 Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak. This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower, and we use words and phrases, especially written for people learning English. Today, Brian Lin has a report on Brazil's decrease in vaccinations following the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, we present the first part of our early literacy series. Finally, we travel to the Grand Canyon. But first, here is Brian Lin. The percentage of people vaccinated in Brazil has decreased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Health officials say the situation has put millions of people at risk of being infected with diseases that have been under control in Brazil. Doctors, government agencies, and the United Nations Children's Agency, UNICEF, have tried to bring attention to the issue. Official government records show that in 2015, vaccination coverage in Brazil was 95%, but that number fell to 68% last year. For polio, vaccinations dropped from 85% to 68%. Officials are warning that polio could return to Brazil where it had been eradicated in 1989. Similar decreases in vaccinations have been recorded for other diseases. The disease measles was declared eradicated in Brazil in 2016, but it returned two years later, and there are fears that diphtheria could be coming back too. Health experts say the reduction in vaccinations is a growing problem worldwide, but the drops are especially worrying in Brazil, a country of 203 million people that until recently was seen as a leader in nationwide vaccination campaigns. The French press agency AFP says that an anti-vaccination movement started spreading in Brazil around 2016. AFP recently reported that the movement got stronger during the term of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who served from 2019 to 2022. Bolsonaro had refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and repeatedly raised questions about the safety of the vaccines. Natalia Pasternak is head of the Question of Science Institute, a public policy organization in Brazil. She told AFP, it's very sad to see how a country whose vaccination programs set an example for the world can suddenly suffer from an anti-vaccine movement. Vaccination efforts were slow to get started in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic, but an organized and expanded campaign launched later is credited with helping to slow the spread of the disease. Official numbers show that in Brazil more than 700,000 people died from COVID-19. That is second only to the United States, which reported more than 1.1 million deaths. Brazilian health officials say that by early 2022, the country had vaccinated 93% of adults against COVID-19. But after that, vaccinations began falling again, both for COVID-19 and other vaccines. Many things might be influencing decreased vaccinations. These include the failure of people to stay current on vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. There have also been limited efforts to educate the public about the continuing dangers of diseases that can be prevented by vaccines. New issues might be making things worse, including a mix of politics, polarization and disinformation that exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, the anti-vaccination movement continues to grow, although Bolsonaro lost the 2022 election to President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. I'm Brian Lin. Next, Ana Mateo and Katie Weaver present the first part of our new Early Literacy series. Before we hear from them, Ana joins me to help introduce the series. Hi, Ana. Good to have you here. Thanks for having me, Ashley. I am so happy to share details about a new product. So could you just tell us a bit about the new series? Sure. As the name suggests, Early Literacy is a series on how to teach very early reading and writing skills to young learners. The series is a product of a year of research and production. VOA Learning English was asked by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to create a multimedia product that would teach early literacy to children in refugee camps. Who is the series for and what are your goals for it? The series is for teachers, instructors, or even parents who are teaching early English skills to learners. So people with limited English skills. The series is targeted to children, but older people with low English levels can also benefit. Also, the language of the products, the text, audio, and video, is simplified. And as I have said, if a teacher doesn't have very high English skills either, they will not have difficulty understanding and using this series. So do you use academic language or is the language more simplified? Well, a little of both. I really wanted to make some complex literacy language more accessible to teachers and anyone teaching English. So we do use high-level words like phonological and phonics. But we explain these words and use them over and over again throughout the series. How many parts are in the series? Great question. So our early literacy package has four modules or parts. Instructional classroom language, reading skills, writing skills, and lesson plans. Well, thanks so much for answering those questions, Anna. My pleasure, Ashley. Thanks for having me. I love talking about literacy. Now let's listen to the instructional classroom language part of our early literacy series. Teachers everywhere do something every day. They give instructions. We sometimes call this instructional classroom language. Some instructions help to manage a class. Other instructions explain how to do an activity, like a game or art project. This article