Tsehai Loves Learning is designed for children aged 3 to 6. Episodes are five to ten minutes in length, and air every other Sunday on Ethiopian Television as part of the existing children’s programming. The programme aims to:

• reach millions of kids with research based, educational television;

   

• empower young girls throughout Ethiopia to reach for their dreams;

   

• encourage parents to support their daughters in reaching for their dreams;

   

• prepare millions of children to succeed in their primary education; and

   

• raise children who are empowered and motivated to improve their home country and who have a solid foundation of education and personal values to enable them to enact such dreams.

The educational objectives of Tsehai Loves Learning span five areas of childhood development:

• social issues (environment, HIV and gender issues);

   

• academic development (literacy, counting and sorting);

   

• socio-emotional development (cooperation and self-esteem);

   

• physical development (gross and fine motor skills) and;

   

• personal values (truthfulness, kindness and helpfulness)

According to the producers, Whiz Kids Workshop spent months investigating how best to educate young children through television and the educational objectives for early childhood development. As a result, episodes of Tsehai Loves Learning were improved through a growing list of production guidelines catered specifically to an audience between 3 to 6 years of age.

Every episode of the programme goes through field tests meant to determine if the children are in fact learning the objectives of the episode. Whiz Kids Workshop employs a research method called the “Distracter Test” through which it can determine what parts of the show the children understand and what parts they do not, accurate to within seven seconds. The method helps Whiz Kids Workshop determine where changes need to be made to each episode and also helps them further develop the standards and guidelines used to improve the effectiveness of subsequent episodes.

To support the television programming, the producers have designed complementary activities for home and school. Parents and teachers can subscribe to the Tsehai Loves Learning newsletter for learning activities by sending an e-mail to newsletter@whizkidsworkshop.com or visiting the Tsehai Loves Learning website.

Children, Education.

According to the producers, research showed that the benefits of Early Childhood Development (ECD) television are long lasting. One follow up study, tracking regular viewers of ECD television 10 years later in life showed better language scores than non-viewers, better math scores, better science scores, more books read for pleasure, and a higher motivation to achieve.