I'm doing a little survey to find out more about ALE listeners. There are just four tiny questions. It will only take a minute or two, and will help me a LOT! Please check it out. Thanks, Cooper
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Season 1 Episode 10

Thank you for downloading this episode.

👉The story begins at 2:30 and the tiny lessons begin at 14:25

👉You can find the transcript after the Credits!

👉Visit our website to download the Podcast User's Manual and find out more! https://alittleenglish.com/

A Little English is written, produced, recorded, edited, mixed, mastered and scored by Edward Cooper Howland.

All stories are either in the public domain, or written by me.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

TRANSCRIPT:

ALE S01E09

Hi. My name is Cooper, and this is…A Little English. Every episode, I read a short story. After the story, there are three tiny lessons.

If you’re really serious about studying using this podcast, please go to my website, www.alittleenglish.com. You can get the Podcast User’s Manual, with lots of ideas for self-study. If you just want to listen, then relax and enjoy.

So, let’s read a story. TToday we are reading the second part of chapter nine of Winnie-the-Pooh. Do you remember what happened last time? Well, there was a flood. Piglet was kind of….freaking out…so he made a message in a bottle. Pooh found the message, but couldn’t read it. So he took his….boat….-which was really just a floating honey pot- to find Christopher Robin. And, of course, since Christopher Robin is a character in this episode, I have invited Tabatha to join me. Are you ready, Tabatha? (Let’s DO this).

Christopher Robin lived at the very top of the Forest. It rained, and it rained, and it rained, but the water couldn’t come up to his house. It was rather jolly to look down into the valleys and see the water all round him, but it rained so hard that he stayed indoors most of the time, and thought about things. Every morning he went out with his umbrella and put a stick in the place where the water came up to, and every next morning he went out and couldn’t see his stick any more, so he put another stick in the place where the water came up to, and then he walked home again, and each morning he had a shorter way to walk than he had had the morning before. On the morning of the fifth day he saw the water all round him, and knew that for the first time in his life he was on a real island. Which was very exciting.

It was on this morning that Owl came flying over the water to say “How do you do,” to his friend Christopher Robin.

“I say, Owl,” said Christopher Robin, “isn’t this fun? I’m on an island!”

“The atmospheric conditions have been very unfavourable lately,” said Owl.

“The what?”

“It has been raining,” explained Owl.

“Yes,” said Christopher Robin. “It has.”

“The flood-level has reached an unprecedented height.”

“The who?”

“There’s a lot of water about,” explained Owl.

“Yes,” said Christopher Robin, “there is.”

“However, the prospects are rapidly becoming more favourable. At any moment⁠—”

“Have you seen Pooh?”

“No. At any moment⁠—”

“I hope he’s all right,” said Christopher Robin. “I’ve been wondering about him. I expect Piglet’s with him. Do you think they’re all right, Owl?”

“I expect so. You see, at any moment⁠—”

“Do go and see, Owl. Because Pooh hasn’t got very much brain, and he might do something silly, and I do love him so, Owl. Do you see, Owl?”

“That’s all right,” said Owl. “I’ll go. Back directly.” And he flew off.

In a little while he was back again.

“Pooh isn’t there,” he said.

“Not there?”

“Has been there. He’s been sitting on a branch of his tree outside his house with nine pots of honey. But he isn’t there now.”

“Oh, Pooh!” cried Christopher Robin. “Where are you?”

“Here I am,” said a growly voice behind him.

“Pooh!”

They rushed into each other’s arms.

“How did you get here, Pooh?” asked Christopher Robin, when he was ready to talk again.

“On my boat,” said Pooh proudly. “I had a Very Important Missage sent me in a bottle, and owing to having got some water in my eyes, I couldn’t read it, so I brought it to you. On my boat.”

With these proud words he gave Christopher Robin the missage.

“But it’s from Piglet!” cried Christopher Robin when he had read it.

“Isn’t there anything about Pooh in it?” asked Bear, looking over his shoulder.

Christopher Robin read the message aloud.

“Oh, are those P’s Piglets? I thought they were Poohs.”

“We must rescue him at once! I thought he was with you, Pooh. Owl, could you rescue him on your back?”

“I don’t think so,” said Owl, after grave thought. “It is doubtful if the necessary dorsal muscles⁠—”

“Then would you fly to him at once and say that Rescue is Coming? And Pooh and I will think of a Rescue and come as quick as ever we can. Oh, don’t talk, Owl, go on quick!” And, still thinking of something to say, Owl flew off.

“Now then, Pooh,” said Christopher Robin, “where’s your boat?”

