop to A2 or A1. If you're breezing through, step up to B2 or C1. You can switch level on any article without losing your place.