A Little English

Edward Cooper Howland
A Little English

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, 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! Each episode, I will read a short story in English. Some of them are famous, some not-so-famous. Some of them I even write myself. For example, I read stories by AA Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh), Ernest Hemingway, and Philip K Dick. I choose the stories carefully and read slowly, so they're easy to understand. After each story, there are three tiny lessons. Not too much, just A Little English. Visit https://www.alittleenglish.com to get a Podcast User's Manual with some idea about how to study using this podcast!

  1. 第 1 集

    Forty Stories - "One"

    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 3 Episode 1 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 03:10 and the tiny lessons begin at 14:30 👉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 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 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.  Well. Happy New Year, everyone. I hope you are enjoying a little vacation, and staying warm.  This week’s story is the scariest one I’ve ever read on the show. Why is it scary?  Because I wrote it.  In fact, from now on, unless I say otherwise, all the stories will be written by me. That was actually my plan from the beginning, but I wanted to figure out how to….you know…make a podcast before I started sharing stuff that I wrote.  So here’s the plan: This year I will write and record forty stories. Each of the stories will have the normal three tiny lessons. If you pay close attention, you’ll see that all the stories are connected. The characters in each story are all connected to the characters in other stories. It’s all one world. And if you listen to all of it, I hope, one large story will emerge. But each story is complete on its own as well, so don’t stress about it too much. This is the biggest, most complicated, project I’ve ever started, and I really hope I can get through it in a year. More than that, I hope you all enjoy it.  The name of this story, appropriately enough , is:  “One” The timing is the most important thing. Ben knows that she will arrive at the bar just after eight o’clock, like she does every Wednesday night. She and her girlfriends will come in laughing and joking. They’ll pull off their scarves and blow into their cold hands and order enormous  glasses of cheap red wine. Then she will sign up for karaoke. She will sing sad songs by U2. Ben knows this because she only ever sings sad songs by U2. Ben knows that when it’s her turn, she will place her glass of wine carefully on the stool behind her, hold the microphone with both hands, and sing like this is the most important song in the whole world. Her voice will be flat, and she will probably forget some words, but Ben won’t care. He loves her because she sings from her heart. The timing is the most important thing because when she comes in just after eight o’clock tonight, Ben will be on the stage, singing U2’s best, saddest song.  He is nervous about singing the last part of the song. There are a bunch of very long, very high notes, like “ooOOooOO, and “HaaaaHaaHaAaaa.” Then he has to do some rock star “yeah! yeah! yeah! yeah!” stuff. During his lessons, his voice cracked almost every time he tried to hit the high notes. When he tried to say “yeah!” like a real rock star, he always felt like an idiot. He practiced again and again, until his teacher said it was good, but he never agreed. The end of the song is the best part, the most important part, and it has to be perfect. You can’t smoke...

    22 分鐘
  2. 第 2 集

    Forty Stories - "Sleigh Ride Together"

