Update: Breakthrough in Fighting Zika

November 28, 2016

A look at the best news photos from around the world.

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Lesson 37: Let's Agree to Disagree

Summary In this lesson, Anna meets a new friend. Phil is new to Washington, D.C. and he feels lost in the city. Anna asks him to make the city a friendlier place. Speaking Use this video to earn the new words for this lesson. Then, learn how to give a reason when you say your opinion. Pronunciation Use this video to learn how to pronounce possessive pronouns. Conversation Anna: You know, I am from the country and sometimes I miss it. But I really like life in the city! I love the city. Oh, look. Someone lost a bag. Maybe it's theirs. Excuse me. Is this bag yours? Dr. Jill: No. It's not mine. It might be hers. Anna: Excuse me. Is this bag yours? Sarah: No. It's not mine. It might be his. Anna: Thank you. Hello. Is this bag yours? Phil: Yes, that's mine. These are all my travel things. Thank you, thank you! Anna: Are you okay? You seem ... nervous. Phil: Well, this is my first visit to Washington, D.C. I'm from a small town in the country. I feel a little lost. Anna: I am from the country too! And I understand. When I first came here, I felt lost ... all the time. Phil: So, do you like living in the country or in the city? Anna: I like to live in the city. Phil: Why? Anna: The city is exciting! It has more culture than the country. There are many museums and restaurants. Every night, there is theater and music. And, there are more jobs. That is why I'm here. Phil: Well, I agree. There is more culture in the city and there might be more jobs. But the country has more nature! It's peaceful and beautiful. There are more trees and mountains. The air is clean. You can go hiking and camping. The city is not beautiful. It's noisy and dirty. Anna: I disagree. I think all the different buildings are beautiful. And I like to watch all the different people. Phil: That's another thing that is different. People in the country are friendly. They always say "hello!" Here, no one says "hello." I think city people are rude. Anna: Well, I agree. Country people are friendly. But I don't think city people are rude. I think they're just busy. Phil: That's a good point. Anna: Look at me. I live in the city and I said "hello" to you. Phil: But you are from the country. Anna: I have an idea. Let's say "hello!" to people -- to many people! Phil: What? Why? Anna: Well, if we say "hello," maybe they will say "hello" to other people ... Hello! Phil: ... and they will say "hello" to more people! That's a great idea! I'm glad you found my bag. Anna: Come on. Let's go say "hello" to people. Anna: We don't have to agree with people. They have their opinions. We have ours. And as we like to say, you can always agree to disagree! Until next time...! Hello! Writing What is the best place to live? Tell us about where you live now or where you want to live. Be sure you give a reason for your opinion. Write to us by email or in the Comments section. Click on the image below to download the Activity Sheet and practice sharing opinions.  Learning Strategy Learning Strategies are the thoughts and actions that help make learning easier or more effective. The learning strategy for this lesson is Personalize.  This means connecting new information to our own feelings and experiences. When we are listening in English, we personalize by thinking about how what we hear is like our own experience. When speaking or writing, we can use what we know to communicate. In this lesson, Anna tells Phil why she likes living in the city. She is personalizing by thinking about the things she likes: "The city is exciting! It has more culture than the country. There are many museums and restaurants. Every night, there is theater and music. And, there are more jobs." Can you find another example in this lesson of someone personalizing and giving a reason for their opinion? Write to us about it in the Comments section or send us an email. Teachers, see the Lesson Plan for more details on teaching this strategy. Quiz Listen to short videos and test your listening skills with this quiz. _____________________________________________________________ New Words agree - v. to have the same opinion dirty - adj. not clean disagree - v. to have a different opinion friendly - adj. acting like a friend or kind and helpful    nature - n. the physical world and everything in it that is not made by people    noisy - adj. making a lot of loud or unpleasant noise opinion - n. a belief, judgment, or way of thinking about   something peaceful - adj. quiet and calm or without noise rude - adj. not polite ______________________________________________________________ Free Materials   Download the VOA Learning English Word Book for a dictionary of the words we use on this website. Each Let's Learn English lesson has an Activity Sheet for extra practice on your own or in the classroom. In this lesson, you can use it to practice giving your opinion and asking others for theirs. For Teachers See the Lesson Plan for this lesson for ideas and more teaching resources. Send us an email if you have comments on this course or questions. Grammar focus: Possessive Pronouns (mine, ours, their, theirs, her/hers, his/his) Topics: Exchanging Opinions; Agreement & disagreement; Comparing things, places, & people Learning Strategy: Personalize Speaking & Pronunciation Focus:  ​Giving a reason for your opinion; Pronouncing possessive pronouns   ____________________________________________________________ Now it's your turn. What do you like best about using Let's Learn English? Send us an email or write to us in the Comments section below or on our Facebook page to let us know what you think of this lesson. ​

