 Hello, and welcome to a real conversation between two native English speakers. I'm Liz Wade, and this is Adam Novus. Hi, Adam. Hello, everyone. Hello, Liz. Hi. And we are here to discuss the Spotlight English program, The Story of the Little Match Girl. And so if you have not already listened to our version of that story, you can find it on our website where you can listen and read along with the script right there. Or you can watch it on YouTube in a classic or no music or advanced version. And yeah, listen to that, take a listen. We ask a question in that program whether this is a sad story or a happy story. And so we definitely want to talk about that today. We also want to ask you and see what you have to think about this story. Because this is a very famous story by a very famous fairy tale author, Hans Christian Anderson. And I know that I have some feelings about this story. Adam. Well, let's, we'll get into it. I do have some feelings about it. Right. Okay, so we'll get to that in a second. But if you are on YouTube, we would love it if you would like and subscribe. And you can also check out the join button right below this video to learn more about becoming a member. And if you're a member, you can get your name in every single video we make. It's kind of cool to see every single person who is supporting our program at the end of every video. You see everybody's name. And you can also, based on your level, you can get free PDF scripts and you can get access to our special Spotlight English Facebook group and a special birthday or shout out message. It's really cool. And if you want to get scripts delivered to your email every week so that you can follow along right from your email, we also can send scripts, PDF scripts directly to your email. If you sign up for just a dollar a week on our scripts by email button on our website, www.spotlightenglish.com. And that's all the housekeeping, as they say. This is Christmas week. Yeah. So that's pretty exciting. Merry Christmas to you all who are watching this. Yes. I'm not wearing any Christmas decorations. I do have a little light up necklace and a Santa hat. You're festive enough for all of us, Liz. Just yourself. Yeah, exactly. Ho, ho, ho. No. That's not good. Well, the story of the Little Match Thick Girl. Let's dive into what this program, it tells the story. Yes. Okay. So in this program, we tell about the story a little bit about who wrote it, which is Hans Christian Andersen. And he is a very famous fairy tale author from, I'm going to say the 1800s. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. That's great. So he has written a lot of fairy tales and stories. And then we actually, this is one of my favorite kind of spotlight English programs, where we tell a story as if it is a real story and use sort of actor voices and put in sound effects to make it sound real. And so we tell that whole story. And then we talk about sort of the meanings of that story. And so I want to actually, this is a little, this is an Easter egg, which is a term for something special about this program. And hidden. Yes. It's a little hidden. Hidden about this program. My daughter is actually the voice of the Little Match Girl. So that was really fun. Did you make her record it out in the cold in the winter? No. Yes. I did record her some matches and some really ratty clothes. And I put her out in the snow. And then I said, here, record this script. Yeah. Kid her character. No, but that was really fun to record with her. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. She has done a little bit of recording for Spotlight before, but this was really her big, her big moment. And I think she did so great because you can really, you really feel for this sad Little Match Girl. Oh, so you think she's the sad program? I do. I think it's a sad program. Okay. Okay. So why don't you just really quickly tell the story of the Little Match Girl, just so that we're all on the same page about what happened? So this girl is poor. I mean, poor, poor, poor, and her father hits her. Right. If she doesn't sell enough matches. If she doesn't sell enough matches. This is a, this is a, you know, she's going, you know, along the street asking people if they want to buy matches. Yeah. I mean, even if she sells a lot of matches, she's not going to make a lot of money. So she's, she's very, very poor. She knows that if she, she's very cold as well. It's wintertime and it's snowing and it's cold. And so she knows she can keep warm for just a little bit if she lights one match, but of course no one's going to buy that match when she uses it up. Yeah. So she lights a match and she has a little bit of warmth, like from the flame, but also a little vision of something happy and of course, a warm fire or a fan, you know, just a nice little, the fire dances and she gets, has just a moment where she feels good and of course it goes out. And so she lights another match and event she has another, you know, kind of moment of happiness. And finally, she, she has a vision of her grandmother holding her and happy with her. And so she just lights all the matches to keep that vision alive. And then the next morning, people find. Well, okay. I think you're missing a really important part before you go to the next morning. Go ahead. What part of my missing is that her grandmother is like the only person who ever loved her and she wants to be with her grandmother, her grandmother had died. Her grandmother had died. So she sees, she sees her grandmother reaching toward her and she reaches toward her grandmother and then they fly away in her vision. In her vision and what happens in real life and then it's the next morning. She's leaning against a wall, frozen, solid, dead smile on her face. I don't remember that part of the story. I was focused on the dead part. And but okay. So that's, I mean, that's the whole story, but let's make the case for it's a happy story and let's make the case for it's a sad story. Okay. So I will say on my first sort of, and every time I hear this story, can we back up even just one second and wonder why this is a Christmas story? Because it happens in the new year. It's actually a new year story. But people tell it and watch it at Christmas time, which I don't understand unless you're thinking about just all of these visions happen around the holidays, Christmas, New Year's, families getting together, eating a bunch of delicious food, being with family and happy. It is also a time of year, Christmas, where there are a lot of fables and morality stories, even like, you know, think of, you know, not necessarily associated with religion, you know, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or the stories like that that people engage with, they're more willing to engage with those type of stories, which that would be my guess maybe. Right. You're learning a lesson because you are more open to learning lessons at that time. Right. Okay. I guess I could