VIVAnews - The broadcast of the U.S. Embassy-sponsored educational sinetron, titled “Hello Mister,” will start on Monday, July 12 at 8pm on the national state television station TVRI. The program is designed to help adult viewers improve their English, and will be broadcasted on TVRI every Monday to Friday. The program also features English-speaking Indonesian celebrities, including Indra Bekti, Olga Lydia, Farhan and Melissa Karim.
“English is a language of opportunity, and can open doors and enhance personal and professional growth,” said U.S. Ambassador Cameron R. Hume. “We are proud to offer Indonesians a chance to learn or improve their English, and the U.S. Embassy strives to provide free access to high-quality English language educational programs like ‘Hello Mister.’”
The 13-episode program is designed to teach English in an exciting and unusual way. The program helps Indonesians who cannot afford private instruction to improve, practice or even start to learn English. Although a regular sinetron format, and mostly in Indonesian, at the end of each episode, a short English class helps viewers learn vocabulary with the characters.
In addition to teaching English, “Hello Mister” has an interesting plot and dramatic storyline. It tells the story of an American journalist, Laura, (played by Maura Phelan) who travels to Indonesia to write a book about President Obama’s childhood, and ends up teaching English in a neighborhood in Jakarta and gets to know the people who live there and involved in their daily lives. Each episode features music clips containing English vocabulary and phrases commonly used in daily conversation.
Ms. Phelan teaches at universities in Jakarta, and is one of 50 Fulbright English Teaching Assistants and Fellows who teach throughout Indonesia, sponsored by the U.S. Government.