“I ought to say,” explained Pooh as they walked down to the shore of the island, “that it isn’t just an ordinary sort of boat. Sometimes it’s a Boat, and sometimes it’s more of an Accident. It all depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“On whether I’m on the top of it or underneath it.”

“Oh! Well, where is it?”

“There!” said Pooh, pointing proudly to The Floating Bear.

It wasn’t what Christopher Robin expected, and the more he looked at it, the more he thought what a Brave and Clever Bear Pooh was, and the more Christopher Robin thought this, the more Pooh looked modestly down his nose and tried to pretend he wasn’t.

“But it’s too small for two of us,” said Christopher Robin sadly.

“Three of us with Piglet.”

“That makes it smaller still. Oh, Pooh Bear, what shall we do?”

And then this Bear, Pooh Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, F.O.P. (Friend of Piglet’s), R.C. (Rabbit’s Companion), P.D. (Pole Discoverer), E.C. and T.F. (Eeyore’s Comforter and Tail-finder)⁠—in fact, Pooh himself⁠—said something so clever that Christopher Robin could only look at him with mouth open and eyes staring, wondering if this was really the Bear of Very Little Brain whom he had known and loved so long.

“We might go in your umbrella,” said Pooh.

“?”

“We might go in your umbrella,” said Pooh.

“??”

“We might go in your umbrella,” said Pooh.

“!!!!!!”

For suddenly Christopher Robin saw that they might. He opened his umbrella and put it point downwards in the water. It floated but wobbled. Pooh got in. He was just beginning to say that it was all right now, when he found that it wasn’t, so after a short drink which he didn’t really want he waded back to Christopher Robin. Then they both got in together, and it wobbled no longer.

“I shall call this boat The Brain of Pooh,” said Christopher Robin, and The Brain of Pooh set sail forthwith in a southwesterly direction, revolving gracefully.

You can imagine Piglet’s joy when at last the ship came in sight of him. In after-years he liked to think that he had been in Very Great Danger during the Terrible Flood, but the only danger he had really been in was in the last half-hour of his imprisonment, when Owl, who had just flown up, sat on a branch of his tree to comfort him, and told him a very long story about an aunt who had once laid a seagull’s egg by mistake, and the story went on and on, rather like this sentence, until Piglet who was listening out of his window without much hope, went to sleep quietly and naturally, slipping slowly out of the window towards the water until he was only hanging on by his toes, at which moment luckily, a sudden loud squawk from Owl, which was really part of the story, being what his aunt said, woke the Piglet up and just gave him time to jerk himself back into safety and say, “How interesting, and did she?” when⁠—well, you can imagine his joy when at last he saw the good ship, The Brain of Pooh (Captain, C. Robin; 1st Mate, P. Bear) coming over the sea to rescue him. Christopher Robin and Pooh again.⁠ ⁠…

And that is really the end of the story, and I am very tired after that last sentence, I think I shall stop there.

That really is how the story ends.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how, when I was a kid, Pooh was just the coolest to me. Which is funny, because he’s kind of, like, not….smart. But he is loyal and he tries really hard, and in the end, what else could you ask for from a friend?

What’s the Big Picture Looking like?

It’s pretty good. Everything turns out OK in the end. So…..how did they do it? Last time, I asked you to predict how they would rescue Piglet. Did you guess that Pooh and Christopher Robin would float over in an umbrella and get him? Yeah, I bet you did.

When I was a kid, I tried to do this. Use an umbrella like a boat to go floating away. Except in my case, it was just in a puddle, and I broke the umbrella. My parents were very, very patient people.

How about a little vocab party at the dictionary Disco?

The first word I want to talk about is…Missage. Which is….not a word. It’s just Pooh being…well himself, I guess.

So let’s talk about “Jolly” Jolly is happy! Think like Santa Claus. So christopher Robin thinks it’s FUN to see a flood coming up around him.

The second vocabulary word for today is “unprecedented.” So a “precedent” is a fancy way of saying something that has happened before now. So, an “unprecedented” flood level is the highest it’s ever been. Not so jolly, really.

Today’s melody moment is talking about a sound inside a word. I’m talking about “FLOOD.” Listen to the word. There are two O’s in it. F-L-O-O-D So it should sound like my name…Cooper. But it doesn’t. The sound the two O’s make is….UH. Sounds like our old friend the Schwa, but it’s not. There is a big difference. It’s not tiny. It’s strong and powerful. Actually this sound is called….a strong schwa. And since “Flood” is one of the really important words in a sentence - not like “a” or “the” - it’s strong. It’s not a schwa, because schwas are pretty much only for….stuff that doesn’t matter. A flood…matters.

Let’s go to the credits.

Thank you for listening to Season 1 Episode 10 of A Little English.

Every episode is produced entirely by me, Edward Cooper Howland, here in Hiroshima, Japan.

