 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. Coming up on the program, Weaver reports on the attacks on commercial ships in and around the Red Sea. Andrew Smith has a story on Russians volunteering to join Ukraine to fight against Russia. I report on the growth of online therapy in schools, and Ashley presents the lesson of the day. Recent attacks on ships in and near the Red Sea by Yemen's Houthi rebels have affected some of the world's top shipping and oil companies. The threat has moved trade away from an important route for global trade. The change will likely cause delays and increase the prices of goods and energy. Both oil and European natural gas prices rose a little over market concerns about Houthi attacks. The group, which is supported by Iran, confirmed two new attacks Monday. They were the latest in a series of attacks targeting container ships and oil tankers, passing through the narrow waterway that separates Yemen from East Africa. The waterway then leads north to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. It is estimated that 10% of the world's trade passes through the canal. Energy supplies reach Europe and beyond on tankers. And food products like palm oil and grain are carried by container ships through the Suez Canal. This is a problem for Europe. It's a problem for Asia, said John Stoppert. He is with the International Chamber of Shipping. The industry group represents 80% of the world's commercial shipping fleet. Stoppert noted that 40% of Asia-Europe trade normally takes the route through the Red Sea. Almost all goods that stores need for Christmas will have already arrived. But online orders could be delayed, experts said. That is because four of the world's five largest container shipping companies have suspended or rerouted movements from the Red Sea in recent days. MSC, MERSC, C-M-A-C-G-M group, and HAPA Gloyd are shipping companies that move all consumer goods between Asia and Europe. Almost all services will have to make this rerouting, said Simon Haney, who is with Drury, a shipping research group. Ships will have to go around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope instead. That will add at least a week of travel time, experts say. Depending on what companies decide to do, they could add more ships to make up for the longer trip. They could also travel faster, but that would use more fuel. Stopper of the shipping chamber said he expects some price increases in the short term. But that depends on how long the security threat lasts. The HAPA military spokesman said Monday his group launched what he described as naval aircraft at the Cayman Islands flagged ship Swan Atlantic. The boat is a chemical and oil products carrier. The group also attacked the Panama flagged cargo ship MSC Clara. He did not offer more details. Denmark-based ship operator Unitankers said the Swan Atlantic was hit by an unknown object that started a small fire. Crew members put it out and all were reported to be safe, the company said. It received military aid and continued on its way. Problems in Red Sea shipping could have far-reaching effects because they are happening at the same time ships are being restricted through the Panama Canal. The canal is a major trade route between Asia and the United States. Some companies have planned to reroute to the Red Sea to avoid delays at the Panama Canal caused by a lack of rainfall, experts said. With the Houthi attacks, companies taking measures to avoid risk will have to take the longer route around Africa. I'm Katie Weaver. In Ukraine, a man who goes by his military name Karabas is training to fight against the Russian army. But Karabas is not from Ukraine. He is from Russia. Karabas was living in Moscow when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. He was shocked and very upset and he decided to act. He decided to find a way to get to Ukraine. There he hoped to join troops fighting Russian forces. It took him almost a year to make it happen. Today he is part of the Siberian Battalion, a group of Russians who have joined the Ukrainian military to fight against their own country. Its members come mostly from ethnic minorities from Russia's Far East. They hope to someday help remove Russian President Vladimir Putin from power. Karabas told the Associated Press that he was disappointed in the Russian people. He said that he was upset that people were supporting Putin without thinking. And he was upset that they did not seem to care about the war. That is why I wanted to come here and fight for a free Ukraine, he added. Unlike other volunteer units in Ukraine with Russian nationals, the Siberian Battalion is officially part of the Ukrainian army. To enter the unit, fighters must pass strict security checks. This process can take up to a year. Karabas went to Armenia first. There he met Ukrainians and learned to speak the Ukrainian language. Now he refuses to speak Russian. The Ukrainian army is training the Siberian Battalion and sending them to the front lines in Eastern Ukraine. That area has seen some of the deadliest fighting of the war. Russian and Ukrainian forces continue to fight for control of it. Fighters in the battalion from Eastern Siberia hope a Ukrainian victory will weaken or change Russia's control over their region. The area is among the poorest in Russia. People from the areas Yakut and Buryat ethnic communities complain of racism and unfair use of power against them in Russia. This has made some activists call for independence. Another Russian fighter, who goes by the name Holod, openly said he wants Putin's administration removed from power. When this happens we can talk about victory, he said. Karabas and other Russians left their entire lives behind, including families and friends. Some from the battalion have already been sent near Avdivka, a Ukraine-controlled city in the Donetsk region. The Russian military has been fighting to take control of the area. The battalion was created six