Takalani Sesame Street to Air in More South African Languages

JOHANNESBURG/NEW YORK,
October 18: In a move to support the South African government's mother
tongue-based education policy, Takalani Sesame, which recently launched its fourth season on SABC
in August, will soon be on air in almost all of South Africa’s official
languages.

The producers of Takalani
Sesame have introduced an “applied
language” approach to the series. Based on the broadcaster’s language policy,
the approach calls for each Takalani Sesame episode to be produced in several official South
African languages.

SABC 1 and 2, which
broadcast the series, will dedicate a specific day of the week to a single
language. The current season, on air until November 9, includes seTswana
(Tuesdays), tshiVenda (Wednesdays), isiZulu (Thursdays), sePedi (Fridays) and
English on Mondays on SABC 1 and Saturdays on SABC 2. The fifth season, airing
early 2008, will see a new choice of languages including isiXhosa, xiTsonga,
seSotho, Afrikaans and a continuation of English. This strategy celebrates the
rich diversity of South Africa and allows children to access content in their
mother tongue.

The new season of 130
24-minute episodes covers educational objectives across the domains of
literacy, numeracy and life-skills. The educational objectives are informed by
the National ECD Curriculum. Episodes are organized around child-friendly
themes such as “my family,” “my friends” and “imagination.”

A new season of Takalani
Sesame on radio, consisting of 150
seven-minute shows, is also underway. Produced in 12 South African languages,
the series will continue to feature all the Takalani Sesame Muppets.

The Takalani Sesame partners recently committed to the renewal of the Takalani Sesame
series, ensuring educational programming in South Africa for the next five
years. “Takalani,” which means
“be happy” in TshiVenda, conveys the spirit of happiness and innocence. Takalani
Sesame is produced by
Kwasukasukela under the creative direction of Sesame Workshop in collaboration
with the South African partners. Takalani Sesame was made possible through a partnership with the
Department of Education, the United States Agency for International
Development, Sanlam and SABC Education.

“The new season of Takalani
Sesame showcases the diversity of
South Africa,” said Charles Owen, the head of the children’s genre at SABC.
“While the series utilizes many languages, it has one key message—to meet
the needs of the children with relevant content, to allow our young viewers to
see their lives reflected on screen with people and situations that that they
really encounter daily. Marrying this with humor, song, and adventure makes for
an engaging television and radio series.”

—By Irene Lew