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Weather Predictions Expected to Improve with New U.S. Satellite

A new American weather satellite could save more lives by better predicting extreme weather conditions. The satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, in the state of Florida, on November 19. It will be in orbit some 36,000 kilometers above Earth’s surface. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also known as NOAA, has been working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on the project. NOAA officials are calling the new satellite GOES-R. That is short for a much longer name -- the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – R Series. NOAA said GOES-R could improve the nation’s ability to observe weather conditions and make weather predictions. It said the satellite’s deployment would lead to more exact and timely weather forecasts, watches and warnings. The government agency said the satellite will require testing of its six instruments and will be ready to work “within a year.” Next generation of weather satellites “The next generation of weather satellites is finally here,” said NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan. She described GOES-R as one of the most sophisticated Earth-observing machines ever created. Sullivan said its instruments will be able to study Earth five times faster and with four times more detail than any other NOAA satellite currently in operation. She believes this will make the United States an even stronger, more “Weather-Ready” nation. A NOAA statement said the greater detail will help improve the agency’s study of ocean storms, as well as “the prediction and warnings of severe weather.” In addition, GOES-R will be able to provide improved rainfall estimates, which will lead to more timely and detailed flood warnings. The statement also said that GOES-R will give better estimates of wind strength, as well as better measurement of fog, ice or lightning strikes. One of the six instruments on the satellite is designed to help scientists study lightning strikes and map them. This, NOAA says, will help the agency follow the movement of severe storms and provide more detailed warnings. Craig Fugate serves as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He says that the GOES-R satellite will improve the ability of people and organizations across America to prepare for, and react to, weather-related disasters. Fugate feels that better understanding of the world around us will lead to better results. These include knowing where to best position supplies before a storm hits and providing more targeted information to local officials. That information could help the officials decide when to order civilians to leave an area because of bad weather. In addition to weather forecasting, GOES-R will be part of an international search and rescue network. It will have a “special transponder” that will be able to find signals from emergency beacons. I’m Phil Dierking. This story first appeared on VOANews.com. Phil Dierking adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. How could better weather forecast help you? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   beacon – n. a radio signal that is broadcast to help guide ships, airplanes, etc. forecast – n. to say that (something) will happen in the future geostationary – adj. moving in orbit in space along the equator, so that it remains stationary to a fixed point on the surface sophisticated – adj. highly developed and complex transponder – n. a device that receives a radio signal and sends out a signal in response and that is used especially to show the location of something

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Less Energy Now Produced by Coal in US South