gives tips on how to do both in English. General classroom management, greet your students in English. In the morning, as your students enter the classroom, greet them in English. Say things like, good morning. Please come in. How are you? Change the greetings often. This way your students will learn many ways to greet people in English. Identify things you do every day. Teachers know that routines are important for classroom management. Teachers can identify their own activities that are done every day, such as welcoming students to class, taking attendance, or stating the goals of the day. Using English for these daily routines can help increase your students' English skills and confidence. Write down common instructions in your classroom. Identify the most common routines, write them down, and post them in your classroom. Seeing them every day may help students. Students might also be able to lead some routines, like taking attendance. Use body language. When managing a class in English, use body language. For example, when you say, listen to me, you can point to your ear. And if you say, raise your hand, raise your hand. Activity instructions. When you teach an activity, give clear instructions. If students do not understand, they will be unable to do the activity. But giving instructions is not easy. It takes practice. Many native English teachers and experienced teachers can have trouble giving clear instructions. But following a few tips can help. Generally, giving instructions for activities follows three steps. Step one, prepare. Step two, deliver. Step three, monitor. Step one, prepare. First, plan what to say, and then write it down. Before your class, practice alone, with a friend, or with your partner teacher. This can help you find problems or preparations you may have forgotten. It can also help you to feel more confident. Hand out materials after you give instructions, usually. Some materials, like crayons and paper, could distract students. This means you have lost their attention. However, if students need the materials to understand the instructions, hand the materials out before. Arrange the classroom, or students, before giving instructions. Move around desks or chairs in the classroom, or group your students before you give instructions. After moving around, the students may forget the instructions. Group students yourself. Unless it is part of a lesson, grouping students yourself can save time. It will also allow you to partner students based on their abilities. Step two, deliver. Get the attention of all your students. Before you start, make sure all of your students are listening. It is important to have their attention. Speak simply, clearly, and with emotion. When you give instructions in English, use simple language and pause often. When you stop, your students have time to think about the instructions. Change your voice. Make it go high or low, as needed. Use body language, objects, and other visual aids. Body language helps when giving instructions. Objects and other visual aids help, too. For example, if you tell your students to use a pencil, show them a pencil. Do not give long instructions all at once. If an activity has many steps, do not give all of the instructions at one time. If you give all of the instructions at once, students may forget some of them. Set a time limit for the activity. Time limits are very important. Students need to know how much time do I have to finish this activity. Time limits allow students to pace themselves. Model the instructions. Show them how. It is a good idea to model the instructions with a student or partner teacher. This is a good way to show the activity in action. Make sure all students understand. Now, after giving instructions, you need to find out if your students understand. But do not ask, do you understand? Students might not want to say that they don't understand. Or, they might think they understand, but they do not. Instead, you can ask a few students to explain the instructions in their own words. Or, you can pick two or three students and ask questions about the instructions. Step 3. Monitor. As your students do the activity, walk around and watch. If they are having a hard time, stop the activity. Repeat any part of the instructions to certain students. Or, you may have to give all the instructions to the whole class again. However, if the students are having trouble with the activity, move on to something else. Monitor yourself. After you give instructions and the students are doing the activity, make some notes. What went well? What did not go well? What could you change or add to make it better? Monitor other teachers. Teachers can watch each other give instructions. Then, they can give feedback. This is a form of peer review. If possible, teachers can record a video. Teachers can watch to see what worked or what did not. These tips are suggestions and in some cases, reminders. Teachers can change or add to them based on their own situation. Teachers can keep a list of tips and add to them as they discover their own. I'm Anna Mateo. And I'm Katie Weaver. Our National Park's journey continues with one of the most popular and beautiful places in America, Grand Canyon National Park in the state of Arizona. The Grand Canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world and one of the largest canyons on Earth. It stretches for 450 kilometers. Parts of the canyon are more than 30 kilometers wide and one kilometer deep. Many writers have tried to describe the wonder of the Grand Canyon. They use words like mysterious, overpowering, and strange. But it is not possible to put human meaning to such a place. The Grand Canyon truly is beyond words. Is this your first time at the Grand Canyon? Yes. And what do you think? Do you have a few words to describe it? Beautiful, amazing. What do you think of the Grand Canyon? Very huge and very colorful. Words to describe what you're seeing? It's so amazing when I see it at the first look. The canyons of America's Southwest are deep, ancient openings in the Earth. They look as if they formed as the Earth split apart. In reality, rivers formed these canyons. 