How many of us remember those words blaring from our televisions back in the 1970’s? It was calling us to plug in to the Electric Company for more learning disguised as fun with really cool characters. There was Fargo North, Decoder; J. Arthur Crank; Millie the Helper; and, my personal favorite, Easy Reader. We explored letters and words and felt as cool as Morgan Freeman looked in his brown denim jacket and sunglasses when he slinked across the television screen. A quick visit to YouTube will refresh your memory if it has dimmed.
The Electric Company is not a long-lost piece of the past anymore. Its back and delivers a jolt of literacy for a whole new generation of emerging readers. The new series is designed to combat the literacy crisis America’s youngsters are facing with 35 half-hour episodes for today’s media-driven generation with a truly interactive experience. The new version of the Electric Company is a multimedia literacy campaign aiming to reduce the literacy gap between low and middle income families and advancing the idea that ‘reading is cool.’ The show will be supplemented with a richly interactive online environment.
The cast of characters of the Electric Company is a group of do-gooders, stationed from their home base, The Electric Diner, who keep the neighborhood safe with their literacy superpowers and solve problems often created by a group of troublemakers called “The Pranksters.” The new version of the Electric Company’s curricular goals include decoding, comprehension of connected text, vocabulary and motivation. These goals are incorporated into the show with vocabulary focusing on specific kid friendly themes such as: the body, animals, games and space.
The new web site invites kids to experience the world of the Electric Company within an interactive environment. The web site blends elements of popular kid-friendly internet applications that encourage kids to create, share, and rate each others' video creations and decorate their own profile pages. Kids will also be able to play educational games, based on the curriculum featured in each episode. The site will stream full episodes that will have aired the day before on TV and web exclusive behind the scenes segments. In addition, extensive downloadable outreach materials will be available to support the TV series and supplement the curriculum that parents, caregivers and teachers will be encouraged to use.
The series airs on CET at 5pm on Fridays. Turn on a new youngster to the Electric Company.
- Diane
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