Three large machines called turbines produce electricity at the Buck Combined Cycle Station in central North Carolina, near the town of Salisbury. Tall chimneys that once released smoke into the air all day and night are now unused. The last coal-fueled generators that operated at the energy center were closed a few years ago. Trains full of coal no longer arrive at the center, and large piles of coal no longer cover the ground. The center is owned by Duke Energy. Energy companies have had to sharply reduce the amount of coal they use for several reasons: Stronger government rules have reduced the level of carbon permitted to be sent into the air. And there is a growing demand for clean energy. The new energy center is fueled by natural gas. It is a much cleaner source of electricity than coal. Bill Wilson is the senior engineer of the Buck Combined Cycle Station. He says Duke Energy has closed about half of its coal-fueled energy centers in recent years and has replaced them with ones fueled by natural gas. He told VOA it is less costly to fuel the plant with natural gas than with coal. Switching over Coal was the main fuel used to generate electricity in the United States for many years. But the U.S. Energy Information Administration says in 2015 coal and natural gas were used equally to create electricity -- about 33 percent each. The shift from coal to natural gas is happening at energy centers throughout the country. In July, coal was removed from the Clinch River Coal Plant in Russell County, Virginia. The plant is owned by American Electric Power. Last year, parts of the center were converted from coal to natural gas use. Ricky Chaffin is the manager of the plant. He says it is now not only cleaner but produces more electricity. “You don’t have to handle the coal,” he says. “You don’t have to move the coal from the pile to the plant. We’ve got a lot less equipment. So (there is) a whole lot less manpower required to (operate) a (natural) gas plant,” he said. When the plant was fueled by coal, 182 people were needed to operate it. Now, 46 people work there. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has predicted that natural gas will become the country’s largest source of electricity this year. In North Carolina, Duke Energy plans to close most of its coal-fueled power plants in the next few decades. But as it does, it faces environmental problems. Last month, the company reached an agreement to remove the coal ash from its Buck Steam Station that has been polluting groundwater and the nearby Yadkin River for many years. I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise.     VOA Correspondent Nadeem Yaqub reported this story from Charlotte, North Carolina. Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the report for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   turbine – n. an engine that spins and can be used to produce electricity chimney – n. a tall structure on a building that allows smoke to rise and escape outside plant – n. a building or factory where something is made convert – v. to change from one thing to another pile – n. a group of things that are put one on top of another manpower – n. the number of people who are available to work decade – n. a 10-year period coal ash – n. waste that remains after coal is burned groundwater – n. water that is underground

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Cameroon Taking Steps to Control Social Media

  Social media use has risen sharply in Cameroon, as have the government’s efforts to control it. Our story begins at a church in Limbe, in southwestern Cameroon. These church members are praying for three men. A military court ruled against the three earlier this month. The men were arrested after they reportedly shared a joke about a membership campaign for the Boko Haram terrorist group on social media.  The trial was not open to the public. The rights group Amnesty International and local rights activists condemned the court’s ruling. Tabot Timothy is a 22-year-old law student at the University of Douala-Cameroon. He joined others at the religious center one day recently to protest the ruling. “It was just normal for a thorough investigation to be carried out to really ascertain the fact that these guys were joking. It is unjust. Thorough investigations were not carried out.” The government has used several laws to limit mobile and online communication, including an anti-terrorism law passed in 2014. Barrister George Marcellin Tsoungui is with the Cameroon Bar Council. He says people who use social media to spread unproven information can be sentenced to between six months and two years in prison and fined $10,000 to $20,000. He says the punishments can be twice those amounts if a court rules that the communications were designed to cause unrest. Police detained a journalist in January after he incorrectly reported on social media that President Paul Biya had visited soldiers in Cameroon’s north. In March, police arrested people accused of sharing a letter from the country’s minister of defense on social media. The letter was released without the minister’s permission. It said that Boko Haram members had arrived in the capital, Yaounde. The National Communications Council has the power to stop reporters from working and close media businesses. It is investigating 20 complaints made by top government officials. One of the reports is about a minister who was seen on Facebook dancing to the music of Franko -- a singer whose songs are banned by the government. Yet social media and mobile messaging apps and networking sites are increasingly popular in Cameroon. In fact, they are used by both opponents and supporters of the government.  Nelson Tawe has examined the spread of social media in Cameroon. “Social media is inevitable. It’s like a devil that you are called upon to live with. It’s difficult to suppress it. It’s just going to be like throwing water on the duck’s back. Social media has come to stay -- there’s no way you can suppress it. I think that (the) government will have an uphill task to succeed in what it’s trying to do.” Several other African countries have taken actions against people who use social media in ways governments believe are illegal. I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise.   Moki Edwin Kindzeka reported this story from Yaounde. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted his report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   ascertain – v. to learn or find out (something, such as information or the truth) mobile – adj. cell phone; smart phone journalist – n. reporter; a person who collects, writes and edits news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, radio or the internet app – n. a computer program that performs a special function, especially on a smartphone inevitable – adj. sure to happen

