SBS Learn English launches new edu-tainment video series ‘Meet Leila and Ziad’
SBS Learn English has launched a new six-part digital series called ‘Meet Leila and Ziad’ to help new migrants navigate common conversations in their first year in Australia and support settlement and social cohesion.
Written by migrants for migrants, the ‘edu-tainment’ series is aligned to the Certificate 1 in English as an Additional Language (EAL) curriculum and follows new migrant couple Leila and Ziad as they visit the pharmacy, get a bank account, write work texts, go bushwalking, make small talk and find a home to rent.
Presented in conversational, everyday English, each episode is subtitled in 10 languages and has an accompanying printable worksheet, online activities and a transcript to help adult English learners follow the video and build confidence.
SBS Director of Audio Language Content, David Hua, said, “SBS Learn English supports settlement and social cohesion through a distinctive and accessible approach to learning English and understanding everyday life in Australia. We’re thrilled to launch this new educational and entertaining digital series for new migrants following the success of our first digital series Meet the Changs.
“Meet Leila and Ziad is a series written by migrants for migrants and produced from a distinctively multicultural perspective. Anthony Salame who plays Ziad is a Lebanese-Australian comedian and Shiyan Zheng who is Chinese-Australian crafted entertaining characters and authentic situations that audiences can relate to.”
The series is subtitled in 10 languages – Arabic, Burmese, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Dari, Khmer, Korean, Kurdish, Pashto, Persian (Farsi) and Vietnamese, and republished in 16 languages. Languages were selected based on Census data showing which communities have self-described low English levels or are recently arrived in Australia.
The episodes were tested with English learners at Melbourne Polytechnic who created the learning activities and helped align the video series with the Certificate 1 EAL curriculum.
Education experts from Melbourne Polytechnic were involved from the very inception to ensure that English language levels were appropriate.
Pauline Morrow, Director of the Foundation Department at Melbourne Polytechnic said, “Through our English language programs, Melbourne Polytechnic supports our migrant and refugee students to settle, connect, study and work in Australia. We are extremely proud to have collaborated with the team from SBS Learn English on their latest video series. We hope you enjoy watching Meet Leila and Ziad in their settlement journey as much as we have enjoyed working with the team at SBS Learn English to bring their characters to life.”
SBS Learn English is a free, multi-platform English language learning service for Australian migrants with additional in-language support. SBS Learn English helps adult migrants to settle and live well in Australia by assisting them to learn the English language through settlement information, news and everyday life from a distinctly Australian multicultural perspective.
SBS Learn English podcasts are available via the SBS Audio App, SBS Audio website and all major podcast platforms. Meet Leila and Ziad is now available here
For a PDF of this media release, click here