see that. I mean, it is a Christmas story. Yeah. This is something that people tell around Christmas. Right. It has become a Christmas story. Let's, let's, we can't argue that. It has become a Christmas story. Yes. Okay. So whether it's sad or happy. So every time I hear or read this story, I am so sad for her. And I really can't get over the fact that I am sad for her. Right. Even at the end, I think for her, it is meant to be happy. Like she has, she has gone with her grandmother who loved her and she loved where there is no more pain and there's no more cold and no more sadness. And she has flown away in joy. Right. So I do think the happy part comes when you think about separating your pain and sadness from this world. Right. Right. Because there is pain and sadness and cold and hunger in this world. But in heaven, then she has, she has joined heaven. Yeah. That is why it is a happy story. Yeah. That, that I think is the best, you, you've laid out the best case. The vision of something being, well, in heaven as a place of ultimate love, right? Like her grandmother is the, the place where she is warm and loved and accepted and, and she's going to that place. Because I have been thinking about this program a lot as I get it prepared to, you know, as I prepared it to put on our website and things like that and really thinking through those things. And I do, when I had heard this story before, I had not really thought about the lessons of it. Right. And a couple of the lessons, they were really interesting to me. How, there was the one about, really the one about love, I think is the, is the key here. Right. And she sees all these visions of happiness. So she lights the match and she sees a warm fire, a warm cooking, cooking stove where she can warm her feet. And it's so real to her that she's warm for a moment, but then the match goes out. And then the next vision she sees is of, of a happy time where there's a full table and she wouldn't be hungry. And then the next match she lights is a beautiful Christmas tree that's just like filled with bells and lights and things. And so that all of those things bring you happiness. And that's when she starts thinking of her grandmother, the most happy thing in her life. And that's the thing that she wanted to hold on to. It wasn't food or warmth or, you know, anything like that. It was love from a person. Yeah. That's a good point that like, it is true that in the, in the cosmic realm of time, our life is but a, you know, a little, a little lit match and you have to think about what's truly important. It's still hard to get over the idea of a child suffering. I know. I just can't, I just can't think of this as a happy story when the child at the end is dead. Well, here, here's why I think it's... Between the 1800s it was different. Maybe everybody died at like, maybe she, maybe at that time this was a rich, she was like an old lady by their, nobody lived past 10. So I think this, this story is problematic. Let's, let's, let's, I'm going to say whether it's happy or sad could be up to the person who's reading it. Here's why I think it's problematic. Because I think if this were a story she told and she made meaning out of her suffering. We all have things that happen and... So if the perspective was different. If the perspective were, you know, like if I have something bad happen and you come along and say, hey, something good could come out of this. That's very different than if I say something good can come out of this. If I make the meaning or you impose the meaning on me, that's a very different, that's a, there's a, there's a, I'm, it's my story to tell, right? Of my... Although the narrator does seem like omnipresent. They do seem like a narrator that knows everything. Yes. But the narrator is not a little girl. Right. It's Hans Christian Andersen. Right. I'm not, I, yeah. And even then, like I, that's where I think it's problematic. Like the girl still really died and suffered. She lived a horrible, horrible life. Yeah. Well, and at the end then, this is the other part I do feel is a little problematic, right? So at the end, she's sitting there frozen on the sidewalk with a smile on her face. And this detail is in the story where people walk by on the street and say, oh poor dear, she was just trying to keep warm or, you know, other sentiments like that. And I think what an easy way for those people to get out of any responsibility for this. Right. Because of course, there's going to be another child. Right. Who is helping her? No one's helping, they other matchstick girl or the matchstick boy or whomever, right? I think. Right. They just get to walk by and be like, oh, that's really sad for her. Let me tell you a story about what probably happened. Let me go home and open my presents. Yeah. Eat my Christmas dinner. Yes. Well. I would love to hear what people have to think about this story. If you heard it or if you have heard it before, is it a happy story or a sad story? And why? Because yeah, I don't know. I feel like I can think through why it could be a happy story to someone, but I can't actually think it is a happy story for me myself. I could not agree more. Yeah. There you go. And that's the word. And that's the word. I do want to encourage you, if you have not listened to this program already, to give it a listen. I have to say it, even though I think it is a sad story. I think it is well told and I think the program is worth listening to. And to check out my daughter's voicing, which I'm always proud of. And you can check that out on our website at spotlightenglish.com or you can check it out on YouTube. And again, if you haven't already, click that little like button and subscribe. Please do that. And if you would like to get scripts delivered directly to your email, check out on our website, the little Scripts by Email button. And of course, Merry Christmas this week. We will be taking a short break. You'll still have a program for next week, but it will be a, it will be an older program, a repeated program, because this is the time when we take a break to spend time with our families. Yeah. Right, Adam? I'm looking forward to it. Yes, me too. This has been a long year, just like the last year, but we're getting through it. Our life, 2020, 2021 is like the little match that girl lived out any year. Yes. Oh my goodness. All right. Well, I don't want to end this program this way. I do want to say Merry Christmas. I am so thankful for each and every one of you who is watching. I am so thankful for each of our members. And I am so thankful for those of you who sign up for Scripts by Email. For all of you who support us in any way, even by liking and subscribing, all of those things really help us. They really mean something to us that you would support our work and that you continue to improve your English and let us help you doing that. Yeah, until next time, listen, watch, practice, and learn. Spotlight out and Merry Christmas.