 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, Anna Matteo and Dan Friedle tell us why small coffee growers in several countries are worried they may not be able to sell to Europe after new rules take effect. Brian Linn presents this week's Technology Report. We close the show by hearing today's lesson of the day. But first, here are Anna and Dan. Coffee growers in many countries are worried about a new European rule designed to prevent deforestation. Deforestation describes when developers cut down trees to make room for crops, buildings, or land where cattle can graze. The new rule goes into effect at the end of 2024. It covers products like coffee, cocoa, soy, palm oil, wood, rubber, and beef. The European Union says all of those products result in tree cutting. The United Nations says deforestation is the world's second leading cause of carbon emissions after the burning of fossil fuels. Large producers must show their products come from land where trees have not been cut down since 2020. Smaller producers must do the same, but will be permitted to sell their products until July 2025. A report from the World Wildlife Fund showed that Europe's imports of products linked to forest clearing caused the second most deforestation in the world in 2017. That year China was first. An expert said the new European rule could help prevent more deforestation and push farmers around the world to plant trees, vines, and grasses. Helen Bellfield is a policy director at Global Canopy, a non-profit organization based in Britain. It suggests businesses change their production methods that hurt the environment. She said the new EU rules could force governments to help farmers make changes. On the other hand, farmers could just sell to countries outside of the EU. The world's top coffee producers include Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Peru. Growers in those countries worry they will no longer be able to sell in Europe. The new EU rules could help coffee farmers like Le Van Tham of Vietnam, who has taken the environment into account. He first planted coffee in the Central Highlands area in 1995. At the time, he cleared land so he could grow as much coffee as possible. But in 2019 he changed his growing methods. Instead of using lots of fertilizers and pesticides, he started planting tamarind trees that add nutrients to the soil. He added black pepper vines and grass, which helps to keep the soil moist and prevents erosion. The changes qualified his coffee as organic, which opened new markets and made his coffee more valuable. He did not produce more, but his profits went up, he said. Vietnam hopes that more farmers will make changes, which will permit them to sell in Europe and maintain the nation's rank as the world's second largest coffee producer. The news is not as good for those in Ethiopia and Peru. Orders for Ethiopian coffee are already falling, and Peru's farmers who are in the Amazon River area may not be able to provide information required by the EU. There will be winners and losers, Bellfield said. Vietnam depends on Europe for 40% of its coffee sales. As soon as the new rules came out, the country began working to maintain its market share. Vietnamese officials worked with small farmers to make sure their land met the new EU requirements. In addition, it made a database showing where its coffee came from. Farmers like Tom got special certificates from international agencies that proved how his beans were grown. Tom said the extra work will be worth it because even if his costs are higher, he can get more money for his coffee. Otherwise, we will always be laborers, he said. Small Vietnamese farmers still must get ready for the new rules. They will need technology to prove where their beans came from and that their land is certified by the EU. They will also need to be sure the qualified beans are not mixed with banned beans. From the harvest to shipment, new systems must be put into place to prevent errors. Brazil is another big coffee producing nation. Since it already sells a lot to Europe, experts say most of its products already meet EU requirements. But farmers in Peru and Ethiopia may need more time. Gizat Warcu is head of the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association. He said collecting data about the land of millions of small farmers will be a problem. That requires a huge amount of resources, he said. Gizat said orders from Europe are already falling. Some coffee exporters are thinking about selling to the Middle East and China instead. Ethiopian coffee sells well in those places. These regulations are going to have a tremendous impact, Gizat said. I'm Ana Mateo. And I'm Dan Friedel. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a law that bans children in the state under the age of 14 from having a social media account. The measure requires parental permission before 14 and 15 year olds can sign up for personal social media accounts in Florida. Supporters say the bill protects children from possible online harm, including threats to mental health and privacy. Critics have said the law might violate the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protection of free speech. Some opponents have said they think parents, not the government, should be the ones to decide which restrictions are best for their child. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, opposed the legislation, for example. Florida's legislature passed the law earlier this month. It was the second version of the measure. The first version, which passed Florida's legislature in February, would have completely banned children under age 16 from social media. DeSantis vetoed that version of the bill, saying he thought it was too restrictive of parental rights. But the governor's office worked with legislators to come up with a new measure he could support. The new law leaves it up to parents to decide whether their 16 and 17 year olds can sign up for social media accounts. In a statement DeSantis said research had repeatedly shown that social media services can harm children in several major ways. The legislation he added is designed to give parents a greater ability to protect their children. The law is set to take effect on January 1, 2025. But experts say the measure is likely to face legal challenges in court. DeSantis noted that another bill he signed into law two years ago was recently struck down by a federal appeals court. That law banned employers from requiring training sessions that included discussions about race, diversity and other issues. The appeals court ruled that such training methods violated the constitutional free speech rights of employers. The new law was guided through Florida's House of Representatives by Republican Speaker Paul Renner. In a signing ceremony at a school, Renner said a child whose brain is still developing doesn't have the ability to know that they're being sucked into these addictive technologies. He added, because of that we have to step in for them. The bill does not name any specific social media service, states that it targets social media sites using tools to get users to stay online for long periods. The measure does not cover services that mainly provide email, messaging or texting services. The law requires social media companies to permanently remove personal information collected from closed accounts, and it lets parents bring civil lawsuits against services failing to do so. Several U.S. states have considered similar legislation. In March 2023, Utah became the first to enact laws covering children's use of social media. Measures in Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas soon followed. Several other states are also developing new rules. The Arkansas law required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts. A federal judge blocked the law in August. The judge ruled the legislation was likely unconstitutional. Florida has enacted additional measures aimed at protecting children from possible technological harms. Last year, it became the first state to strongly restrict phones in schools. The law requires all public schools in Florida to ban student cell phone use and block social media services during class. I'm Brian Lin. Brian Lin joins me now to talk more about his technology report. Hi, Brian. Thanks for being here. Of course, Ashley. Thank you for having me. In this week's report, you looked at a law just signed by Florida's governor that bans social media accounts for children under the age of 14. But experts have warned this kind of law can be difficult to enforce. What enforcement measures will be used? Yes, some technology experts have predicted this particular law will be hard to enforce. A big reason for this is because it can be very difficult for social media companies to confirm the correct age of children signing up for accounts on the Internet. So this is the main enforcement method. And tech companies will need to use third-party age verification systems to identify underage individuals. And any users in the state of Florida found to be under age 14 are to have those accounts closed by the services. And what actions does the law permit against social media companies that do not effectively enforce the rules? So the companies do face penalties if they disobey the law. It states, for example, that social media services that knowingly permit minors to have accounts can be punished with fines up to $50,000 per violation. And in addition, the law leaves the possibility open for parents to directly sue companies on behalf of their children if the accounts are not automatically removed. And in those lawsuits, parents can sue and receive up to $10,000 in damages if they win. Okay. Well, thank you again, Brian, for joining me. And thank you for that report. You're welcome. Thank you, Ashley. VOA Learning English has launched a new program for children. It is called Let's Learn English with Anna. The new course aims to teach children American English through asking and answering questions and experiencing fun situations. For more information, visit our website, learningenglish.voanews.com. And my name is Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith. You're listening to Lesson of the Day on the Learning English Podcast. Welcome to the part of the show where we help you do more with our series Let's Learn English. The series shows Anna Matteo in her work and life in Washington, D.C. In a recent Lesson of the Day on the Learning English Podcast, Jill and I talked about people watching. It's something Anna enjoys doing on her lunch break at work. Here's Anna in Lesson 15 of the series. Hello! People from all over the world come to Washington, D.C. When I'm at work, I love eating lunch outside. I like to watch people walking by. They all look very different. Today, my friend Ashley is eating lunch with me. Ashley, today the weather is beautiful, isn't it? Yes, it is. We have to return to work. No, we have time. Let's people watch a little more. Okay. Anna enjoys noticing the differences and similarities between the people she sees walk by. Her friend Kiana likes to watch people too and joins her. The weather is beautiful and people watching is fun. I love people watching too. Well, have a seat. It is fun to see how people are different or the same. It is. For example, Anna, you are tall, but Ashley and I are short. And Kiana, you and Ashley have brown eyes. I have blue eyes. You too have black skin and I have dark skin. Ashley, you have straight hair. Kiana and I have curly hair. You have very curly hair, Anna. These differences between people are easy to see. We can say that the differences are obvious, which means easy to see or understand. But other differences are more subtle. That's spelled S-U-B-T-L-E. But we do not pronounce the letter B in the word. Subtle describes something that is not immediately obvious or easy to notice. As we were saying in a previous podcast, if you know a culture really well, then you might be able to notice subtle differences within that culture. Like an American might be able to make a better guess about where a person is from in the U.S. or about their socioeconomic status based on the person's clothes or accent or maybe some other small details than a person who is not from the U.S. True, the American might notice more small differences, but we still have to be careful not to judge other people too quickly. For example, a rich person and a poor person might wear almost the same kind of informal clothes like a jeans and a t-shirt. Yep, that's right. I remember when I was working in a store, our manager reminded us that you can never be sure which customers have a lot of money. A millionaire can look just the same as somebody who has almost no money. You're listening to Lesson of the Day on the Learning English Podcast. Andrew, I noticed you're using some more advanced vocabulary today. Let's explain the term socioeconomic. It generally refers to the combination of the amount of money you make, your education and certain kinds of power you have. So, if you have a lot of education plus a high income, plus a high position in business or government, your socioeconomic status is high. Status can refer to the importance and respect you have in your group or in society, such as your level within a hierarchy. That's another advanced but useful word, hierarchy. That's spelled H-I-E-R-A-R-C-H-Y. A hierarchy is a system of organizing people into different levels of importance or power. The military is probably the best example. There is a clear hierarchy from the generals at the top to the ordinary soldiers at the bottom with different levels of officers in between. Let's review the vocabulary we've explained. The words are obvious, subtle, socioeconomic and hierarchy. Obvious and subtle have opposite meanings. And socioeconomic status can refer to one's position in the hierarchy of a society. Jill, a minute ago you said that we have to be careful not to judge other people too quickly. I certainly agree, and that reminds me of another word we started to talk about in a previous Learning English podcast. You mean the word stereotype? I do. Could you explain a bit about this word? Sure. A stereotype is a kind of oversimplified generalization about a group of people based on a fixed image or idea about that group. And when you say fixed, you mean unchanging. Yes, stereotypes don't allow for much change. They assume that a group of people always have the same characteristics. And that's just one way they oversimplify or overgeneralize. So, for example, if I said something like, Italians love to eat pasta, listen to opera, and watch soccer, that would be an obvious example of stereotyping. Right, because while it's true that a lot of Italians do like soccer or eat pasta, there's probably millions of people in Italy who do not like to eat pasta or watch soccer. Just like a lot of Americans do not like to eat hamburgers and hot dogs. After all, there are about 300 million people in the U.S. With that many people and people coming from all over the world to live in the U.S., there's quite a bit of cultural variety. And this topic reminds me, there's an interesting talk our listeners can watch and listen to online by the writer Cimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It's called The Danger of a Single Story. Adichie grew up in Nigeria, and she talks about how people in Western countries can have stereotypes about people from Africa, and how she herself sometimes oversimplified other groups of people. So if we only have a single story or a stereotype about other people, that means we are missing the complexity of individuals and the diversity within their culture. Jill, where can people find Adichie's talk online? The website is ted.com, and that's spelled T-E-D. There are a lot of talks there, and they're often called TED talks. You can search for The Danger of a Single Story on the website, and you can also read a transcript of what she says. I've just found it on my computer. Wow, it says her talk has been viewed over 34 million times. Well, I thought it was interesting, and I guess a lot of other people do too. Well, Jill, we've gone from Anna, people watching at her lunch break, to an inspiring talk by a writer from Nigeria. It's interesting how one thing leads to another. And how one word can lead to another. Let's repeat a few key vocabulary words from today's podcast. Good idea. I'll say one, then you say one. Okay. Obvious. Subtle. Socioeconomic. Status. Hierarchy. Stereotype. Fixed. And how about inspiring? You said Adichie's talk on ted.com was inspiring. That's right, I did. And inspiring means it gives you a strong positive feeling and perhaps makes you want to do something good. And we certainly hope our listeners are inspired to learn more with the series Let's Learn English and with the lesson of the day on the Learning English podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith. 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.