A programme titled Etihad or friendship, sponsored by Etihad airways and executed by SMART is undertaking a skill development project that aims to teach spoken english and Personality Development courses in Nuh, Haryana.
The project includes broadcasting a total of 50 episodes on Radio Mewat: 25 each would cater to Spoken English and Personality Development. The programme would target students, youth and working professionals.
Along with the audio broadcasts a number of on ground activities like narrowcasts and discussions in schools have been undertaken to supplement the learnings from the radio program. The vocabulary and the phrases used in the programs have been contextualized keeping in mind the target population to make it relevant and basic enough for the audience to grasp and learn. The initiative will prove helpful in enhancing the spoken English capacities of the listeners as well as bringing a positive change in their personality.
An audio format works better as students get distracted very easily by the different faces and the different accents of the speakers, especially when they are listening to someone who is not talking in their first language. Moreover, in rural areas, most of the students do not own a smartphone or a personal computer thus audio programmes through a community radio station is anyday a better way to increase the reach and effectiveness of the programmes.