Hello and welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Annameteo.

And I'm Brian Lynn.

This program is aimed at English learners, so we speak slowly, and we use words

and phrases especially written for people learning English.

Today on the show, John Russell has a report from our All About America series about a building that sometimes served as a second home for President Abraham Lincoln. Then Anna Mateo brings us words and their stories. She discusses the expression

to watch grass grow and others that describe things in the spring. Next, Ashley Thompson

and John Russell present a report on the role American President Theodore

Roosevelt played in establishing the country's national park system.

And finally, Jill Robbins and Andrew Smith present the lesson of the day. They give examples for correctly using

the future continuous tense. But first, about five kilometers from the White House in Washington,

D.C., stands an historic building closely linked to one of America's

most famous presidents, Abraham Lincoln. The building, known as President Lincoln's cottage,

is where Lincoln spent about one-fourth of his time while in office,

and he made some very important decisions while there. Summertime can get very hot in Washington, D.C.

So, President Lincoln used a country house to escape the worst of the heat.

Each morning and evening, Lincoln rode between the two houses on horseback unguarded.

The trip took about 30 minutes. The large house he rode to was on the grounds of the soldier's home.

The house stood on much higher ground than the White House, so the wind kept it cooler.

It was also quiet, a place to think. Lincoln spent much of his time there writing.

That work included early versions of what would become one of the most important documents in

American history, the Emancipation Proclamation.

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