    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 3 Episode 2 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 1:44 and the tiny lessons begin at 15:30 👉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 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ TRANSCRIPT: “Sleigh Ride Together” 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.  Today’s story is about sledding. “Sleigh” is just a fancy word for a sled. I come from Massachusetts, USA, and when I was a kid, sledding was a big part of winter life. The story is also about family, and about having - or…being - a big brother. Some of it comes from my real life, and some of it is just made up. I’m not gonna tell you which parts are which, though. You can try to figure it out for yourself.  So anyway, let’s listen to it.  “Don’t worry,” said Kevin. “We used to come here every year on Christmas break.” “Who’s ‘we?’” “Me and the guys. Mark and Ben and Tommy.”  “Tommy who broke his arm crashing this same sled in seventh grade? That Tommy?” “Yeah and he was always the first one calling me up and asking me to bring it out. He knows how awesome it is.” And with that, Kevin carefully laid the sled down in the middle of the trail, straddled it slowly, and sat down.  He was gone in an instant, the sled rocking wildly as he barely avoided a large rock on the right side of the trail and shot out into the sunny soccer field. As he slid under the goal posts at the far end of the field. Kevin popped up off of the sled, jumping up and down. He was tiny from this far away, no bigger than her finger. He was waving his arms, probably yelling something, but she couldn’t hear. It took nearly ten minutes for him to haul the sled back up. His wool hat was coated with snow. His cheeks were red and his smile was enormous. “Go!” he said. “It’s so awesome!” Mandy’s hands were shaking as she took the bright red plastic sled. She hadn’t ridden it since elementary school, but she remembered it well. She knew that the tiniest error could bang her into a tree or dump her out onto a rock, especially since Tommy’s famous crash had ripped the safety belt out. She tried to pick out a safe route and sat down, holding tight to the sides of the sled. She felt Kevin’s boot against her back, but she had no time to say anything before he pushed with his leg and she was flying. There was no time to think, no time to breathe. Her cheeks hurt and she could hear the bottom of the sled scraping along the packed snow and ice of the sledding trail. Pine needles stung her face and the wind froze her eyes.  When the sled got to the bottom of the hill and soared out into the warm sun and the wide-open field, she realized that her eyes were closed. She opened them as she sped across the field, barely slowing down until she, too, had arrived near the goalposts. She was alive. She was free, and nothing could touch her. He was right. It was awesome.  The sunlight bounced

    21 分鐘
  3. 第 3 集

    Forty Stories - "Mustang"

    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 3 Episode 3 Thank you for downloading this episode. You really, really should watch this video to understand just what kind of car we are talking about: CLICK HERE TO WATCH 👉The story begins at 1:42 and the tiny lessons begin at 16:50 👉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 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 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.  Today’s story comes with a Content Warning: it’s about a panic attack, and there’s a conversation about mental illness. Nothing too serious, but if you’re not in the mood to hear something like that, maybe stop and come back later. Don’t worry, though. There’s other stuff in the story. In fact, if you don’t know what a 1967 Ford Mustang looks and sounds like, go ahead and pause right now. Look in the show notes, I’ve added a link to a youtube video . Check it out. It’s pretty awesome… So, of course, the name of this story is… Mustang.  Carl was dying. He was standing in his kitchen and he couldn’t breathe, and he was dying.  The edges of his vision were blurry. He couldn’t breathe.  He heard a noise. Short and sharp and fast, it repeated again and again and again, identical. Dottie was in the next room, finishing her coffee. If he called her, she would come and take him to the hospital. But they couldn’t afford an ambulance. They couldn’t even afford to keep what they had.   The noise was coming faster now and his vision was narrowing to a tunnel. He was in a white tunnel. He was sure that he was dying. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t find the breath to call his wife’s name.  Suddenly, he was sitting on the floor. His back hurt. Had he fallen?   He could feel his heart pounding against his ribs, like it wanted to escape. Like it wanted to burst out of his chest and run screaming down the hall. He was having a heart attack, and he was going to die here on his own stupid kitchen floor. He could hear her voice. It sounded like she was underwater. Or maybe like he was underwater and she was on the beach, calling to him. Like she was miles away. She was saying his name.   The noise was starting to slow down. It sounded like a dog panting on a summer day.  It was him. The noise was him.  It was his own breath, and it was starting to slow down. The tunnel widened, and he could see the kitchen door, and the Mustang in the driveway. Her hands were under his arms now, lowering him onto his back.  He was laying on the floor and she was there with him. “Dottie?” he gasped. “I’m having a heart attack. I’m dying.” “You’re not dying, Carl. It’s just a panic attack.” “How do you know?” he said. “I can’t breathe and my heart’s going to explode and I’m going to die.”  “You’ve never had a panic attack...