months ago. It has fewer than 100 members, but Ukrainian military leaders hope more will join. Based on applications they have received, they are aiming to have up to 300 members in the unit. Karabas said there may be tens or hundreds of thousands of other Russians like him willing to fight with Ukraine. I think we should have a lot more Russian fighters, he said. I'm Andrew Smith. Public schools in the United States are increasingly employing online mental health services or teletherapy for students. At least 16 of the 20 largest American public school systems are offering online therapy to reach millions of students, reports the Associated Press. In those systems alone, schools have signed provider contracts worth more than $70 million. The business model is making so much money that venture capitalists are investing in new companies as the market grows. However, some experts have raised concerns about the quality of care offered by fast-growing tech companies. But educators say teletherapy works for many kids and is meeting a large need. Schools are also experiencing shortages in on-site therapists. Online help has made therapy more easily available to children, especially poorer students and those in rural areas. Schools let students connect with online counselors during the school day or after hours from home. Ishu is a mother of two in Lancaster, California. She struggled to help her second grade daughter deal with severe anxiety. Last spring, her school district started a teletherapy program and Ishu signed up her daughter. During a month of weekly video sessions at her home, the girl opened up to a therapist. The therapist gave the students tools and techniques to reduce anxiety. She learned that it's okay to ask for help, and sometimes everyone needs some extra help, Ishu said. The 13,000-student school system, like many others, has counselors and psychologists on staff. But it is not enough to meet the need, said Trish Wilson, the Lancaster supervisor of counseling. Therapists in the area have full caseloads, making it impossible to offer students immediate care, she said. Students rarely have to wait long for an online session. Students and their parents said in interviews, they turned to teletherapy after struggling with feelings of sadness, loneliness, stress, and anxiety. For many, returning to in-person school after distance learning was very difficult. Schools are using federal pandemic relief money to pay for help as experts have warned of worrying rates of youth depression, anxiety, and suicide. Many school districts are signing contracts with private companies. Others are working with local health care providers, nonprofits, or state programs. Mental health experts welcome the extra support, but warn about possible risks. For one, it is getting harder to employ on-site school counselors and psychologists. Competition with telehealth providers is not helping. We have 44 counselor vacancies, and telehealth definitely impacts our ability to fill them, said Doreen Hogan's. She is supervisor of school counseling in Prince George's County, Maryland. Hogan's estimates 20% of school counselors who left have taken teletherapy jobs. The jobs often provide more favorable working hours than the schools. The quick growth of the companies raises questions about the quality of the therapists and their experience with children and privacy, said Kevin Dayhill Fuchel. He is executive director of counseling in schools, a nonprofit that helps schools improve traditional in-person mental health services. One of the biggest providers is San Francisco-based Hazel Health. It started with telemedicine health services in schools in 2016 and expanded to mental health in May 2021, CEO Josh Galloam said. It now employs more than 300 therapists providing teletherapy in over 150 school districts in 15 states. Other providers are getting into the space. In November, New York City started a free telehealth therapy service for teens to help end barriers to access, said Ashwin Vossen, the city's health commissioner. New York is paying the company Talkspace $26 million over three years for a service permitting teenagers to download an app and connect with therapists. Unlike other cities, New York is offering the service to all teens whether attending private, public, or home schools or not in school at all. I truly hope this normalizes and democratizes access to mental health care for our young people, Vossen said. Dan Novak joins me now to talk more about today's education report. Hi, Dan. Hi, Ashley. Thanks for having me. There was a phrase in the story I was hoping you could explain to our listeners. Venture capitalist. What is a venture capitalist? Right, so venture capital is a form of business financing used to help fund startup companies. You say in the story that venture capitalists are investing more in teletherapy. Yes, that's because schools are spending a lot of money on teletherapy. At least $70 million in contracts at school districts around the country. So there's a lot of money to be made by these new companies. But it is causing some concern from educators and advocates for student mental health. There's really no way to be sure if the therapists at these startup companies are good at their jobs or provide effective therapy for students. So these companies are quickly expanding, but there's still a shortage of school psychologists? That's right. Many school districts still have many counselor vacancies to fill. That's partly because school counselors have been leaving schools for teletherapy companies, often because of better working hours. But the good thing about teletherapy is that therapists are on call almost all the time, and it's pretty easy to set up an appointment. But it remains to be seen whether online therapy is as effective as an in-person school-hired therapist. Thanks for answering my questions, Dan. No problem, Ashley. In this next report, John Russell tells us about a geothermal project that