40 million years ago, the Colorado River began cutting through the area around the present day Grand Canyon. The river carried dirt and pieces of stone that slowly ate away at the surrounding rock. It left a pathway of enormous rock openings. At the same time, forces deep within the Earth pushed up the surrounding land. Rain, snow, ice, wind, and plant roots rubbed away at the top of this new canyon. Below, the river continued to uncover more and more levels of ancient rock. Some of the exposed rocks along the Grand Canyon's walls are nearly 2 billion years old. They are among the oldest rocks on Earth with many levels of granite, schist, limestone, and sandstone. The Grand Canyon measures 2,500 meters from the canyon floor to its highest point. Because of its size, the weather at the top of the canyon is often much different from the bottom. On some winter days, for example, you may find cold winds and snow at the top. But at the bottom of the canyon, you may find warm winds and flowers. The Grand Canyon is home to some 2,000 plant species. Some of these species can only be found in the park. The park is also home to more than 370 species of birds, 90 kinds of mammals, and 40 kinds of reptiles. Many of the birds spend their whole lives in the Grand Canyon. Other species depend on the Grand Canyon for food and shelter during large migrations. The Grand Canyon was named a globally important bird area in 2014 because of the role it plays in protecting many species of birds. Native Americans occupied the Grand Canyon 3,000 years ago. Bones, hair, feathers, and the remains of plants have been found in deep, dry caves high in the rock walls. The Hopi, Paiute, Navajo, and other Native American tribes have all been in the area for at least 700 years. In 1869, American John Wesley Powell explored the Grand Canyon. He recorded much of what we know today about the area. Powell and his group traveled in 4 boats along the Colorado River. He and his group of explorers knew very little about getting over the fast, rocky waters of the Colorado River. In many places, boats could be turned over by giant waves. Soon after they started their journey, Powell's group lost some of its food and equipment. Three members decided to leave the group. As they walked up and out of the Grand Canyon, they were killed by Native Americans. The rest of Powell's group survived the journey. Starved and tired, Powell and his group reached the end of the canyon. They had traveled by boat down the Colorado for more than three months. John Wesley Powell's reports and maps from the trip greatly increased interest in the Grand Canyon. But visitors did not begin to go there in large numbers until 1901. That year, a railway was built that reached the area. Five million people visit the Grand Canyon every year. The first sight of the canyon can leave visitors speechless. Depending on the time of day, the sun lights up the rock walls in red, orange, and golden colors. The bright colors are the result of minerals in the rock. Their appearance changes endlessly, with the light, the time of year, and the weather. At sunset, the canyon walls display fiery red and gold hues. Then they take on softer colors of blue, purple, and green. Most visitors walk along paths partway down the canyon. It takes several hours to walk to the bottom and even longer to climb back up. Some visitors choose to ride mules to the bottom of the canyon. Mules are strong, sturdy animals that look similar to horses. Visitors can also explore the Grand Canyon in other ways. Hundreds of thousands of people see the canyon by air each year. They pay a helicopter or airplane pilot to fly them above and around the canyon. Thousands of people every year choose to explore the Grand Canyon by boat from the Colorado River. These trips last one to three weeks. Most people who come to the Grand Canyon National Park visit an area known as the South Rim. That area has shuttle buses that take visitors to overlooks. Fewer people see the canyon from the North Rim. The North Rim is less than 20 kilometers across the canyon from the South Rim, but visitors must drive more than 350 kilometers by car from the South Rim to access the North Rim. Visitors can also see the Grand Canyon from a huge glass walkway called the Skywalk. The Skywalk is on the Hualapai Indian Reservation in the western part of the canyon. The Hualapai Indians built it to increase tourism at the reservation. It opened in 2007. The Skywalk extends more than 20 meters from the canyon's rim. It is suspended more than 1,200 meters above the bottom of the canyon and is shaped like a giant horseshoe. Many call the Skywalk an engineering wonder, but others have criticized the Skywalk and its development. They say it reduces the enjoyment of nature in the Grand Canyon. For visitors hoping to get a view of the entire Grand Canyon, they will have to travel well beyond the state of Arizona. The only place to see the entire canyon at once is from outer space. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Jonathan Evans. And that's our program for today. Join us again tomorrow to keep learning English through stories from around the world.