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UN Warns of Worsening Situation for Displaced Afghans

Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been displaced from their homes because of continuing violence in the country. They face severe hardship as the country’s harsh winter approaches. The United Nations calls these people “internally-displaced persons.” They include both those who fled their homes and those forced to return to Afghanistan from neighboring countries. The UN says more than one million people will be in this situation by the end of the year. VOA spoke with some of the refugees. VOA learned that many of them are helped for just one month. Those who have been displaced for longer than that struggle to find help. Noor Mohammed is one of them. "I've been here from Sangin for seven or eight years because there is war there. We have no facilities here. Look, these kids are playing in the dirt. They don't go to school - there are no health facilities. Winter is coming and we have nothing to deal with it." Most of those at risk are women and children. International aid groups believe they are vulnerable to harm, including women like Najeeba. “The government is not helping us at all. They’ve just left us in these tents without any facilities.” The U.N. has warned that the number of Afghans displaced from their homes because of war may increase by the end of the year. But the amount of help is growing smaller as the number of refugees rises. I’m Bryan Lynn.   VOA Correspondent Ayesha Tanzeem reported this story from Kabul. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the report for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story facility – n. something (such as a building or large piece of equipment) that is built for a specific purpose vulnerable – adj. open to attack or harm

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Everyday Grammar: Reported Speech

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Report: Poor Conditions, Low Wages in Chinese Toy Factories

  China Labor Watch (CLW) is an activist group based in New York. The group studies labor conditions in China’s toy industry. In a recent report, the group wrote: “The world of toys is a heaven for children, but (it) may be a world of misery for toy factory workers.” China Labor Watch released the report this month. It tells about working conditions in four toy factories in southern China’s Guangdong Province. Investigators say the workers are paid wages of $300 or less per month for 174 hours of work. They say the workers make toys such as Barbie, Thomas the Tank Engine and Hot Wheels. These products are sold by Mattel, Hasbro, Disney, McDonald’s, Wal-Mart and other large American companies. China Labor Watch says the employees often work in dangerous conditions and are not well-trained. The group says, “the average working hours in these four factories are 11 hours a day, with more than 50 overtime hours a month.” Overtime is time worked in addition to regular working hours. The group said overtime totals were as high as 130 hours in some factories. The group said its information came from people who worked at the factories. These workers were secretly gathering information for the group at what researchers call “relatively well-managed” factories. Chinese laws say employees may not work more than 8 hours a day. The laws permit work hours to be extended in some cases, but employers must be sure the workers do not become tired. The report says employees sometimes worked 11 hours in a day with only a 40-to 60-minute lunch break. It said this is a clear “violation of the right of workers to have adequate rest.” The report says factory managers regularly asked workers to sign “voluntary overtime agreements.” These agreements permit the factory to violate labor laws and regulations without fear they will be punished. Wages too low to live on Because the pay is so poor, almost all of the employees volunteer to work additional hours. Worker Li Jintao told VOA: “the wages are too low. My monthly salary is $360, but after deductions for social security, I make only a little more than $292 per month.” Workers pay a part of their wages into a social security fund, which is used to support older people when they cannot work anymore. Chinese laws require companies that have foreign investors to pay social