From your friends at PBS Kids! Ah, summer! Sitting at the sugar bowl with friends in popsicles. You know, they're technically fruit pops, Arthur. It's just blended watermelon that's been frozen. I don't care what they're called, Brain. They're delicious! Agreed, Buster. Hi, podcast people. This is the Arthur Podcast. And I'm Arthur, enjoying two months of summer freedom. No tediously long school days. No mountains of homework. And no Mr. Rapper! Actually, I saw Mr. Rapper yesterday at the mall. And the weirdest thing happened. Ah, new bathing suits for D.W. and Kate. Done. Next, I just want to pop in this bookstore, okay? Yes! Finally a store I care about! Hey, Arthur! Isn't that Mr. Rapper? Where? Outside the guitar store. Down there, on the first floor. Yeah, it is. Hey, Mr. Rapper! Up here! Mr. Rapper! It's Arthur! Mr. Rapper! Why isn't he answering? Maybe he doesn't like you. Mr. Rapper! Hi! Wait, now he's just walking away. Yep. But he didn't. Huh. He just walked away. Like I wasn't even there. Or like he was being controlled by aliens. Strange. I had a similar experience with Mr. Rapper. Last Tuesday I was in the library. Mr. Rapper was a few tables over. He was looking at sheet music and writing things down. And when he got up to leave, he dropped his pencil. Mr. Rapper, you dropped your pencil. But he just kept walking. He never even turned around. Ooh, I got chills. And I don't think it's from my popsicle. I wonder what's going on. Maybe he just doesn't like being around kids. He is summer. And he did have to spend the whole year with us. I know what's wrong with him. Don't say it. Don't say what? That he's an alien. Or he's a spoon eating vampire. Or a secret agent. I wasn't going to say any of those things. Boy, you really think I'll believe anything, don't you? Okay, I'm sorry. What were you going to say? I was gonna say that he's a secret agent posing as a vampire teacher. It's the perfect cover. Oh, a poster. Well, hello boys. Mr. Rapper, we were just talking about you Kalei's. Beautiful instruments. Did you know that the name means Dancing Flee in Hawaiian? I definitely did not know that. I'm here to get some cucumber kale smoothies. Have you tried them? They're fantastic. My mom likes them. She gets hers with extra basil. Raisins would be a strange addition. Okay. Anyway, I need three smoothies today. That's a lot of smoothies. Well, all of us lost teachers love them. So refreshing. Oh, looks like it's my turn in line. Okay, that was really strange. Even I can't drink three smoothies. All the lost teachers? Enjoy your fruit pops, boys. Enjoy your smoothies. This is serious. There is something really wrong with Mr. Rapper. We should do something. Normally, I would never suggest a hair brain scheme. But I think we should follow him. Yes, we can be undercover secret agents. Come on, let's go before we lose him. This way. Come on. I just saw him turn left. Oh, cluster your other left. Hide here. This way. Oh, dog on your right. Right on this side so we can't see us. Come on, move it. Stay by the bushes. Faster. We're losing him. Podcast people. We're outside Rapper's house. We saw him carry the smoothies into his garage. And now he's inside. And we're outside and we can't see anything. What was that? I think it was Mr. Rapper. But it sounds like he swallowed a cat. Come on. Let's sneak closer. Round the back of the garage. Ah, shoot. We're too short to see in the windows. Brain, let me climb up on your shoulders. I can't really... Oh, wait. I think I see him. I'm so disappointed. Hope is gone. Oh, whoa. What was that? Run! Go let him see us. Go! Go! I'll go. I made it to the treehouse. I don't think Mr. Rapper saw us. But something is definitely wrong with him. Okay. Let's review what we know. Sometimes Mr. Rapper can't see us. He also talked about lost teachers. And he's drinking so much kale. I'm surprised he doesn't have green hair. He also said that hope is gone. And he made that weird loud sound. Do you think he was crying? Why would Mr. Rappburn be crying? Think about it. He spends the whole school year teaching. Then summer comes and he has no one to give homework or tests to. Good point, Buster. How much do we really know about Mr. Rappburn anyway? Podcast people, what's something special about your teacher? I'm checking my inbox to see what you have to say. She's really unique because she gives us really cool choices at course time. My favorite is the snail center. It's where you get to take care of snails and see what they like to eat, to experiment with them, to hold them. Something special about my teacher is she is a good listener. She makes me feel good inside when I'm lonely or when I'm feeling sad. There are so many cool teachers out there. Well, Mr. Rappburn loves tests, quizzes and homework. Maybe without students to teach, his life is meaningless. I never thought I'd say this, but Buster might be right. I think so too. And I've got a plan to help him. Podcast people, Buster, Brain and I are at Mr. Rappburn's house. He needs to teach, so we're here to learn. I'm going to ask him for some word problems. Those always put him in a good mood. Ring again, Arthur. It must be hard for Mr. Rappburn to hear the bell over all his crying. I'm going to ask him why naval oranges have a navy. I'm going to ask him to assign me an essay to write. And I'm letting him pick the topic. Oh, he'll like that. Good one. Coming, sorry, I didn't hear the... Oh, well this is a surprise. Hi, Mr. Rappburn. We're here to be taught. Really? That's odd, since it's summer vacation and you're at my home. Why don't you boys come in and tell me what's going on? I was just making some tea. Good tea and cookies, Mr. Rappburn. Glad you like them, Buster. Boys, I'm touched by your concern, but contrary to popular belief, I actually enjoy my summer breaks. However, your assumption that I have a problem is correct. I just came from Dr. Conway. I knew it. You are an undercover secret agent, and Dr. Conway is the evil scientist trying to mind control you. No, he's my audiologist. An audiologist is a doctor who specializes in hearing, right? Correct, Brain. My hearing is impaired. Impaired? What does that mean? It means I'm not hearing as well as I once did. So your ears don't work? Let me explain. Close your eyes and let's imagine that we're going on a journey inside my ear. Whoa! Wow! Are we tiny or is your ear huge? We're tiny now. You might think that all hearing happens in the part of the ear you can see. You can really see my big ears. Absolutely right, Buster. The part you can see is the outer ear, but there's more that happens on the inside. So let's walk further into my ear. It's like we're going through a tunnel. Yes, this is called the ear canal. A muddy tunnel. Whoa! What's this sticky, squishy stuff I'm walking on? Probably earwax. Ooh! Let's make a candle with it. You're right that people call it earwax, Brain, but it isn't actually wax, Buster. It's seramen, a substance the ear makes to help clean and protect it. Oh! Can I still have some? No, you have plenty in your own ears, Buster. Ah! Here we are. The ear drum. It looks more like a wall than a drum. Imagine it's a drum turned on its side, and we're looking at the top, the part you hit. Oh, yeah! I get it, but who hits the drum? Sound. All sound comes through the ear canal to this thin wall of eardrum tissue. When the eardrum gets hit with the sound, it vibrates. Ah! My cuckoo clock has given us an excellent example. The sound of the clock is coming down the ear canal and making the eardrum vibrate. So our eardrum does the hearing? Not quite. As the eardrum vibrates, it is moving tiny bones on the other side of it. There's more ear past the eardrum? Yes. Past the eardrum is the inner ear. There are a bunch of tiny hairs there. Here, look through this completely pretend window that would never be in my real ear. It's like a field of tall grass moving in the wind. Only its sound vibrations making the hairs move. Precisely. So, the sound vibrates the eardrum, which shakes the ear bones, which causes the field of hairs to move. And the moving hair sends information to the brain where it is translated into identifiable sound. So your ear doesn't know that sound is a cuckoo clock? Correct! Your ears job is to collect the sound information and send it to your brain. Brain? What's that bear patch over there? The part with no hairs? That's where I've lost some of my hearing, Buster. Without all my hairs communicating to my brain, I don't hear everything I should. Okay, back to the living room. My tea is getting cold. Ah, you know, it did feel good to do a little teaching. How about a quick quiz about the ear? Not necessary. Please, no. So, is it better for you if we talk really loud? No need, Buster. I have these, my hearing aids. I wear them in my ears and they help enormously. There's just one thing I still don't understand. How did you lose your hearing in the first place? You're about to find out. Part of the answer involves that man at my door. Trevor, come around to the garage. Meet you there. Come on! Hearing loss can occur for a variety of reasons at any age. But for me, it's because for many years, I didn't use ear plugs to protect my ears from extremely loud noise. Hey, Trevor, these are some of my students. The rat is right. The rat? You've got to protect your ears. Here's some ear plugs for you. Put them in. We're about to get loud. Hey, what's he mean by loud? Where's Hope? Come in, rat! Fantastic! Hope is here. She was gone for our last rehearsal. Ear plugs in and I'm ready to rock! May I present? Trevor Brown from Bright Hills Middle School on bass. Oh, shea! Hope Garcia from Glenbrook Academy on the skins. And I'm Nigel the Rat Ratburn from Lakewood Elementary. And we are... The Lost Teachers! One, two, one, two! See them coming in the morning Looking happy There's no warning Take your seats now Pay attention No, you can't have Arm extension Just a little business while we start our day Take out your pants and put your books away Pop quiz! Pop quiz! Pop quiz! Pop quiz! No banging and no pleading Cause you didn't know the reading Pop quiz! Yeah! Well, I guess we know what's wrong with Mr. Ratburn. Yeah! He has really bad taste in music. You later, podcast people. I'm gonna rock out! You've been listening to the Arthur Podcast. Hey, parents, do you want your kids to answer my next inbox question? First, go to the Arthur website at PBSKids.org to find out what I'll be asking. Then email me a voice recording of your child's response to Arthur at WGBH.org. Your child's answer might even be featured on a future podcast. That's the show, podcast people! If you liked it, ask or grown up to subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes. You can listen to all our podcasts, play games, and more at PBSKids.org. The Arthur Podcast is produced for PBS Kids by GBH Kids in partnership with Gen Z Media and distributed by PRX. Thanks for listening and have a wonderful kind of day! Listen to your heart, listen to the beat, listen to the rhythm, the rhythm on the street Open up your eyes, open up your ears, get together and listen better by working together GBH Kids Support for this podcast and the following message for parents comes from Ikea. As a parent, you child-proof everything, well, almost everything. You may not have thought about one thing, and that's securing your dressers and chests to the wall. It helps avoid dangerous tip-over accidents. Secure it from Ikea. Working to create safer homes together. From PRX.