For more information on how to study using this podcast, please go to www.alittleenglish.com, where you can get the Podcast User’s Manual.

You can follow me on social media, @alelearning on instagram and twitter.

To join the conversation and the community around A Little English, please go to our discord. There’s a link in the show notes.

If you want to support this podcast, you can go to patreon.com/alittleenglish. If you do, you can join a private discord server for patrons, and you can chat with me. Ask me questions! Maybe I can help you with your homework! Maybe :)

Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review on whatever app you’re using to listen.

The stories I read are in the public domain, and I get them from standardebooks.org, which is a really good website and you should check it out.

Again, thank you so much for listening.

For now, be kind to yourselves, and to each other.

Mentioned in this episode:

Listener Survey

ALE S01E09

Hi. My name is Cooper, and this is…A Little English. Every episode, I read a short story. After the story, there are three tiny lessons.

If you’re really serious about studying using this podcast, please go to my website, www.alittleenglish.com. You can get the Podcast User’s Manual, with lots of ideas for self-study. If you just want to listen, then relax and enjoy.

So, let’s read a story. TToday we are reading the second part of chapter nine of Winnie-the-Pooh. Do you remember what happened last time? Well, there was a flood. Piglet was kind of….freaking out…so he made a message in a bottle. Pooh found the message, but couldn’t read it. So he took his….boat….-which was really just a floating honey pot- to find Christopher Robin. And, of course, since Christopher Robin is a character in this episode, I have invited Tabatha to join me. Are you ready, Tabatha? (Let’s DO this).

Christopher Robin lived at the very top of the Forest. It rained, and it rained, and it rained, but the water couldn’t come up to his house. It was rather jolly to look down into the valleys and see the water all round him, but it rained so hard that he stayed indoors most of the time, and thought about things. Every morning he went out with his umbrella and put a stick in the place where the water came up to, and every next morning he went out and couldn’t see his stick any more, so he put another stick in the place where the water came up to, and then he walked home again, and each morning he had a shorter way to walk than he had had the morning before. On the morning of the fifth day he saw the water all round him, and knew that for the first time in his life he was on a real island. Which was very exciting.

It was on this morning that Owl came flying over the water to say “How do you do,” to his friend Christopher Robin.

“I say, Owl,” said Christopher Robin, “isn’t this fun? I’m on an island!”

“The atmospheric conditions have been very unfavourable lately,” said Owl.

“The what?”

“It has been raining,” explained Owl.

“Yes,” said Christopher Robin. “It has.”

“The flood-level has reached an unprecedented height.”

“The who?”

“There’s a lot of water about,” explained Owl.

“Yes,” said Christopher Robin, “there is.”

“However, the prospects are rapidly becoming more favourable. At any moment⁠—”

“Have you seen Pooh?”

“No. At any moment⁠—”

“I hope he’s all right,” said Christopher Robin. “I’ve been wondering about him. I expect Piglet’s with him. Do you think they’re all right, Owl?”

“I expect so. You see, at any moment⁠—”

“Do go and see, Owl. Because Pooh hasn’t got very much brain, and he might do something silly, and I do love him so, Owl. Do you see, Owl?”

“That’s all right,” said Owl. “I’ll go. Back directly.” And he flew off.

In a little while he was back again.

“Pooh isn’t there,” he said.

“Not there?”

“Has been there. He’s been sitting on a branch of his tree outside his house with nine pots of honey. But he isn’t there now.”

“Oh, Pooh!” cried Christopher Robin. “Where are you?”

“Here I am,” said a growly voice behind him.

“Pooh!”

They rushed into each other’s arms.

“How did you get here, Pooh?” asked Christopher Robin, when he was ready to talk again.

“On my boat,” said Pooh proudly. “I had a Very Important Missage sent me in a bottle, and owing to having got some water in my eyes, I couldn’t read it, so I brought it to you. On my boat.”

With these proud words he gave Christopher Robin the missage.

“But it’s from Piglet!” cried Christopher Robin when he had read it.

“Isn’t there anything about Pooh in it?” asked Bear, looking over his shoulder.

Christopher Robin read the message aloud.

“Oh, are those P’s Piglets? I thought they were Poohs.”

“We must rescue him at once! I thought he was with you, Pooh. Owl, could you rescue him on your back?”

“I don’t think so,” said Owl, after grave thought. “It is doubtful if the necessary dorsal muscles⁠—”

“Then would you fly to him at once and say that Rescue is Coming? And Pooh and I will think of a Rescue and come as quick as ever we can. Oh, don’t talk, Owl, go on quick!” And, still thinking of something to say, Owl flew off.

“Now then, Pooh,” said Christopher Robin, “where’s your boat?”