    22 分鐘
  4. 第 4 集

    Forty Stories - "Cold Feet"

    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 3 Episode 4 Thank you for downloading this episode. Here is the video about "dude" that I was talking about. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO 👉The story begins at 02:15 and the tiny lessons begin at 16:30 👉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 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 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.  Today’s story is about the theater. I did some acting in college, so I know a little about what it’s like to be on a stage. The play in the story is a real play. It’s called “Take Me Out,” by Richard Greenberg, and it’s about baseball. Specifically, it’s about what would happen if the best player in all of professional baseball came out as a gay man. It’s an amazing play, and if you ever get a chance, you should definitely see it. It also has a lot of naked men in it. So yeah, content warning, you will hear the word naked at least nine more times in this podcast. There’s nothing sexual, but…the story is about taking off your clothes on stage. I’ll talk more about this play after the story, because I don’t want to spoil anything. For now, let’s enjoy. The name of this story is….Cold Feet.  Act One - Tech Rehearsal “Look,” said Tom, “I get it. It’s a locker room. We’re in the shower. People shower naked. It makes perfect sense. But I’m just saying, why do I have to be naked?” Tom stood on stage, in his bathing suit. All the actors were wearing bathing suits. He could hear the air conditioning rattle. He could hear the lights humming. Everyone was staring at him. Raymond got up out of his seat and ran his fingers through his hair. “You have to be naked, Tom, because everyone has to be naked. You knew that when you signed up for the play. You already agreed to it.” “I know I did. But maybe, like, can’t I just wear a towel? I’m just one of the guys on the team. Dante and Robbie, those guys, the show is about them. They’re the really important ones. But I’m just in the background anyway, so why does it matter if I’ve got a towel on or not?” “Because you agreed to it, Tom! Because everyone agreed to it. Because you’ve known for six weeks of rehearsal that everyone gets naked!” “ I thought I could do it,” said Tom, shifting his weight from side to side. “I really did. It didn’t seem like such a big deal when I signed up. It’s just like, my mom’s gonna see it. And my sister.” “Oh my god.” It was hard to see anything from the stage, with all the lights, but Tom could tell that Raymond was furious. He was walking up and down the aisle, shouting. “Six weeks rehearsing with these Americans and now Tom wants to change the whole script.” Robbie stepped to the edge of the stage. “Raymond? Ray? Maybe we should stop for tonight? I’ll talk with Tom. Okay?” Raymond disappeared into the foyer,...

    23 分鐘
  5. 第 5 集

    Forty Stories - "Frog Pond"

    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 3 Episode 5 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 1:40 and the tiny lessons begin at 12:56 👉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 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 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.  And we are back into Forty Stories! So, this story was written by me. I have to apologize, I have tried to do two different accents. Now to be fair, I’m from Massachusetts, and I spent six years living in South Carolina, so I think I’m probably OK at doing accents from those places. But I guess I’ll let you decide. If it’s hard to understand people talking, go check out the show notes! Read along with the text as I’m speaking. It’s good practice for weird American pronunciation. Let’s check it out! Frog Pond It was not a good day to be outside. Kim shivered in her overcoat. Her cheeks hurt, even inside the mask. Boston Common in February was not beautiful. It was gray, and the parking in the garage was twelve dollars an hour! Cassie was excited, though. She pulled Kim’s hand as they approached the  Frog Pond. “Look, Mom! They’re skating!” There were maybe fifteen people on the ice. They were trying to go in circles, but the wind pushed them back, crashing them into the railing and each other.  Kim and Cassie fought their way to the ticket counter. “That’ll be thirty-two dollars, ma’am.” The woman in the booth shrunk down into her enormous parka as Kim stared at her.  “Thirty-two?” Kim couldn’t believe it.  “Yes, ma’am. It’s eight dollars for you, free for your daughter. Plus skate rental is fifteen for adults and ten for kids.” Kim sighed, and pulled another twenty-dollar bill out of her wallet. “You shouldn’t be out here in this weather,” said Kim.  “I haven’t got much else to do,” said the lady. “and I’m used to it. Some days are awfully pretty, especially after a good snow.” Kim looked around. “Pretty like today?” “Oh, no,” said the woman. “But tomorrow should be nice. Is this your first time in Boston?” “No,” said Kim. “Well, sort of. It’s our first time in the Common. We’re renting a place in Cambridge. But Cassie just HAD to go skating before the season ended.” “Is it her first time skating?” asked the woman. “It’s both of our first times. We’re from South Carolina, originally. My husband got a job, and we just…moved up here. Just like that.” “Well, you might want to try a lesson.” The woman pointed to a poster on the wall. “We can’t afford that much,” Kim turned to take Cassie’s hand, but she wasn’t there.  “Cassie? Cassie? Cassandra?” She was trying to sound calm. She clapped her hands, but the gloves muffled the sound, and the wind carried it away.  “Cassandra Norton, you come out right now!”  Kim half-walked and half-ran over to the railing. She leaned on it and...

