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Season 1 Episode 11

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👉The story begins at 2:20 and the tiny lessons begin at 13:54

👉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 2024 Edward Cooper Howland

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TRANSCRIPT:

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. 

Well. We have come to the last chapter of the book. I’m going to split it into two parts again, just like last one. I think it’s kinda nice to keep the episodes a little shorter. Feel free to give me some feedback at contact@alittleenglish.com. But this is pretty emotional for me, because this book was a big part of my childhood, and I have had the chance to relive it with you though this podcast. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. 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). Oh, and you get to hear me sing….quite a bit in this episode. Enjoy

Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter X

In Which Christopher Robin Gives Pooh a Party, and We Say Goodbye

One day when the sun had come back over the Forest, bringing with it the scent of May, and all the streams of the Forest were tinkling happily to find themselves their own pretty shape again, and the little pools lay dreaming of the life they had seen and the big things they had done, and in the warmth and quiet of the Forest the cuckoo was trying over his voice carefully and listening to see if he liked it, and wood-pigeons were complaining gently to themselves in their lazy comfortable way that it was the other fellow’s fault, but it didn’t matter very much; on such a day as this Christopher Robin whistled in a special way he had, and Owl came flying out of the Hundred Acre Wood to see what was wanted.

“Owl,” said Christopher Robin, “I am going to give a party.”

“You are, are you?” said Owl.

“And it’s to be a special sort of party, because it’s because of what Pooh did when he did what he did to save Piglet from the flood.”

“Oh, that’s what it’s for, is it?” said Owl.

“Yes, so will you tell Pooh as quickly as you can, and all the others, because it will be tomorrow.”

“Oh, it will, will it?” said Owl, still being as helpful as possible.

“So will you go and tell them, Owl?”

Owl tried to think of something very wise to say, but couldn’t, so he flew off to tell the others. And the first person he told was Pooh.

“Pooh,” he said, “Christopher Robin is giving a party.”

“Oh!” said Pooh. And then seeing that Owl expected him to say something else, he said “Will there be those little cake things with pink sugar icing?”

Owl felt that it was rather beneath him to talk about little cake things with pink sugar icing, so he told Pooh exactly what Christopher Robin had said, and flew off to Eeyore.

“A party for Me?” thought Pooh to himself. “How grand!” And he began to wonder if all the other animals would know that it was a special Pooh Party, and if Christopher Robin had told them about The Floating Bear and the Brain of Pooh and all the wonderful ships he had invented and sailed on, and he began to think how awful it would be if everybody had forgotten about it, and nobody quite knew what the party was for; and the more he thought like this, the more the party got muddled in his mind, like a dream when nothing goes right. And the dream began to sing itself over in his head until it became a sort of song. It was an

Anxious Pooh Song

3 Cheers for Pooh!

(For Who?)

For Pooh⁠—

(Why what did he do?)

I thought you knew;

He saved his friend from a wetting!

3 Cheers for Bear!

(For where?)

For Bear⁠—

He couldn’t swim,

But he rescued him!

(He rescued who?)

Oh, listen, do!

I am talking of Pooh⁠—

(Of who?)

Of Pooh!

(I’m sorry I keep forgetting).

Well, Pooh was a Bear of Enormous Brain

(Just say it again!)

Of enormous brain⁠—

(Of enormous what?)

Well, he ate a lot,

And I don’t know if he could swim or not,

But he managed to float

On a sort of boat

(On a sort of what?)

Well, a sort of pot⁠—

So now let’s give him three hearty cheers

(So now let’s give him three hearty whiches?)

And hope he’ll be with us for years and years,

And grow in health and wisdom and riches!

3 Cheers for Pooh!

(For who?)

For Pooh⁠—

3 Cheers for Bear!

(For where?)

For Bear⁠—

3 Cheers for the wonderful Winnie-the-Pooh!

(Just tell me, somebody⁠—what did he do?)

While this was going on inside him, Owl was talking to Eeyore.

“Eeyore,” said Owl, “Christopher Robin is giving a party.”

