You are here: Home > Tsehai's News Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 7 September 2006 Contact: Shane Etzenhouser Mobile: +251-91-1-653994 New Educational Children’s Show on Ethiopian Television Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 7 September 2006 – Whiz Kids Workshop is pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached with Ethiopian Television to begin broadcasting Tsehai Loves Learning on Sunday, September 17th. For the first time in the history of Ethiopia, puppets and animated characters will be speaking Amharic and educating children through teaching methods based on over 35 years of research. Tsehai Loves Learning is designed for children aged 3 to 6. The educational objectives of Tsehai Loves Learning span five areas critical to early childhood development, namely: social issues, academic development, socio-emotional development, physical development, and personal values. Whiz Kids Workshop has been developing Tsehai Loves Learning for over a year with a team of volunteers from Ethiopia, Canada, and the United States. Upcoming episodes include four designed in support of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals in cooperation with UNESCO and with additional support from UNEP. Whiz Kids Workshop hopes to continue cooperating with UNESCO, UNEP, UNICEF and other interested organizations to produce more episodes of Tsehai Loves Learning. According to Whiz Kids Workshop co-founder Bruktawit Tigabu, “Very little is being done in the area of Early Childhood Development in Ethiopia. Everyone wants a better Ethiopia, and this is the age group in which to make a change. Tsehai teaches young children to better themselves through education, so that they can give back to their community and contribute to building a brighter future for all Ethiopians.” Whiz Kids Workshop estimates that a minimum of 1,121,200 children in Ethiopia will benefit from watching this program. Research indicates that the benefits of viewing similar shows are long-lasting; ten years after watching similar programming, viewers showed better language scores than non-viewers, better math scores, better science scores, read more books for pleasure, and had a higher motivation to achieve than did non-viewers. Episodes of Tsehai Loves Learning are five to ten minutes in length, and will air every other Sunday on Ethiopian Television at 10:00am as part of the existing children’s programming. Parents and teachers can subscribe to the Tsehai Loves Learning newsletter for additional learning activities by visiting the Web site at www.whizkidsworkshop.com or by sending an e-mail to newsletter@whizkidsworkshop.com. Whiz Kids Workshop is a local production company which focuses on serving Ethiopia through educational media. For more information please contact Shane Etzenhouser or Bruktawit Tigabu at +251-91-1-653994.