Learning online
The Sumy Regional State TV and Radio Company is launching an interactive program aiming to teach the audience a foreign language. The Day did a similar project over a decade ago in 2004, called the “Whole of Ukraine Is Learning English”The interactive project “Learning English Together” was launched at 11 a.m. on January 24, aired by the Sumy Regional State TV and Radio Company. The channel said that the 12-week-long course would allow its audience to improve its English through interacting with Stanislav Duhin, author of popular tutorials for learning foreign languages. The program will involve five students who, having won the casting, will study English in the studio and get homework assignments. The audience, in its turn, will get assignments as well after watching online lessons; these assignments will be published in Panorama newspaper and released online at the channel’s website (tv.sumy.ua).
After the 12th lesson is held, the audience and the students in the studio will be given a test to determine how much did their English improve. Following the testing, the first five people to respond correctly at tv.sumy.ua and the first five people to submit correct answers to the newspaper’s office will be presented with new English tutorials authored by Duhin.
“When the idea first emerged to make a TV program dedicated to learning English, I, as the channel’s manager, prioritized making it interactive, where the audience is not just watching, but participating as well,” The Day learned from the company’s director general Mykola Chernotytsky. “We decided to record the program with only five people belonging to different age groups. Having announced the competition, we got over 50 (!) applications. People we have selected for the recording have virtually zero knowledge of English. We have already recorded the first 12 lessons. Should this program be a success, and I feel already that it will get a great response from the audience, we will do the full course of 52 lessons.”
According to the channel’s director general, the first phase of the program (12 lessons) will be aired every Saturday from January 24 to April 11, with repeat broadcasts on Wednesdays. However, if the program proves to be popular, the full course will be recorded and aired by the channel through the end of the year.
“The knowledge of foreign languages, particularly English, has become a necessity. Therefore, we expect that the potential audience will include primarily young people. Our target audience is wider, though. When people filled out questionnaires for participation in the program, their age ranged from 6 to 72 years. Therefore, I am sure the program’s audience will comprise active citizens who want to learn, grow, improve themselves, transform themselves and their country,” Chernotytsky continued. “Many Ukrainians want to learn English now, but not everyone can do it alone, while courses on offer are very expensive. I admit that I was skeptical about this idea at first, but now I see that the program will matter for more than just our region.”
The idea to teach some media outlet’s audience foreign languages through the outlet itself is not new. The Day did a similar project over a decade ago in 2004, called the “Whole of Ukraine Is Learning English.” English lessons, prepared by the Intensive Center, were then regularly published by The Day. These lessons immediately aroused the interest of our readers, both English teachers and people who wanted to learn the language on their own, but with our assistance and in cooperation with us. Every lesson was published subdivided in several issues and included the main polylogue text, exercises, and competitions. Many people took note of that effort of ours, and our readers have kept using The Day to help them learn English ever since.