    18 分鐘
  6. 第 6 集

    Forty Stories - "Flow"

    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 3 Episode 6 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 01:58 and the tiny lessons begin at 15:32 👉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 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 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.  Today’s story is about ping pong. I’m not very good at ping pong, but Tabatha is. We played together a couple weeks ago, and of course, I thought, “This would be a good story.” So, here we are.  The name of the story comes from psychology. Have you ever been doing something you really like and suddenly you realize that, like, an hour or two has passed? And you didn’t even realize it? That’s called a flow state. It’s also called, being “in the zone.” Usually when I’m working on a story or even editing this podcast, I’ll enter a flow state. And I love it. It’s an amazing feeling. What gets you into a flow state? And what does that have to do with ping pong? I guess we’ll find out.  Flow The ball came in fast and low, just over the net. It bounced on the back right corner of table number four and flew off into a corner of the gym. Alexander watched it go.  “Hey, I thought you said you would go easy on me,”  he whined.  “I am going easy on you,” replied Matt. “Your serve.”  Alexander walked slowly over to where the ball had stopped rolling. He picked it up and stared at it. He sighed and walked back to the table where Matt stood ready, holding the paddle in both hands straight out.  Alexander bounced the ball once and hit it straight into the net.  “Zero-two,” shouted Matt.  “I don’t get a double fault thing? Like in tennis?” “No, bro. This is TABLE tennis. Different game. Your serve.” Alexander served again. This time, the ball floated weakly over the net. Matt returned it to Alexander's left side. Alexander reached for a backhand, but missed. The ball skipped away through the open doors and into the hall.  “Zero-three, your serve.” Matt was smiling.  Alexander retrieved the ball from the hallway. He tried to focus on Matt’s left side. He thought about the best angle for the paddle. He planned the whole point in his mind. Curve the paddle down a little bit at the end. Keep the ball low, just above the net. Go to Matt’s backhand. He had a plan.  He breathed deeply, bounced, and served.  The ball went into the net. “Zero-four!” He made another plan. A soft hit, just hard enough to go over the net. He could make Matt reach for it. Make him mess up. Make him serve for once. He bounced and served, slowly, carefully.  Matt leaned in and returned it easily, with a smash. The ball went back into the hallway. “Zero-five. You want me to serve?” Matt was laughing at him. Alexander walked off to retrieve the ball, his head hanging low.   — The girl must have been in...

    21 分鐘
  7. 第 7 集

    Forty Stories - "Sentimental Items"

