By Iminza Keboge
Published March 25, 2022
A producer of children’s educational media has announced the launch of Season 4 of Akili and Me: Words and Sounds with Akili to encourage children and their caregivers to re-discover fun learning through words and sounds.
Ubongo, the creator of the pre-school TV show whose aim is to assist children in discovering new ways of learning that harnesses their creativity, curiosity and critical thinking, says it was a hit with 3 – 6 year old audience when it was first aired in Tanzania in 2015.
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Akili and Me helps learners develop their vocabulary, literacy, counting, social emotional and life skills like empathy and conflict resolution through the adventures of Akili, a 4-year-old who travels to a magical world of learning when she falls asleep.
“Season 4 of Akili and Me builds critical early literacy skills by taking children through a series of fun songs and stories, crafted to provide the key foundational building blocks needed to learn how to read. The foundational building blocks we included in the season are phonological awareness through rhyming and syllable segmentation and alphabetic principle through the recognition of letters and letter sounds,” says Ubongo’s Head of Education, Cliodhna Ryan. “Words and Sounds with Akili is all about emphasizing the importance of kids and caregivers reading and learning together. It goes into helping the audience understand how sounds come together to make words and words come together to create the stories they love.”
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Ubongo is a pan-African, non-profit social enterprise aimed at improving school readiness and learning outcomes and promoting social and behavioral change communication through localized edutainment.
Children and caregivers can look forward to nursery rhymes from various countries, caregiver segments to promote reading and learning together and learning outcomes that will be highlighted at the beginning of every episode of the new season.
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“We are already elevating learning for over 24 million African kids, and our vision is to equip the 500 million kids in Africa with the educational foundation, critical skills, and mindsets to change their lives and the world,” Ryan says.
