Melting ice cream in Ecuador, Saving Sea Turtles, Asking questions, Speak & Talk

On today’s program, Caty Weaver and Mario Ritter, Jr. host the show. Caty tells listeners what they are going to hear.
(2:06) First, Jill Robbins has a report on how power outages are hurting a town in Ecuador. The town of Salcedo is famous for ice cream products. But power outages that take place every day are threatening businesses there. Officials say dry weather is causing problems for hydroelectric energy in the area. learningenglis...
(7:36) Then, Anna Matteo has a story about efforts to save marine reptiles off the northeastern coast of the United States. Over the last 20 years, the number of stranded sea turtles has increased off the New England coast. The turtles get trapped in cold waters and become stunned. An animal center at the New English Aquarium in Massachusetts, collects stunned turtles and nurses them back to health aiming to release them into the wild. learningenglis...
(13:04) After that, John Russell presents the Education Report. John has tips on the good results language learners can get from asking questions. Suzanne Meyer, the assistant director at the English Language Institute at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, discussed question-asking and the development of critical thinking skills with John. John then talks about how forming questions also expands critical thinking. He gives some examples of how this can be done using the question: how can food affect a person’s performance? He then provides ways to build on the question to think critically and develop additional questions. learningenglis...
(18:50)The Education Report is followed by a chat between John and Caty. John adds to his earlier report by saying that Questions can also help us engage in deep processing. Deep processing helps with remembering and comprehension.
(20:51) Finally, Jill Robbins and Andrew Smith present Lesson of the Day. The two discuss Lesson 21 of Level II of Let’s Learn English. That episode explores the difference in usage between the words “speak” and “talk.” Jill and Andrew note that native speakers use the terms a little differently.
They note that talk is often used to describe conversations involving two or more people and is often informal. Speak often describes “one way” speech and is often used for formal communication.
In the episode, Anna Matteo wants to buy Pete a birthday present, so she goes to an unusual shop that recycles trash. This gives Anna a chance to use “speak to” and “talk” in different ways.
There is also a chance to describe the idiomatic expression “speak to me” and “speak for yourself.” learningenglis...
Then Caty and Mario sign off.
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