security taxes for their workers. But the CLW report says none of the factories closely followed the laws. It said one factory did not pay into the social insurance or the housing fund for the workers. Another factory paid only a part of the money to some workers. The report said some factories even forced the workers to agree to give up their right to receive social insurance and housing funds. Li left his home village at the age of 14 to work in the city. He says his monthly salary includes payment for two to three hours of overtime every day. The 2016 minimum wage in the cities of Dongguan and Foshan is $223 per month, while the minimum wage in Shenzhen is $300 per month. The four factories examined by China Labor Watch are in those cities. Workers at the factories earn about five percent more than the minimum wage. But Li says that is still not enough. He plans to leave his job and return to his family home. No safety training The report said the four factories did not give safety training to workers before they began their job. And it said they failed to give the workers safety equipment. The report said almost all of the workers live and eat in the factories where they work. Some of the workers complained about poor-quality food. They said their sleeping areas are old and dirty and often have uncovered electrical wires. Like many toy exporters in China, the factories China Labor Watch investigated have been examined by the International Toy Association. They are part of a program called ICTI Care, a 10-year-old program that says its goal is to protect toy factory workers. Employers: “Conditions better than ever” Mark Robinson is a spokesman for ICTI Care. He said the project does most of its work in China. He said it has examined more than 1,200 toy factories in the country. The project also operates in Vietnam, India and other countries. Robinson said it represents 66 million workers. He says conditions in the factories are better than they have ever been. He adds that Chinese factories that are part of the program are increasing wages. But the China Labor Watch report said the ICTI standards violate China’s own labor rules. Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch, told VOA that ICTI is “an association backed by Mattel, Disney and Hasbro, which (permits) factory workers to work 72 hours a week, and even 78 hours while the factory has to fill an order.” CLW sees no improvement Li began investigating southern China’s toy factories as an undercover laborer in 1999. He said there have been small improvements but the “overall environment for the toy industry has not improved.” Li said when he was working undercover, “we worked more than 10 hours a day, and it was like a prison. Now, workers still work more than 10 hours a day.” China Labor Watch researchers say companies that operate the factories can raise wages and improve conditions and still be profitable. But they say most companies choose not to do so. Disney, Mattel, and Wal-Mart did not answer VOA’s requests to give a reaction to the report. Disney released a statement. It said, “these issues have been investigated and resolved. Disney will continue to encourage and rely on factory owners, business associates and governments to promote safe, inclusive and respectful workplaces where Disney-brand products are made.” I’m Anna Mateo. And I'm Jonathan Evans.   Correspondent Xiao Yu of VOA’s Mandarin service reported this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the report for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story misery – n. extreme suffering or unhappiness assembly line – n. a line of machines, equipment, workers, etc., in a factory that builds a product by passing work from one station to the next until the product is finished adequate – adj. enough for some need or requirement; good enough; of a quality that is good or acceptable deduction – n. something (such as an amount of money) that is or can be subtracted from a total social security fund – n. a fund created to pay workers when they are too old to work or are injured and cannot work undercover – adj. done or working in a secret way in order to catch criminals or collect information adjust – v. to change in order to work or do better in a new situation brand – n. a category of products that are all made by a particular company and all have a particular name