“I ought to say,” explained Pooh as they walked down to the shore of the island, “that it isn’t just an ordinary sort of boat. Sometimes it’s a Boat, and sometimes it’s more of an Accident. It all depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“On whether I’m on the top of it or underneath it.”

“Oh! Well, where is it?”

“There!” said Pooh, pointing proudly to The Floating Bear.

It wasn’t what Christopher Robin expected, and the more he looked at it, the more he thought what a Brave and Clever Bear Pooh was, and the more Christopher Robin thought this, the more Pooh looked modestly down his nose and tried to pretend he wasn’t.

“But it’s too small for two of us,” said Christopher Robin sadly.

“Three of us with Piglet.”

“That makes it smaller still. Oh, Pooh Bear, what shall we do?”

And then this Bear, Pooh Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, F.O.P. (Friend of Piglet’s), R.C. (Rabbit’s Companion), P.D. (Pole Discoverer), E.C. and T.F. (Eeyore’s Comforter and Tail-finder)⁠—in fact, Pooh himself⁠—said something so clever that Christopher Robin could only look at him with mouth open and eyes staring, wondering if this was really the Bear of Very Little Brain whom he had known and loved so long.

“We might go in your umbrella,” said Pooh.

“?”

“We might go in your umbrella,” said Pooh.

“??”

“We might go in your umbrella,” said Pooh.

“!!!!!!”

For suddenly Christopher Robin saw that they might. He opened his umbrella and put it point downwards in the water. It floated but wobbled. Pooh got in. He was just beginning to say that it was all right now, when he found that it wasn’t, so after a short drink which he didn’t really want he waded back to Christopher Robin. Then they both got in together, and it wobbled no longer.

“I shall call this boat The Brain of Pooh,” said Christopher Robin, and The Brain of Pooh set sail forthwith in a southwesterly direction, revolving gracefully.

You can imagine Piglet’s joy when at last the ship came in sight of him. In after-years he liked to think that he had been in Very Great Danger during the Terrible Flood, but the only danger he had really been in was in the last half-hour of his imprisonment, when Owl, who had just flown up, sat on a branch of his tree to comfort him, and told him a very long story about an aunt who had once laid a seagull’s egg by mistake, and the story went on and on, rather like this sentence, until Piglet who was listening out of his window without much hope, went to sleep quietly and naturally, slipping slowly out of the window towards the water until he was only hanging on by his toes, at which moment luckily, a sudden loud squawk from Owl, which was really part of the story, being what his aunt said, woke the Piglet up and just gave him time to jerk himself back into safety and say, “How interesting, and did she?” when⁠—well, you can imagine his joy when at last he saw the good ship, The Brain of Pooh (Captain, C. Robin; 1st Mate, P. Bear) coming over the sea to rescue him. Christopher Robin and Pooh again.⁠ ⁠…

And that is really the end of the story, and I am very tired after that last sentence, I think I shall stop there.

That really is how the story ends.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how, when I was a kid, Pooh was just the coolest to me. Which is funny, because he’s kind of, like, not….smart. But he is loyal and he tries really hard, and in the end, what else could you ask for from a friend?

What’s the Big Picture Looking like?

It’s pretty good. Everything turns out OK in the end. So…..how did they do it? Last time, I asked you to predict how they would rescue Piglet. Did you guess that Pooh and Christopher Robin would float over in an umbrella and get him? Yeah, I bet you did.

When I was a kid, I tried to do this. Use an umbrella like a boat to go floating away. Except in my case, it was just in a puddle, and I broke the umbrella. My parents were very, very patient people.

How about a little vocab party at the dictionary Disco?

The first word I want to talk about is…Missage. Which is….not a word. It’s just Pooh being…well himself, I guess.

So let’s talk about “Jolly” Jolly is happy! Think like Santa Claus. So christopher Robin thinks it’s FUN to see a flood coming up around him.

The second vocabulary word for today is “unprecedented.” So a “precedent” is a fancy way of saying something that has happened before now. So, an “unprecedented” flood level is the highest it’s ever been. Not so jolly, really.

Today’s melody moment is talking about a sound inside a word. I’m talking about “FLOOD.” Listen to the word. There are two O’s in it. F-L-O-O-D So it should sound like my name…Cooper. But it doesn’t. The sound the two O’s make is….UH. Sounds like our old friend the Schwa, but it’s not. There is a big difference. It’s not tiny. It’s strong and powerful. Actually this sound is called….a strong schwa. And since “Flood” is one of the really important words in a sentence - not like “a” or “the” - it’s strong. It’s not a schwa, because schwas are pretty much only for….stuff that doesn’t matter. A flood…matters.