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

I'm Katie Weaver.

And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

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. Coming up on the show,

Andrew Smith brings us Ask a Teacher.

He answers a question from Tayab in Pakistan about a form of the verb B.

We also hear the Everyday Grammar Report from Ashley Thompson and Jonathan Evans.

They explain the difference between the simple past and the present perfect verb tenses.

And we close our show with the program American Stories.

But first...

The 36-year-old Peruvian artist Sadit Silvano makes creations born of ancient songs.

Brush in hand, eyes on the cloth, the Peruvian woman paints as she sings, and through her voice,

her ancestors speak.

When we paint, we listen to the inspiration that comes from the music and connect to nature, to our elders,

said Silvano.

The artist now lives and works in Lima, Peru, where she moved 20 years ago from Pauyan.

It is a Shipibo-Conibo indigenous community located in the Amazon.

These pieces are sacred, she added. We bless our work with the energy of our songs.

Official data says close to 33,000 Shipibo-Konibo people live in Peru.

They are believed to come from the surroundings of the Yacali River.

Many moved to urban areas like Cantagayo, the Lima neighborhood where Silvano lives.

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