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The Making of a Nation: Louisiana Purchase

The U.S. was not always this big. A series of unexpected events transformed the U.S. from a small nation along the Atlantic Ocean into a large country that stretched across most of North America. This video tells the story of the Louisiana Purchase.

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‘President Trump’ Worries Some International Students

  Hussain Saeed Alnahdi was one of the almost 400 international students attending the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Twenty-four-year-old Alnahdi was from Saudi Arabia. He began his studies at the school in the Midwestern part of the United States last year. But early on the morning of October 30, Alnahdi’s experience as an international student came to a violent end. An unnamed attacker beat him until he died outside a restaurant in the city of Menomonie. A few weeks later, police announced they had arrested a suspect. They said they do not believe the attack was a hate crime, or a crime influenced by race. But events like the attack in Wisconsin have raised concerns for many international students living and studying in the U.S. Study in the U.S.A. is a company that supports international students who want to study at American colleges and universities. A few days before the U.S. presidential election, the company released the results of an opinion study of 1,000 international students from 130 countries. Over 65 percent of the students said they would be less likely to study in the U.S. if Donald Trump were elected president. FPP EDU Media also works with international students. The company released its own survey of 40,000 students in June. Those results suggested 60 percent of their students felt the same way. During his campaign, President-elect Trump made statements about Mexican people that many critics called racist. At one point, he called for a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a civil rights group based in Montgomery, Alabama. The group says it has received 437 reports of incidents of intimidation and harassment in the six days following the election. Renait Stephens is the chief executive officer of Study in the U.S.A. She says international students and their parents are worried. However, she is also hopeful. She argues that what a politician says during a campaign and what they do once they are in power are two different things. Stephens says international students will have to wait and see what happens. "It’s early days. And until we know something more about any policy changes, then I think we just have to really emphasize that and hope that our education system will continue to be how it is right now. So right now we’re just trying to reassure students that nothing has changed. U.S. campuses are still safe. They’re still open. They’re still diverse. And you still get a fantastic education." Other experts say there has never been any real threat to international education. The Institute of International Education (IIE) is a nonprofit organization that studies and supports international student exchanges. Together with the U.S. Department of State, the IIE releases a report every year on the number of international students in the U.S. The 2016 Open Doors report says about 1,044,000 international students attended American colleges and universities last year. That is a record number. Peggy Blumenthal is an official with the IIE. She says the organization has been recording international student numbers for over 90 years. She says international students are mostly concerned with the quality of the education they can get in the U.S. The rest of the world still values the strength of the American higher education system above almost any other country, she adds. Blumenthal points to historical examples. When the U.S. accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in the capital of Serbia in 1999, major protests took place at the U.S. embassy in Beijing. But, she says, shortly after the protests, Chinese students were complaining the American embassy was not processing their visas fast enough. Blumenthal says this shows world events do not easily affect international student exchanges. "International students really value their opportunity to study in the United States. And throughout the whole history of our collecting data, there has almost never been a drop in the number of international students coming to the United States. There have been many important changes in American policy, in international circumstances, in the economy. But the numbers of international students pretty much continues to rise regardless of what’s going on elsewhere around them." Blumenthal admits there may be a small decrease in the number of Muslim students coming to U.S. schools. That also happened after the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11th, 2001. But she says a decrease in students from one country is often balanced by an increase in students from other countries. Foreign students bring a lot to the economies of many towns and cities across the U.S. The U.S. Department of Commerce says international students added about $30 billion to the U.S. economy in 2015. Blumenthal argues that no politician is willing to risk losing that. However, Philip Altbach remains worried. Altbach is the director of the Center for International Higher Education. The center works through Boston College to research and support international study. Altbach says there are examples of decreases in international study in other countries. He notes the major decrease of Indian students studying in Australia after several Indians were attacked there in 2009 and 2010. He also says the language Trump and his supporters used during the campaign has lowered the world’s opinion of the U.S. "I think that the toxic discourse of the campaign and of what Mr. Trump has said for a long time actually is extraordinarily damaging for the image of the United States in general and in the thinking of students and faculty members overseas who may be considering studying in the United States or coming here as professors. Because the choice of where to study in the world depends very significantly on the comfort that students and their families will feel about the country to which they are planning to go." Altbach says international students and professors bring different perspectives to the universities where they study or teach. Losing them would cost the American students a lot -- educationally and financially. He says international graduate students and professors are involved in much of the research done at most U.S. universities. Also, decreases in international student numbers may not affect large, well-known universities, he says. But many others need international students to pay the full price to attend. Having international students pay more makes it possible for schools to let American students attend at reduced cost, he says. Altbach admits there is no way to know what will happen until the new administration takes office. But until then, universities must make clear public statements saying they will support and protect international students. If not, Altbach says, America may no longer be the first choice for people seeking the best education in the world. I’m Pete Musto.   Pete Musto reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. How would Donald Trump being president affect your decision to study in America? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   hate crime – n. a crime influenced by an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex or religion, typically involving violence influence(d) – v. to affect or change someone or something in an indirect but usually important way survey – n. an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something racist – adj. showing belief that some races of people are better than others intimidation – n. enforcing agreement by making someone afraid or using violence harassment – n. constant or repeated action causing someone to feel slightly angry or troubled, worried, or concerned emphasize – v. to give special attention to something reassure – v. to make someone feel less afraid, upset, or doubtful diverse – adj. made up of people or things that are different from each other toxic – adj. very unpleasant discourse – n. the use of words to exchange thoughts and ideas perspective(s) – n. a way of thinking about and understanding something, such as a particular issue or life in general graduate student(s) – n. a person who is working on a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university after earning a bachelor's degree or other first degree

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