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HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
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This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play some music by Michelle Branch …
Answer a question about which foreign languages American studentsstudy …
And tell about a museum in New York City that celebratescapitalism.
Museum of Financial History
HOST:
The Museum of American Financial History in New York City is theonly independent public museum of capitalism in the nation. It tellsthe story of America’s economic system. Shep O’Neal has more.
ANNCR:
The Museum of American Financial History helps people learn aboutthe financial history of the United States. The museum opened innineteen-eighty-eight in the Standard Oil Building, near WallStreet, the financial center of the country. Aboutthirty-five-thousand people visit the museum each year. Half of themare school children. The museum shows the history of Wall Street andthe American stock market. It also tells about famous Americanbusinessmen and women.
The museum tells about the bad days in America’s financial lifeas well as the good times. For example, there are brightly coloredstock ownership documents from failed businesses. These certificatesshow ownership of one share of stock in companies including Enron,ImClone Systems and WorldCom. Investors in these companies once madelots of money. The certificates were highly valued. Now they arealmost worthless except to collectors.
The museum received many of these stock certificates from acompany called Scripophily (skrih-POFF-a-lee)-dot-com. Scripophilybuys and sells collectible stock and bond certificates on theInternet.
A popular museum exhibit shows the events of Octobertwenty-fourth, nineteen-twenty-nine. On that day, the American stockmarket crashed. Many investors lost all their money. The crashstarted the Great Depression. Visitors at the museum can see thelist of falling stock prices.
The museum also is showing the most valuable piece of paper moneythat the United States ever produced. This paper money was worthone-hundred-thousand dollars. It was printed innineteen-thirty-four. It was used to send money between FederalReserve banks. Today, the highest valued paper money in America isthe one-hundred-dollar bill. The government stopped printing billsof larger amounts to try to prevent illegal financial activities.
A statue of John D. Rockefeller looks over the museum’s exhibits.Mister Rockefeller was one of America’s richest businessmen. Hestarted the Standard Oil Company in eighteen-seventy. Hisheadquarters once was in the building that now is home to the Museumof American Financial History.
Foreign Language Study
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from China. Jessicaasks if students are required to learn a foreign language in theUnited States, and if so, which ones are the most popular.
Foreign language study starts at a very young age for manystudents in America. A recent report by the American Council on theTeaching of Foreign Languages says some students start languagetraining at age six. States do not require foreign language trainingthis early in education. But many students choose to study languagesin elementary school. The most popular languages for young studentsare Spanish, French and German.
Almost seven-million students in public secondary schools in theUnited States are studying a foreign language. This is aboutthirty-four percent of students at the junior high and high schoollevel. These students are from twelve to seventeen years old. Nearlyseventy percent of students studying a foreign language at thislevel choose Spanish. French, German, Italian, Japanese and Russianare also popular. There is also a growing interest in the Arabiclanguage in the United States.
Each state sets its own requirements for foreign language studyat the junior high and high school level. Many students graduatehigh school with at least two years of foreign language study. Somestudy a foreign language for four years.
There are different foreign language requirements at colleges anduniversities. Some universities require students to have had severalyears of language education in high school. In addition, manycolleges and universities require students to complete at least twoyears of foreign language study before graduating.
Two years ago, the United States government passed legislation tohelp states increase foreign language study for all public schoolstudents. State and local education agencies can request money tohelp establish, improve or expand foreign language study. TheAmerican Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages says interestin the program is huge. The council says this proves that youngAmericans are ready and willing to learn foreign languages.
Michelle Branch
HOST:
Female singer-songwriters are very popular in the United States.These young women sing, write their own songs and play their ownmusical instruments. Mary Tillotson tells us about one of them.
ANNCR:
Michelle Branch has been singing for as long as she can remember.Michelle was born in the southwestern state of Arizona innineteen-eighty-three. She was raised in the town of Sedona.
Michelle began playing the guitar when she was fourteen yearsold. A short time later, she began writing her own songs andperforming in the Sedona area.
Michelle started recording songs for her first album, “The SpiritRoom,” two years ago. That album has sold more than one-millioncopies. Here is a song from “The Spirit Room.” It is called”Everywhere.”
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Michelle Branch also performs on the album “Shaman” by CarlosSantana. Her hit song from that album is called “The Game of Love.”
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Last month, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciencesannounced nominations for its Grammy Awards. The awards will bepresented February twenty-third. Michelle Branch was one of fivenominees for the award of Best New Artist. We leave you now with hersong “Goodbye to You.”
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HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And Ihope you will join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’sradio magazine in Special English.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Jill Moss, JerilynWatson and George Grow. Our studio engineer was Glen Matlock. Andour producer was Paul Thompson.