THE Ministry of Education and Vocational Training has partnered with the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) and the British Council to ensure educational structures are in place to equip young people with skills.

The British Council English Learning Training Consultant, Ms Katherine Wilson told the 'Daily News' that the trio will be launching the continuation of the Teach English Radio 2 today (Wednesday).

"Teaching English 2 is a series of radio programmes in Tanzania and a continuation of our product Teach English Radio 1. It is a series of twelve 15-minute radio programmes aimed at English teachers with only limited training and a basic knowledge of the language," she said.

Ms Wilson said that these free-to-air programmes for students and teachers of English across Tanzania will be based on a soap opera, "Olba Air", about the lives of the staff and passengers of a budget airline in the city of Freeport.

She said that this will give learners the chance to listen to English for social purposes in the context of a work-place environment.

Teach English Radio 1 was first launched at the end of 2010 by the Ministry of Education and TBC Radio where the ministry worked at raising awareness of the project among English teachers and teacher trainers nationwide and assisted in delivery of one-day workshops for schools and teaching centre principals.

Thousands of copies of extra supplementary booklets were sent to Tanzania Head Teachers of Secondary Schools Association Conference (TAHOSSA) in Arusha and Teacher Training Centres across the country were provided with copies of the radio programme on CDs.

"Like the first phase, the second is designed to give assistance and guidance to English teachers, particularly those in more rural areas who have limited access to training resources," she said.

Each programme is focused on a single teaching issue, such as over-large class size, lesson planning or how to motivate students and helps to reflect the international nature of the English language from the use of recorded interviews.

The programmes have been recorded in many countries worldwide and are currently being broadcast in 14 other sub-Saharan Africa nations making it one example of the British Council's commitment to bringing English to those who need it in new and innovative ways, integrating education with technology and particularly technology accessible to all, like radio.

"Obla Air" is being broadcast in over 40 countries and has reached over 25 million listeners globally and has been produced in 12 different bilingual versions.

In Sudan, the Learn English Radio programme was launched at the end of 2010 where there is considerable demand for English particularly from Khartoum FM's listenership of mainly young professionals and students.

In Sierra Leone, Standard Chartered Bank has partnered with the British Council and is providing 10,000 British Pounds in sponsorship as they recognise that Teaching English Radio and Learning English Radio address the declining standards in English that so far the Ministry of Education has not been able to address.