Welcome to this beginner series, in which the one hundred most commonly used words in the English language are used in context. Master them, and you will be on the way to becoming an English speaker!

Yabla wishes everyone the happiest of holidays! Here is some Christmas vocabulary to learn at this special time of year.

This story made the news because it is rather unusual and horse lovers will especially appreciate how important the story was for the protagonists. At the same time, the background story illustrates a problem in the western states of the US that has no easy solution.

The first part of this newscast provides some background information about wild horses in the United States. The population keeps growing, but is that a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on your point of view.

The Monkees’ hit record, I’m a Believer, hit the top of charts of Billboard Magazine in 1966. Enjoy!

One thing President Biden hopes to accomplish during his term in office is to pardon federal, non-violent offenders who have been convicted of possessing marijuana. Since the time many of these offenders were convicted and served their sentences, laws have changed, decriminalizing possession of marijuana in many states. This pardon hopes to right a wrong, although most offenders were convicted on a state level, where the President has no pardon power.

Sigrid muses about how much she loves this time of year and time of day where she lives in Italy. If she had one complaint, it would be: too much green!

Schools in Britain are formal places of education. Pupils wear a uniform and the day is structured around the lesson plan with some welcome breaks in between! We join a school in Wales on the first day for many of its pupils.

Sigrid describes her day using verbs in the simple past tense. Each verb will flash on the screen in the past tense with the infinitive in parentheses, just in case you need a little help. There is even a vegetarian pasta recipe included!

Get ready for another round of "Think Fast!" Sigrid will describe some objects and you have to figure out what each object is. Even if you don't know the word for it in English, you are still doing great if you can visualize the object being described.

Watch this video for "Dance The Night Away," the first top 20 hit of the American rock group Van Halen.

Most Americans don't realize how Columbus Day came to be a national holiday, but it actually doesn't have that much to do with Christopher Columbus, and we might even recognize a connection to present-day events. To recall something Mark Twain once supposedly said, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes."

Columbus Day has always been a controversial holiday in the United States. In this video, Sigrid goes back in time to get some historical background, which sheds a new light on its significance.

In addition to Columbus Day, two new October commemorative holidays were signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Elderly couple Harold and Gertrude reminisce about their first date together. Although their memories are a little hazy, they can agree that it was a very special day!