Would you like to watch television and learn English at the same time? Now, New York City is making it all easier.
The new series “We Are New York,” which launched on Saturday, June 27, is a new initiative to help New York City immigrants learn English through a popular medium: television.
The show features realistic situations, subtitles, and slow dialogue to help the viewers understand how the language used.
Furthermore, the situations also help immigrants grow accustomed to life in the Big Apple, sometimes including subtle or obvious advertisements for city services.
For example, the third episode instructs viewers to call 3-1-1 to report domestic violence, and the eighth features information about how to quit smoking.
The cast, which is different in each episode, is always composed of people from diverse origins. Although the plots can be a little bit exaggerated, the stories are intriguing enough to maintain the viewer’s interest.
On Tuesday, July 21, the show’s producers held a launch party at Dera, an Indian restaurant in Jackson Heights, which was punctuated by speeches and a partial showing of one of the episodes.
The event attracted a large and diverse crowd.
“We’re here at Dera’s restaurant in Jackson Heights to celebrate the immigrant communities that have inspired this program,” said Anthony Tassi, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Adult Education, one of the initiative’s sponsors.
Other sponsors include Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office; Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott; NYCTV; the City University of New York (CUNY); the Queens Museum of Art; Make the Road NY; the Queens and the New York Public Libraries; the Literary Assistance Center and the Children’s Aid Society.
Also present at the event was the cast of the episode called, “The Wedding,” which focuses on the interactions between the bride, the groom, the wedding planner, the band, and the seamstress – all immigrants.
‘The challenge of this program, in particular, was to act in a way that would be easier for the audience to understand what you’re saying,” said Vedant Gokhlae, who played a comical role in the episode.
Gokhlae, an actor of Indian descent who lives in Manhattan, has had parts in shows like “Law & Order” and movies such as Ridley Scott’s “Body of Lies.”
Andrzej Krakowsi, the show’s executive producer, also said that this program was very different than other projects he’s worked on because of the challenge of incorporating repetition and slow speech in a way that seemed natural.
“As an immigrant I would have loved to have had this type of show when I was learning English. This is the most natural way of learning,” said Krakowski, a Polish immigrant who teaches film directing and screenwriting at CUNY. “This is something that they [immigrants] can relate to on a very personal, sincere, and visceral level.”
Many members of a LaGuardia Community College English as a Second Language class attended the event, and many said that the program helped them to reinforce what they had learned in class.
“Since they speak slowly, to understand everything they say, and with subtitles, it’s better,” said Mary Martinez, a Fresh Meadows resident and immigrant from Peru.
“It’s very important for us,” said Maria Escajadirro, a Peruvian immigrant who lives in Corona.
There are already plans to rerun the series this season, after the airing of the last episode; according to Tassi, the show has been successful enough to deserve another season.
However, it’s possible that the uncertainty of the economic climate will prevent that.
“If this is as successful as it appears it’s going to be, there will be a compelling case for more funds,” Tassi said.