“Very interesting,” said Eeyore. “I suppose they will be sending me down the odd bits which got trodden on. Kind and Thoughtful. Not at all, don’t mention it.”

“There is an Invitation for you.”

“What’s that like?”

“An Invitation!”

“Yes, I heard you. Who dropped it?”

“This isn’t anything to eat, it’s asking you to the party. Tomorrow.”

Eeyore shook his head slowly.

“You mean Piglet. The little fellow with the excited ears. That’s Piglet. I’ll tell him.”

“No, no!” said Owl, getting quite fussy. “It’s you!”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. Christopher Robin said ‘All of them! Tell all of them.’ ”

“All of them, except Eeyore?”

“All of them,” said Owl sulkily.

“Ah!” said Eeyore. “A mistake, no doubt, but still, I shall come. Only don’t blame me if it rains.”

But it didn’t rain. Christopher Robin had made a long table out of some long pieces of wood, and they all sat round it. Christopher Robin sat at one end, and Pooh sat at the other, and between them on one side were Owl and Eeyore and Piglet, and between them on the other side were Rabbit, and Roo and Kanga. And all Rabbit’s friends and relations spread themselves about on the grass, and waited hopefully in case anybody spoke to them, or dropped anything, or asked them the time.

It was the first party to which Roo had ever been, and he was very excited. As soon as ever they had sat down he began to talk.

“Hallo, Pooh!” he squeaked.

“Hallo, Roo!” said Pooh.

Roo jumped up and down in his seat for a little while and then began again.

“Hallo, Piglet!” he squeaked.

Piglet waved a paw at him, being too busy to say anything.

“Hallo, Eeyore!” said Roo.

Eeyore nodded gloomily at him. “It will rain soon, you see if it doesn’t,” he said.

Roo looked to see if it didn’t, and it didn’t, so he said “Hallo, Owl!”⁠—and Owl said “Hallo, my little fellow,” in a kindly way, and went on telling Christopher Robin about an accident which had nearly happened to a friend of his whom Christopher Robin didn’t know, and Kanga said to Roo, “Drink up your milk first, dear, and talk afterwards.” So Roo, who was drinking his milk, tried to say that he could do both at once⁠ ⁠… and had to be patted on the back and dried for quite a long time afterwards.

And that’s where we will leave it for this episode. 

I don’t want to stop reading pooh stories. I’m having a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the big Mouse still controls the rest of the old books.

But I promise, I’ll have something cool for you in season two. 

—----

Let’s do some tiny lessons.

First, we’ll observe the Big Picture 

I guess the biggest question I can ask is, why is Pooh anxious about the party? After all, he sings a song called Anxious Pooh Song. My best guess is that he’s really proud of what he did during the flood, and he is nervous that he won’t get recognized for it. Or that people would forget. Think about the song. It’s all about ”Let’s celebrate Pooh!”  and people answer….”Who?” He just wants some recognition. 

Now, let’s shake it on down to the Dictionary Disco

Let’s do….not a phrasal verb but a…phrasal adjective? “Beneath Him,” as in Owl thinking that cupcakes are Beneath him. Yes, it could mean literally like BELOW him. But it’s more talking about his position or his dignity. Like he’s too good for it. Owl is a fancy boy. 

The second vocabulary word is, Fussy. Owl is a fussy fellow. Fussy means that you are very worried about things being perfect or correct. That you’re hard to please. 

Like Owl. 

Finally, we will pause for a Melody Moment. 

I’ve spent most of this season talking about schwas and word stress, so why stop now? Let;s talk about these two sentences from the song: 

On a sort of what?

Well, a sort of pot

The last words in both lines, “What” and “pot.” What vowel sounds do they use? And what vowel spellings do they use?

What has an A. But guess what? Strong schwa. It’s an Uhh. But a strong one, because it’s important in the sentence. 

Pot is spelled with an O. But it has an “ah” sound. Try it yourself. “Pot.” It’s “Ah.” 

Spelling! Pronunciation!

Let’s go to the credits. 

Thank you for listening to Season 1 Episode 11 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. 

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