The cast and crew of the educational television game show BBC Janala Mojay Mojay Shekha (Learning with Fun) recently visited the UK to film part of the second series of the hit Bangladeshi English language learning programme. Louise Clover, Executive Producer, Writer and Director describes the experience.
"Fruitcake!" shouted the firefighters. "See you spoon!" bellowed top international cricketers and "Yes yes, we know!" echoed ice cream sellers, cafe owners, college kids and eccentric beach hut owners alike.
This is perhaps not the sort of language you’d expect to hear from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Services nor from the talents on display at Sussex Cricket Club, but then they had all volunteered to be part of Kamal’s "Yes Yes, I Know" tour that hit the south coast town of Brighton, UK in July 2011.
Kamal vs the world
Kamal is an adult English learner from Bangladesh, who has stepped out of his comfort zone in ‘Kamal’s World’ – a regular feature in prime-time educational game show BBC Janala Mojay Mojay Shekha – and into the big wide world.
In ‘Kamal’s World’, Kamal’s most regular visitor is his patient English teacher Alex, whose job is to teach and cajole him into learning English. Kamal does learn, but in his own inimitable style. He makes mistakes along the way but is always willing to have a go. The confidence to use the English he is learning is important in encouraging viewers to have a go too.
After completing the first 24 lessons in series one Alex thought Kamal was ready to speak English in a new territory. So, they went to Dhaka airport, got on a plane and came to England.
From cricket to Chelsea
In this new world, Kamal tried out his English phrases on local people.
"How do you get to work?" he asked firefighters before they whooshed down their poles and scrambled into waiting trucks. "Where are you from?" he asked students, soldiers, dogs and even seagulls. "You must be exhausted!" he told fellow volleyball players as they won a match on Brighton beach.
During the trip to the UK, Kamal also got the chance to mingle with Pakistani cricketing great Umar Gul and visit Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea Football Club. By the end of the week, Kamal had met dozens of people, and had improved his English in the process.
‘Kamal’s World’ is featured in BBC Janala Mojay Mojay Shekha, broadcast on BTV and BTV World in Bangladesh and Zee Cafe in the UK. Following a successful first series – with an estimated audience of 20 million in Bangladesh alone – the ‘Yes Yes, I Know’ tour will be broadcast as part of series two, in March 2012.
BBC Janala Mojay Mojay Shekha is part of the wider BBC Janala initiative, which includes television drama Bishaash (Belief) and youth entertainment programme Buzz, as well as offering hundreds of English lessons via mobile, the internet, CDs and newspapers. Recent research shows that 8.5 million people are using English learned through the project.
BBC Janala is funded by UK aid from the Department for International Development as part of English in Action, a major initiative that aims to raise the English language skills of 25 million people in the country by 2017.