is supplying power to Google data centers. We learn that some new geothermal projects are using technology from the oil and gas industry. Pay careful attention to the word springboard. We will talk more about it after the report. Tim Latimer is chief and co-founder of Fervo Energy based in Houston, Texas. His company is working with Google on its geothermal project. Latimer said that getting electricity on the grid from geothermal resources is an event many new energy companies never reach. He added that he believes geothermal energy will become more well known than in the past. The International Energy Agency, IEA, has long suggested geothermal could be an answer to climate change. The IEA said in a 2011 document that geothermal could reach 3.5% of global electricity production each year by 2050. The Paris-based international group says geothermal energy could prevent almost 800 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Fervo Energy is using this first test to launch other projects that will provide more electricity to the grid. The company is currently completing some work in southwest Utah for a 400 megawatt project. Google and Fervo Energy started working together in 2021 to develop geothermal power. The plant near Winamooka, Nevada, is now operating and is sending about 3.5 megawatts to the grid. There are three wells there. However, the data centers require more electricity than that. So Google signed other agreements for solar energy and electricity storage, too. The company has two plants in Nevada, one near Las Vegas and the other near Reno. Michael Terrell leads climate efforts at Google. He said the company is considering using geothermal energy for other data centers worldwide. We're really hoping that this could be a springboard to much, much more advanced geothermal power available to us and others around the world, he said. Google announced in 2020 that it would use what it calls carbon-free energy every hour of every day wherever it operates by 2030. Many energy experts believe huge companies like Google can play a part in increasing the use of clean energy. Terrell noted the company was also an early supporter of wind and solar projects, helping those markets grow to where they are today. It's a very similar situation. Now that we've set a goal to be 24-7 carbon-free energy, we have found it will take more than just wind, solar, and storage, Terrell said. The United States leads the world in using heat from the Earth for electricity production. But geothermal makes up less than half a percent of the nation's total electricity production, says the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In 2022, that geothermal power came from California, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii, Oregon, Idaho, and New Mexico. Those are states thought to have geothermal possibilities because they have large amounts of steam or very hot water close to the surface. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granum said earlier this year that advances in new geothermal systems will help introduce this form of energy to areas where it has been thought to be impossible. Some geothermal companies, including Fervo, are now going deeper below ground. This makes it possible to find energy in more places. Latimer is a former drilling engineer in the oil and gas industry. Drilling technology got much better during the shale boom that turned the United States into a top oil and gas producer and exporter. But very little new technology has gone from the oil and gas industry to geothermal, said Fervo official Sarah Jewett. In October, Latimer gave a presentation at Climate Tech 2023 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Latimer told the conference about how Fervo is developing horizontal drilling in geothermal reservoirs. By drilling horizontally, Fervo can reach more of the hot reservoir instead of drilling many wells straight down. Both Fervo and Google said geothermal is valuable as a clean energy technology that is always available. Fervo's next project, in Beaver County, Utah, is to begin providing clean power to the grid in 2026 and reach full production in 2028. This is unlocking something deeply sought after in the market today and that is round-the-clock renewable energy, Jewett said. I'm John Russell. Before the report, we asked you to pay careful attention to the word springboard. Can you remember when you heard it? You heard the word in a quote from Michael Terrell of Google. Let's listen again. We're really hoping that this could be a springboard to much, much more advanced geothermal power available to us and others around the world, he said. Springboard is a noun. We spell it like this. S-P-R-I-N-G-B-O-A-R-D. You might want to practice saying the word springboard very slowly at first. Springboard can be difficult to pronounce because it involves a consonant cluster, a group of consonant sounds, at the beginning of the word. With time you can try saying the word a little more quickly. A few words about the history of springboard. The online etymology dictionary notes that the word dates to the late 1700s. The term meant an elastic board used in vaulting. It comes from the verb spring and the noun board. The idea of a springboard is that it allows a person to jump on it and go much higher than they would normally be able to do, like in a gymnastics competition. We use the term springboard in a figurative sense as well. A springboard can be something that helps you start a process. So when you heard Michael Terrell say that Google hoped the geothermal project could be a springboard to much, much more advanced geothermal power, he meant that the current project could help start the process of development for much more advanced technologies. And that's the lesson of the day. And that's our program for today. Join us again tomorrow to keep learning English through stories from around the world. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak.