10 March 2011
The Voice of America continues to reach out to new audiences in innovative ways, and now VOA is using Facebook to teach English language lessons as part of its popular on-line learning program called The Classroom.
Heres how it works. Four times a day, the icon on VOAs Learning English Facebook page changes to indicate a live, on-line class is in session.
Students can submit questions and be part of a free, hour-long, interactive language learning experience that uses materials and lessons from The Classroom, which is now averaging more than 180,000 users a month.
One of The Classrooms Facebook teachers calls herself The English Doctor. When her class is in-session, users will be learning from Nina Weinstein, the author of dozens of books on teaching English as a foreign language. Another VOA Facebook teacher,The English Traveler, also has classes twice a day, and there are plans to add more instructors to the line-up.
Since The Classroom gave its first lesson on Facebook in February, the response has been positive, with about 16,000 views in the first 24 hour period. Thousands sign on for each lesson.
Many of VOA Facebook friends have written in to say how much they like the new program. One fan said today, We have the best teacher ever in grammar. You are so good!
Voice of America Director Danforth W. Austin says, VOAs pioneering use of Facebook to teach language is yet another example of how social media can bring people together to share common interests, and VOA is leading the way in the use of these innovative new online platforms.
You can get to the Facebook class directly from www.voanews.com/theclassroom.
VOA editors came up with idea to teach English on Facebook when they noticed they were getting hundreds of questions from VOAs 40,000 Learning English Facebook fans (click here to join) who often ask about grammar, pronunciation, capitalization, and other English usage rules.
In addition to Facebook lessons, The Classroom (click here to get started) also has a new Business Wordbook with hundreds of business terms, pictures and sample dialogues to help users learn American business English.
Under the activities tab of The Classroom, there are new English survival activities, including how to order breakfast and how to count money. Plans are also underway for a new Interactive Health Wordbook, with pictures, definitions and sample dialogues relating to health, fitness and well being.
7 March 2011
In its efforts to provide localised content for children’s programmes, the Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) has sought the help of ABU members to train its producers.
While children’s programming is an area where even national councils have given up, BBS has set itself the ambitious target of producing 25 percent of the network’s children’s and youth programming within the next five years, BBS General Manager Tashi Dorji said.
Towards this end, the first ABU Prizes TV Workshop on Improving Children’s Programme Content will be held from 14 to 16 March in Thimphu, Bhutan. The workshop’s trainers are Japan Prize Secretary-General Hiroko Sakaue, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s (IRIB) TV Producer/Director Negar Estakhr and ABU Senior Executive (TV) Hanizah Hamzah.
Ms Hanizah said: “The Prix Jeunesse Foundation asked if there were any training events on child programming which it could contribute towards and I immediately thought of this workshop in Bhutan.”
She added that award-winning productions from the Prix Jeunesse Suitcase, a training tool for children’s TV professionals, would be used during the workshop. Participants will also be exposed to the children’s programmes which won the Japan Prize and the ABU Prize, in addition to IRIB’s puppetry shows.
She said that BBS had specifically requested training in puppetry and, coincidentally, last year’s Japan Prize children’s category winner employed puppets, so it provided excellent reference material.
Apart from training the participants in character development, puppet staging, decoration and sound synchronisation, the workshop will explore how to adapt Bhutanese folklore for children’s programmes, Ms Hanizah said.
The workshop will be followed by a week-long training course on storytelling for a young audience by Stéphane Bouillaud of Canal France International. (Source: ABU website)
7 March 2011
TVNZ and SKY have partnered to launch a 24 hour pre-school children’s channel on the SKY platform from 1 May called TVNZ Kidzone24.
TVNZ Kidzone24 will feature trusted educational and inspiring content for pre-school children in an advertising-free environment.
Chief Executive Rick Ellis is delighted that SKY has made it possible for TVNZ to extend the popular Kidzone programming block beyond the two hours that are available on public service channel TVNZ 7.
“Kidzone has been an increasingly popular block of programming, providing educational and entertaining content for young New Zealanders, with a significant amount of locally produced programming.
“It is fantastic that we are now able to offer a commercially-viable, expanded Kidzone channel, on the SKY platform.
John Fellet, CEO of SKY Television, is equally thrilled to have Kidzone added to SKY’s existing offerings for family viewing.
“We are delighted to be working with TVNZ to assist them build what has been a very popular segment into a dedicated channel of its own. The addition of TVNZ Kidzone24 to our range of family viewing options underlines our commitment to providing the widest selection of quality programming for all age groups,” he said.
The Kidzone24 programme schedule will be released in April and features existing favourites including Kidzone with Kayne, as well as new content with a learning focus.
The channel will be located on SKY Channel 046, within the stable of family channels and will be available as part of the SKY Basic Digital Package. Select content will also be available on iSKY.
2 March 2011
The 2011 AIBs – our seventh annual international media awards – will launch in April.
These unique global awards attract entries from broadcasters, technology companies and independent producers on every continent. The promotional work for the AIBs reach more than 25,000 media leaders worldwide.
AIB is offering a limited number of partnership opportunities to companies and organisations that want to be associated with this global celebration of success as well as benefiting from the AIB’s constantly growing reach in media companies around the world.
See our highlights video from the 2010 AIBs here:
Using an iPad, or can’t see the video? Click here:
The 2010 AIBs – the highlights.
See our special partnership opportunities book online here:
2 March 2011
Forces loyal to Gaddafi appear to be fighting back in Libya, where they have retaken a number of towns close to Tripoli, including Gharyan and Sabratha, creating a buffer zone around the capital.
The rapidly-changing nature of events and the renewed intensification of the fighting pose a threat to news crews in Libya, coming as they do amid reports of aerial bombardments.
The International News Safety Institute is issuing this update at 1045 GMT on March 2. INSI is working with news organisations with staff throughout Libya and is coordinating a email forum for more confidential and rapidly-changing information involving the safety of journalists. For more on this, please contact Hannah Storm at hannah.storm@newssafety.org
To the east of Libya, which has been mainly under the control of rebels since last week, the situation is increasingly complicated and confused with control of the town of Brega apparently shifting between opposing sides. Earlier today, there were reports that the north-eastern oil town had fallen to pro-Gaddafi forces, but later reports suggested it was back under the control of opposition forces, with government troops controlling its airport.
The latest town to come under attack is the strategic Ajdabiyah, home to a large ammunition depot, and ninety minutes drive from Libyas second city of Benghazi. Some reports suggest the Gaddafi has deployed fighter jets to the town, and that the ammunition dump has been bombed.
It is not immediately clear what the attack on Ajdabiyah, which is itself poorly defended, might mean for the larger city of Benghazi, which has been the centre of many of the evacuations of foreigners fleeing Libya, and where many journalists have based themselves since the city fell to the rebels, but foreign media should be ready to evacuate if necessary.
Away from the fighting, there is a growing humanitarian crisis on Libyas western border with Tunisia, where — as of this morning — 80,000 people had fled. This situation brings its own specific risks, which journalists should be aware of — because of the vast numbers of people, levels of hunger, desperation and the possible outbreak of disease.
2 March 2011
Voice of America has a new on-line destination for Russian speakers who want to learn English.
The Russian edition of VOAs popular goEnglish.me language learning program is now on-line and it is loaded with useful tools that makes learning English fun, and easy. The program is free.
What makes goEnglish.me so popular is that users get a glimpse into everyday American life, while learning things they might need if they were traveling or studying in the United States. The site, which also has editions for Farsi and Mandarin speakers, is interactive and users can download lessons and information for use later or to share with friends.
The site is aimed at Russian speakers who have some knowledge of English, but are interested in learning how it is spoken in everyday American life. It also includes forums, blogs and group pages to allow users to dig deeper into American society through conversation.
Students use a headset and microphone to converse with avatars in the goEnglish.me lessons. Each lesson has phrases and sentences along with short exams. As users become more advanced they hear more English and less of their own language.
VOA Director Danforth W. Austin says, The Russian version of goEnglish.me is just the latest example in an expanding array of digital learning tools that visitors can find on our websites. Austin says, goEnglish.me is one more way for VOA, which employs an all-digital strategy to reach out to Internet users in Russia and the former Soviet Republics, to engage young Russians interested in dialog with Americans.
