Episodes

  • A Little English - Coming Soon!

    A Little English - Coming Soon!
    Jul 19 2022

    This is the trailer for A Little English - Learn English by listening to stories. ALE is a new way to study English by yourself when you have the time.

    We will release Season One very soon!

    You can read 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.

    Copyright 2023 Edward Cooper Howland

    Transcript:

    What if the stories in your English course could make you laugh?

    What if they could break your heart?

    What if you just had to know...what happens next?

    My name is Cooper Howland, and I'm an English professor in Hiroshima, Japan. I love teaching, I love English literature, and I love podcasts. So, I decided to combine all three into this show!

    In each episode, I read a short story in English. Some of them are famous, some not-so-famous. Some of them I even write myself.

    I choose the stories carefully and read slowly, so they're easy to understand. After each story, I teach three tiny lessons. Not too much, just A Little English.

    If you go to my website, www.alittleenglish.com, you can connect with me, and you can download the Podcast User’s Manual, which will give you some ideas about how to study using the show.

    I can’t wait to share all these great stories with you. See you soon!

    Mentioned in this episode:

    Listener Survey

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    2 mins
  • Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter I: In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees, and the Stories Begin

    Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter I: In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees, and the Stories Begin
    Aug 3 2022
    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👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY Season 1 Episode 1 Thank you for downloading the very first episode of ALE!I'm very excited to begin this journey with you.👉Check out some of the original art by EH Shepard:Pooh and Christopher Robin coming downstairs."Under the name of Sanders"Pooh hangs from his balloon👉The story begins at 2:20 and the tiny lessons begin at 21:12👉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.Copyright 2023 Edward Cooper Howland ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ TRANSCRIPT:INTRO 0:00Hi. My name is Cooper Howland, 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. I’ve made a Podcast User’s Manual that can give you some ideas about how to study with podcasts. If you just want to listen, then relax and enjoy. So, let’s get into this story. Today we are reading Chapter One of Winnie-the-Pooh by AA Milne. I’m really excited about reading this book. When I was a kid, my dad used to read it to me before bed, or when I was sick. I have some really great memories of this book, so I’m very excited to share it with you. Now, this first chapter is a little confusing because it’s actually two stories. The first one is about a boy named Christopher Robin, and his stuffed bear, Pooh. Christopher Robin’s father is going to tell him a bedtime story. The second part is the story that the father tells. Then at the end, we return to Christopher Robin at bedtime. I hope that it’s not too confusing, but don’t worry. The rest of the stories aren’t like that. In order to maybe make it easier, I’ve brought in a guest to help me tell this story. This is Tabatha TABBY WORDS and she’s going to be playing Christopher Robin. And in the end, if the structure is too confusing, the best thing you can do is just….don’t worry about it! It’s a beautiful, funny little story. Just relax and listen to the melody and the rhythm of it. Enjoy yourself! Are you ready? Let’s begin. STORY 2:20IIn Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees, and the Stories BeginHere is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn’t. Anyhow, here he is at the bottom, and ready to be introduced to you. Winnie-the-Pooh.When I first heard his name, I said, just as you are going to say, “But I thought he was a boy?”“So did I,” said Christopher Robin.“Then you can’t call him Winnie?”“I don’t.”“But you said⁠—”“He’s Winnie-ther-Pooh. Don’t you know what ‘ther’ means?”“Ah, yes, now I do,” I said quickly; and I hope you do too, because it is all the explanation you are going to get.Sometimes Winnie-the-Pooh likes a game of some sort when he comes downstairs, and sometimes he likes to sit quietly in front of the fire and listen to a story. This evening⁠—“What about a story?” said Christopher Robin.“What about a story?” I said.“Could you very sweetly tell Winnie-the-Pooh one?”“I suppose I could,” I said. “What sort of stories does he like?”“About himself. Because he’s that sort of Bear.”“Oh, I see.”“So could you very sweetly?”“I’ll try,” I said.So I tried.—---------------------Once upon a time, a very long time ago now, about last Friday, Winnie-the-Pooh lived in a forest all by himself under the name of Sanders.(“What does ‘under the name’ mean?” asked Christopher Robin.“It means he had the name over the door in gold letters, and lived under it.”“Winnie-the-Pooh wasn’t quite sure,” said Christopher Robin.“Now I am,” said a growly voice.“Then I will go on,” said I.)One day when he was out walking, he came to an open place in the middle of the forest, and in the middle of this place was a large oak-tree, and, from the top of the tree, there came a loud buzzing-noise.Winnie-the-Pooh sat down at the foot of the tree, put his head between his paws and began to think.First of all he said to himself: “That buzzing-noise means something. You don’t get a ...
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    31 mins
  • Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter II: In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place

    Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter II: In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place
    Aug 10 2022
    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👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY Season 1 Episode 2 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉Check out some of the original art by EH Shepard:Pooh goes visitingPooh has some troubleAll Rabbit's friends and relations👉The story begins at 1:34 and the tiny lessons begin at 16:14👉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.Copyright 2023 Edward Cooper Howland ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ TRANSCRIPT:INTRO 0:00Hi. My name is Cooper Howland, 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 get into this story. Today we are reading Chapter Two of Winnie-the-Pooh, and I have once again invited Tabatha to play Christopher Robin. I think that this is probably the most famous Pooh story. Or, at least, it’s the one that I remember the most clearly from my childhood. The good news is, it doesn’t have that story-within-a-story thing that the last one had. It’s just a story about Pooh going to visit his friend, and…well…you’ll see. STORY 1:34IIIn Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight PlaceEdward Bear, known to his friends as Winnie-the-Pooh, or Pooh for short, was walking through the forest one day, humming proudly to himself. He had made up a little hum that very morning, as he was doing his Stoutness Exercises in front of the glass: Tra-la-la, tra-la-la, as he stretched up as high as he could go, and then Tra-la-la, tra-la⁠—oh, help!⁠—la, as he tried to reach his toes. After breakfast he had said it over and over to himself until he had learnt it off by heart, and now he was humming it right through, properly. It went like this:Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,Rum-tum-tiddle-um-tum.Tiddle-iddle, tiddle-iddle,Tiddle-iddle, tiddle-iddle,Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.Well, he was humming this hum to himself, and walking along gaily, wondering what everybody else was doing, and what it felt like, being somebody else, when suddenly he came to a sandy bank, and in the bank was a large hole.“Aha!” said Pooh. (Rum-tum-tiddle-um-tum.) “If I know anything about anything, that hole means Rabbit,” he said, “and Rabbit means Company,” he said, “and Company means Food and Listening-to-Me-Humming and suchlike. Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.”So he bent down, put his head into the hole, and called out:“Is anybody at home?”There was a sudden scuffling noise from inside the hole, and then silence.“What I said was, ‘Is anybody at home?’ ” called out Pooh very loudly.“No!” said a voice; and then added, “You needn’t shout so loud. I heard you quite well the first time.”“Bother!” said Pooh. “Isn’t there anybody here at all?”“Nobody.”Winnie-the-Pooh took his head out of the hole, and thought for a little, and he thought to himself, “There must be somebody there, because somebody must have said ‘Nobody.’ ” So he put his head back in the hole, and said:“Hallo, Rabbit, isn’t that you?”“No,” said Rabbit, in a different sort of voice this time.“But isn’t that Rabbit’s voice?”“I don’t think so,” said Rabbit. “It isn’t meant to be.”“Oh!” said Pooh.He took his head out of the hole, and had another think, and then he put it back, and said:“Well, could you very kindly tell me where Rabbit is?”“He has gone to see his friend Pooh Bear, who is a great friend of his.”“But this is Me!” said Bear, very much surprised.“What sort of Me?”“Pooh Bear.”“Are you sure?” said Rabbit, still more surprised.“Quite, quite sure,” said Pooh.“Oh, well, then, come in.”So Pooh pushed and pushed and pushed his way through the hole, and at last he got in.“You were quite right,” said Rabbit, looking at him all over. “It is you. Glad to see you.”“Who did you think it was?”“Well, I wasn’t sure. You know how it is in the Forest. One can’t have anybody coming into one’s house. One has to be careful. What about a mouthful of something?”Pooh always liked a little something at eleven o’clock in the morning, and he was very glad to see Rabbit getting out the plates and mugs; and when Rabbit said, “Honey or ...
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    24 mins
  • Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter III: In Which Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle

    Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter III: In Which Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle
    Aug 17 2022
    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👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY Season 1 Episode 3 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 1:55 and the tiny lessons begin at 13:24👉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.Copyright 2023 Edward Cooper Howland ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ TRANSCRIPT:Hi. My name is Cooper Howland, 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 get into this story. Today we are reading Chapter Three of Winnie-the-Pooh, and I have once again invited Tabatha to play Christopher Robin. Are you ready, Tabatha? (Let’s DO this!) In this story, we are introduced to Piglet, who is Pooh’s closest animal friend. Pooh and Piglet do…well, they do a very silly thing. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, so we can talk about it after the story. For now, let’s get on with it!IIIIn Which Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a WoozleThe Piglet lived in a very grand house in the middle of a beech-tree, and the beech-tree was in the middle of the forest, and the Piglet lived in the middle of the house. Next to his house was a piece of broken board which had: “Trespassers W” on it. When Christopher Robin asked the Piglet what it meant, he said it was his grandfather’s name, and had been in the family for a long time, Christopher Robin said you couldn’t be called Trespassers W, and Piglet said yes, you could, because his grandfather was, and it was short for Trespassers Will, which was short for Trespassers William. And his grandfather had had two names in case he lost one⁠—Trespassers after an uncle, and William after Trespassers.“I’ve got two names,” said Christopher Robin carelessly.“Well, there you are, that proves it,” said Piglet.One fine winter’s day when Piglet was brushing away the snow in front of his house, he happened to look up, and there was Winnie-the-Pooh. Pooh was walking round and round in a circle, thinking of something else, and when Piglet called to him, he just went on walking.“Hallo!” said Piglet, “what are you doing?”“Hunting,” said Pooh.“Hunting what?”“Tracking something,” said Winnie-the-Pooh very mysteriously.“Tracking what?” said Piglet, coming closer.“That’s just what I ask myself. I ask myself, What?”“What do you think you’ll answer?”“I shall have to wait until I catch up with it,” said Winnie-the-Pooh. “Now, look there.” He pointed to the ground in front of him. “What do you see there?”“Tracks,” said Piglet. “Paw-marks.” He gave a little squeak of excitement. “Oh, Pooh! Do you think it’s a⁠—a⁠—a Woozle?”“It may be,” said Pooh. “Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t. You never can tell with paw-marks.”With these few words he went on tracking, and Piglet, after watching him for a minute or two, ran after him. Winnie-the-Pooh had come to a sudden stop, and was bending over the tracks in a puzzled sort of way.“What’s the matter?” asked Piglet.“It’s a very funny thing,” said Bear, “but there seem to be two animals now. This⁠—whatever-it-was⁠—has been joined by another⁠—whatever-it-is⁠—and the two of them are now proceeding in company. Would you mind coming with me, Piglet, in case they turn out to be Hostile Animals?”Piglet scratched his ear in a nice sort of way, and said that he had nothing to do until Friday, and would be delighted to come, in case it really was a Woozle.“You mean, in case it really is two Woozles,” said Winnie-the-Pooh, and Piglet said that anyhow he had nothing to do until Friday. So off they went together.There was a small spinney of larch trees just here, and it seemed as if the two Woozles, if that is what they were, had been going round this spinney; so round this spinney went Pooh and Piglet after them; Piglet passing the time by telling Pooh what his Grandfather Trespassers W had done to Remove Stiffness after Tracking, and how his Grandfather Trespassers W had suffered in his later years from Shortness of Breath, and other matters of interest, and Pooh wondering what a Grandfather was like, and if perhaps this...
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    22 mins
  • Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter IV: In Which Eeyore Loses a Tail and Pooh Finds One

    Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter IV: In Which Eeyore Loses a Tail and Pooh Finds One
    Aug 24 2022
    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👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY Season 1 Episode 4 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 1:44 and the tiny lessons begin at 17:10👉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.Copyright 2023 Edward Cooper Howland ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ TRANSCRIPT:Hi. My name is Cooper Howland, 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 get into this story. Today we are reading Chapter Four of Winnie-the-Pooh. The name of this chapter is, “In Which Eeyore Loses a Tail and Pooh Finds One. This story is about Eeyore, who is a one of the best characters in the book, but it’s also the first time that we meet Owl. Both of these characters are really fun for me to play. I’ve been working on their voices for a while, trying to make them different from….other versions. I hope you enjoy!IVIn Which Eeyore Loses a Tail and Pooh Finds OneThe Old Grey Donkey, Eeyore, stood by himself in a thistly corner of the forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, “Why?” and sometimes he thought, “Wherefore?” and sometimes he thought, “Inasmuch as which?”⁠—and sometimes he didn’t quite know what he was thinking about. So when Winnie-the-Pooh came stumping along, Eeyore was very glad to be able to stop thinking for a little, in order to say “How do you do?” in a gloomy manner to him.“And how are you?” said Winnie-the-Pooh.Eeyore shook his head from side to side.“Not very how,” he said. “I don’t seem to have felt at all how for a long time.”“Dear, dear,” said Pooh, “I’m sorry about that. Let’s have a look at you.”So Eeyore stood there, gazing sadly at the ground, and Winnie-the-Pooh walked all round him once.“Why, what’s happened to your tail?” he said in surprise.“What has happened to it?” said Eeyore.“It isn’t there!”“Are you sure?”“Well, either a tail is there or it isn’t there. You can’t make a mistake about it. And yours isn’t there!”“Then what is?”“Nothing.”“Let’s have a look,” said Eeyore, and he turned slowly round to the place where his tail had been a little while ago, and then, finding that he couldn’t catch it up, he turned round the other way, until he came back to where he was at first, and then he put his head down and looked between his front legs, and at last he said, with a long, sad sigh, “I believe you’re right.”“Of course I’m right,” said Pooh.“That Accounts for a Good Deal,” said Eeyore gloomily. “It Explains Everything. No Wonder.”“You must have left it somewhere,” said Winnie-the-Pooh.“Somebody must have taken it,” said Eeyore. “How Like Them,” he added, after a long silence.Pooh felt that he ought to say something helpful about it, but didn’t quite know what. So he decided to do something helpful instead.“Eeyore,” he said solemnly, “I, Winnie-the-Pooh, will find your tail for you.”“Thank you, Pooh,” answered Eeyore. “You’re a real friend,” said he. “Not like Some,” he said.So Winnie-the-Pooh went off to find Eeyore’s tail.It was a fine spring morning in the forest as he started out. Little soft clouds played happily in a blue sky, skipping from time to time in front of the sun as if they had come to put it out, and then sliding away suddenly so that the next might have his turn. Through them and between them the sun shone bravely; and a copse which had worn its firs all the year round seemed old and dowdy now beside the new green lace which the beeches had put on so prettily. Through copse and spinney marched Bear; down open slopes of gorse and heather, over rocky beds of streams, up steep banks of sandstone into the heather again; and so at last, tired and hungry, to the Hundred Acre Wood. For it was in the Hundred Acre Wood that Owl lived.“And if anyone knows anything about anything,” said Bear to himself, “it’s Owl who knows something about something,” he said, “or my name’s not Winnie-the-Pooh,” he said. “Which it is,” he added. ...
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    25 mins
  • Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter V: In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump

    Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter V: In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump
    Aug 31 2022
    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👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY Season 1 Episode 5 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 01:52 and the tiny lessons begin at 23:20👉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.Copyright 2023 Edward Cooper Howland ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ TRANSCRIPT:Hi. My name is Cooper Howland, 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. Today we are reading Chapter Five of Winnie-the-Pooh. The name of this chapter is, “In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump. Since Christopher Robin is a character in this episode, I have invited Tabatha to join me. Are you ready, Tabatha? (Let’s DO this). There is som,e great silly action in this story, especially when Piglet does indeed meet…..the Heffalump. What’s a Heffalump, you ask? Keep listening to find out!VIn Which Piglet Meets a HeffalumpOne day, when Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet were all talking together, Christopher Robin finished the mouthful he was eating and said carelessly: “I saw a Heffalump today, Piglet.”“What was it doing?” asked Piglet.“Just lumping along,” said Christopher Robin. “I don’t think it saw me.”“I saw one once,” said Piglet. “At least, I think I did,” he said. “Only perhaps it wasn’t.”“So did I,” said Pooh, wondering what a Heffalump was like.“You don’t often see them,” said Christopher Robin carelessly.“Not now,” said Piglet.“Not at this time of year,” said Pooh.Then they all talked about something else, until it was time for Pooh and Piglet to go home together. At first as they stumped along the path which edged the Hundred Acre Wood, they didn’t say much to each other; but when they came to the stream and had helped each other across the stepping stones, and were able to walk side by side again over the heather, they began to talk in a friendly way about this and that, and Piglet said, “If you see what I mean, Pooh,” and Pooh said, “It’s just what I think myself, Piglet,” and Piglet said, “But, on the other hand, Pooh, we must remember,” and Pooh said, “Quite true, Piglet, although I had forgotten it for the moment.” And then, just as they came to the Six Pine Trees, Pooh looked round to see that nobody else was listening, and said in a very solemn voice:“Piglet, I have decided something.”“What have you decided, Pooh?”“I have decided to catch a Heffalump.”Pooh nodded his head several times as he said this, and waited for Piglet to say “How?” or “Pooh, you couldn’t!” or something helpful of that sort, but Piglet said nothing. The fact was Piglet was wishing that he had thought about it first.“I shall do it,” said Pooh, after waiting a little longer, “by means of a trap. And it must be a Cunning Trap, so you will have to help me, Piglet.”“Pooh,” said Piglet, feeling quite happy again now, “I will.” And then he said, “How shall we do it?” and Pooh said, “That’s just it. How?” And then they sat down together to think it out.Pooh’s first idea was that they should dig a Very Deep Pit, and then the Heffalump would come along and fall into the Pit, and⁠—“Why?” said Piglet.“Why what?” said Pooh.“Why would he fall in?”Pooh rubbed his nose with his paw, and said that the Heffalump might be walking along, humming a little song, and looking up at the sky, wondering if it would rain, and so he wouldn’t see the Very Deep Pit until he was halfway down, when it would be too late.Piglet said that this was a very good Trap, but supposing it were raining already?Pooh rubbed his nose again, and said that he hadn’t thought of that. And then he brightened up, and said that, if it were raining already, the Heffalump would be looking at the sky wondering if it would clear up, and so he wouldn’t see the Very Deep Pit until he was halfway down.⁠ ⁠… When it would be too late.Piglet said that, now that this point had been explained, he thought it was a Cunning Trap.Pooh was very proud when he heard this, and he felt that the Heffalump was as good as caught ...
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    32 mins
  • Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter VI: In Which Eeyore Has a Birthday and Gets Two Presents

    Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter VI: In Which Eeyore Has a Birthday and Gets Two Presents
    Sep 7 2022
    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👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY Season 1 Episode 6 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 02:25 and the tiny lessons begin at 32:35👉You can find the transcript after the Credits!Some illustrations:EeyoreTrying to reach the knockerCan Owl spell?BANG!A damp rag👉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.Copyright 2023 Edward Cooper Howland ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ TRANSCRIPT: ALE S01E06Hi. My name is Cooper Howland, 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. Today we are reading Chapter Six of Winnie-the-Pooh. Since Christopher Robin is a character in this episode, I have invited Tabatha to join me. Are you ready, Tabatha? (Let’s DO this). Today’s story is a long one. It has a lot of dialogue, and lots of voice acting by, well, me. Don’t worry if the conversations are a little confusing. They are supposed to be. Pooh and Eeyore are just as confused by the conversations as you and I are. So, like always, relax and enjoy. Chapter VIIn Which Eeyore Has a Birthday and Gets Two PresentsEeyore, the old grey Donkey, stood by the side of the stream, and looked at himself in the water.“Pathetic,” he said. “That’s what it is. Pathetic.”He turned and walked slowly down the stream for twenty yards, splashed across it, and walked slowly back on the other side. Then he looked at himself in the water again.“As I thought,” he said. “No better from this side. But nobody minds. Nobody cares. Pathetic, that’s what it is.”There was a crackling noise in the bracken behind him, and out came Pooh.“Good morning, Eeyore,” said Pooh.“Good morning, Pooh Bear,” said Eeyore gloomily. “If it is a good morning,” he said. “Which I doubt,” said he.“Why, what’s the matter?”“Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can’t all, and some of us don’t. That’s all there is to it.”“Can’t all what?” said Pooh, rubbing his nose.“Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush.”“Oh!” said Pooh. He thought for a long time, and then asked, “What mulberry bush is that?”“Bon-hommy,” went on Eeyore gloomily. “French word meaning bonhommy,” he explained. “I’m not complaining, but There It Is.”Pooh sat down on a large stone, and tried to think this out. It sounded to him like a riddle, and he was never much good at riddles, being a Bear of Very Little Brain. So he sang “Cottleston Pie” instead:Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,A fly can’t bird, but a bird can fly.Ask me a riddle and I reply:“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.”That was the first verse. When he had finished it, Eeyore didn’t actually say that he didn’t like it, so Pooh very kindly sang the second verse to him:Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,A fish can’t whistle and neither can I.Ask me a riddle and I reply:“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.”Eeyore still said nothing at all, so Pooh hummed the third verse quietly to himself:Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,Why does a chicken, I don’t know why.Ask me a riddle and I reply:“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.”“That’s right,” said Eeyore. “Sing. Umty-tiddly, umty-too. Here we go gathering Nuts and May. Enjoy yourself.”“I am,” said Pooh.“Some can,” said Eeyore.“Why, what’s the matter?”“Is anything the matter?”“You seem so sad, Eeyore.”“Sad? Why should I be sad? It’s my birthday. The happiest day of the year.”“Your birthday?” said Pooh in great surprise.“Of course it is. Can’t you see? Look at all the presents I have had.” He waved a foot from side to side. “Look at the birthday cake. Candles and pink sugar.”Pooh looked⁠—first to the right and then to the left.“Presents?” said Pooh. “Birthday cake?” said Pooh. “Where?”“Can’t you see them?”“No,” said Pooh.“Neither can I,” said Eeyore. “Joke,” he explained. “Ha ha!”Pooh scratched his head, being a little puzzled by all this.“But is it really your birthday?” he asked.“It is.”“Oh! Well, Many happy returns of the day, Eeyore.”“And many happy ...
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    40 mins
  • Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter VII: In Which Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest, and Piglet Has a Bath

    Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter VII: In Which Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest, and Piglet Has a Bath
    Sep 14 2022
    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👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY Season 1 Episode 7 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 01:50 and the tiny lessons begin at 30:08👉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.Copyright 2023 Edward Cooper Howland ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ TRANSCRIPT:Hi. My name is Cooper Howland, 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. Today we are reading Chapter Seven of Winnie-the-Pooh. Since Christopher Robin is a character in this episode, I have invited Tabatha to join me. Are you ready, Tabatha? (Let’s DO this). In this story, we meet not one but TWO new characters, Kanga and her son Roo. And it’s interesting, the other animals are…actually kind of mean to them. How will it all work out? Let’s listen. Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter VIIIn Which Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest, and Piglet Has a BathNobody seemed to know where they came from, but there they were in the Forest: Kanga and Baby Roo. When Pooh asked Christopher Robin, “How did they come here?” Christopher Robin said, “In the Usual Way, if you know what I mean, Pooh,” and Pooh, who didn’t, said “Oh!” Then he nodded his head twice and said, “In the Usual Way. Ah!” Then he went to call upon his friend Piglet to see what he thought about it. And at Piglet’s house he found Rabbit. So they all talked about it together.“What I don’t like about it is this,” said Rabbit. “Here are we⁠—you, Pooh, and you, Piglet, and Me⁠—and suddenly⁠—”“And Eeyore,” said Pooh.“And Eeyore⁠—and then suddenly⁠—”“And Owl,” said Pooh.“And Owl⁠—and then all of a sudden⁠—”“Oh, and Eeyore,” said Pooh. “I was forgetting him.”“Here⁠—we⁠—are,” said Rabbit very slowly and carefully, “all⁠—of⁠—us, and then, suddenly, we wake up one morning and, what do we find? We find a Strange Animal among us. An animal of whom we have never even heard before! An animal who carries her family about with her in her pocket! Suppose I carried my family about with me in my pocket, how many pockets should I want?”“Sixteen,” said Piglet.“Seventeen, isn’t it?” said Rabbit. “And one more for a handkerchief⁠—that’s eighteen. Eighteen pockets in one suit! I haven’t time.”There was a long and thoughtful silence⁠ ⁠… and then Pooh, who had been frowning very hard for some minutes, said: “I make it fifteen.”“What?” said Rabbit.“Fifteen.”“Fifteen what?”“Your family.”“What about them?”Pooh rubbed his nose and said that he thought Rabbit had been talking about his family.“Did I?” said Rabbit carelessly.“Yes, you said⁠—”“Never mind, Pooh,” said Piglet impatiently.“The question is, What are we to do about Kanga?”“Oh, I see,” said Pooh.“The best way,” said Rabbit, “would be this. The best way would be to steal Baby Roo and hide him, and then when Kanga says, ‘Where’s Baby Roo?’ we say, ‘Aha!’ ”“Aha!” said Pooh, practising. “Aha! Aha!⁠ ⁠… Of course,” he went on, “we could say ‘Aha!’ even if we hadn’t stolen Baby Roo.”“Pooh,” said Rabbit kindly, “you haven’t any brain.”“I know,” said Pooh humbly.“We say ‘Aha!’ so that Kanga knows that we know where Baby Roo is. ‘Aha!’ means ‘We’ll tell you where Baby Roo is, if you promise to go away from the Forest and never come back.’ Now don’t talk while I think.”Pooh went into a corner and tried saying “Aha!” in that sort of voice. Sometimes it seemed to him that it did mean what Rabbit said, and sometimes it seemed to him that it didn’t. “I suppose it’s just practice,” he thought. “I wonder if Kanga will have to practise too so as to understand it.”“There’s just one thing,” said Piglet, fidgeting a bit. “I was talking to Christopher Robin, and he said that a Kanga was Generally Regarded as One of the Fiercer Animals. I am not frightened of Fierce Animals in the ordinary way, but it is well known that, if One of the Fiercer Animals is Deprived of Its ...
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    37 mins