    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 3 Episode 7 Cooper is back from the attack of the hideous POLLEN ALLERGY! Thank you to Tabatha for filling in! Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 02:01 and the tiny lessons begin at 14:30 👉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 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 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.  First of all, I’m very sorry about last week. This year is the worst pollen allergy in ten years in Japan, and I had it really, really badly. Believe me, you did NOT want to hear my voice in your headphones last week. But today I’m doing a lot better and I have a new story for you. It’s about…well, do you know who Marie Kondo is? She’s a Japanese cleaning and organizing expert who’s super famous in the US, but not at all famous in Japan. Kinda funny how that works. Anyway, I love her method, but I also recognize that there are some issues with it. So, I decided to write a story about it. I hope you enjoy.  Sentimental Items 1. “No,” said Jean. “We throw everything away. Everything that doesn’t make us happy. That’s what the book says, and that’s what we’re gonna do. And when we get done with it, we’ll just be surrounded by things that make us happy, and then we can be happy all the time.”  Her children looked at each other, sighed, and walked to their rooms. Jean called after them. “Think about it, do we really need your third grade report cards, Kevin?” She put her hands on her hips and looked around. It was time to clean out the attic.  She pulled box after box after box out into the hall, opened the lids, and started dumping their contents onto the ground.  “Don’t forget to throw away by category,” she yelled down the steps. “Start with clothes, then books, then papers.” Following her own advice, she collected every single piece of clothing into a pile. Then she stood over it.  Most of it was easy.  Winter coats from elementary school? Send them to Good Will.  Tiny mittens, their fuzzy lining stolen long ago by mice? Garbage. Her maternity dresses? Horrible garbage.   A photo album.  “Mandy,” she called, “Come look at this.”  Amanda appeared in the doorway. “Mom, I’m right in the middle of doing my clothes. What do you need?”  “Look at this album. It’s from Pawtucket back in the eighties. Here’s me and your Aunt Dottie on the pier. We must be….eight years old. Here’s your grandpa Frank cooking lobsters. Every year he would go down to Marten’s seafood and buy a dozen of the biggest lobsters you’ve ever seen. ” “Mom, the book to save sentimental items for last. Don’t get distracted by that stuff. Just put it in a pile and deal with it later.” “You’re right, we gotta follow the system. We can look at all these later.” Jean put the album aside, reached into the pile, and pulled out a pair of...

    19 分鐘
  8. 第 8 集

    Forty Stories - "Great Blue Heron"

    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 3 Episode 8 Thank you for downloading this episode. 👉The story begins at 01:50 and the tiny lessons begin at 11:22 👉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 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 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.  This story is really important to me, because this is the first story I ever wrote for this project. I actually started writing it in December 2021, and I was saving it for a special time. This is that time. I’m in the middle of moving and starting my dream job, and my life is totally crazy, so I thought now is a good time to share the story that started the whole project. I hope you enjoy!  One thing, you might want to pause before we start and look at a picture of a Great Blue Heron, if you don’t know what that is. They’re pretty beautiful birds, and it will probably help you understand the story a little better if you have a picture of one in your head.  Great Blue Heron Sarah sat by the river and wondered how to get more likes. Maybe she could take a selfie at sunset? Everyone likes sunset photos. She took her phone out of her bag and held it in front of her. She moved around on the park bench until she found a nice angle, and posed for the selfie.  It was a good photo. The river was flowing off towards the sun as it set behind her. The sky was red and pink, and the few fluffy clouds made it even prettier. She flipped through the filters for a while, trying to find the best one, but it just didn’t look right. She breathed out heavily, deleted it, and started to pose again. The sun was almost behind the mountains by the time she got a photo that she really liked.  She chose a good filter, and thought about which hashtags would get the most attention. #sunset #naturelife #river Behind her, an enormous heron landed in the river without a splash or a sound. It looked around cautiously, standing on one leg in the rushing water, searching for a fish for dinner.  Sarah knew what she had to do. She had to get a selfie with the heron. She tried to take one from the bench, but it was much too far away. The bird looked like a little gray bug in the background, blurry and out of focus. She would have to get closer. She got off the bench and crawled sideways like a crab down the steep hill until she reached the bank of the river. She crept through the tall grass, trying to get as close as she could. The heron stood perfectly still, staring down into the rushing water, pretending to ignore Sarah. As soon as Sarah put one of her feet into the freezing cold water, balancing on the slippery rocks, the heron raised its head and stared directly at her.  Sarah froze. The heron froze. They stared at each other for a few seconds, neither one moving. Sarah was holding her dress out of the water with one hand. With the other she reached into her bag, trying to look like she wasn’t moving at all. The heron stared right at her.

    17 分鐘

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簡介

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, 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! Each episode, I will read a short story in English. Some of them are famous, some not-so-famous. Some of them I even write myself. For example, I read stories by AA Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh), Ernest Hemingway, and Philip K Dick. I choose the stories carefully and read slowly, so they're easy to understand. After each story, there are three tiny lessons. Not too much, just A Little English. Visit https://www.alittleenglish.com to get a Podcast User's Manual with some idea about how to study using this podcast!

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