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

I'm Brian Lynn.

And I'm Brian Lynn.

And I'm Katie Weaver.

This program is aimed at English learners.

So we speak slowly and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English.

Coming up, Andrew Smith presents Ask a Teacher. We also have words and their stories from Anna Mateo and we close the show with an American story but first

on a film set in China, a 69-year-old actor is playing the part of a wealthy family leader.

In Grandma's Moon, actor Jujean celebrates his birthday with a costly dinner party.

And he is about to get a big surprise.

One of the workers at the party is his granddaughter.

But there is another big surprise.

Grandma's Moon is not a movie or even a television show.

Instead, it is a series of short videos called a micro drama.

Creators shoot them vertically for easy watching on cell phones.

Each episode is only minutes long.

Most of the people watching Grandma's Moon are middle-aged workers and retired

people.

Joo said that these viewers do not people. so easy to hold a mobile phone and watch something anytime you want.

Micro-drama's use storytelling methods like hooks and plot twists to keep millions of viewers watching

on their cell phones.

And these audiences are very willing to pay for more.

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