Reflections : Al Jazeera,thank you.

In spite of the numerous reservations I have against Al Jazeera channel,on top of which lies my absolute hatred to their (Al Itijah Al Mo3akes) program,I have to admit how impressed I am with their children channel.
Funded by Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development,,and headed by Shaikha Mozah Bint Nasser al-Missned, wife of the amir of Qatar,the channel has managed to grab my attention and keep me hooked for almost a year now.I have to warn parents though,if the choice is left to kids,I have noticed that this might not be their first choice.While other children channels like Disney ,Boomerang and Space Toon might offer better animation and catchier tunes,Jazeera Children can be an excellent competitor,if an adult is watching along and discussing the programs with the kids.
The programs are quite varied and cover a wide range of interests for all ages.They focus on world cultures and traditions,animals and pets,food and produce in different parts of the world,industries and traditional crafts,children with special needs and how they lead their lives,sports and activities,even street games that kids invent themselves.Most of the programs are presented by the kids themselves,in a way that a child takes us around his daily life and telling us how and why he does things in a certain manner.In one episode of a program called My Pet,you could watch a 10 year old shepard in the mounatins of Ukraine spending the day with his dog taking the sheep to graze, and in another you could see a japanese kid who raises a mouse in his small room in Tokyo ,this way children have a peek insider other's lives and know that not everyone has the same kind of lifestyle they are leading.Most of the programs are great eye openers and I truly enjoy watching them.Another program is called (NO Food Like Mine),they take you around the globe from the deepest jungle in Africa or Asia where they serve their rice on tree leaves,to the tiniest little village in Europe where little old ladies are kneading their pastas and drying their meats.I still haven't managed to learn who produced these programs,I am under the impression they are either french or canadian productions but they cut the program off at the end without showing us any information.Al Jazeera productions do produce 40%of their own programs,and they are pretty good and informative,but they lack the artsy feel in the foreign translated ones.
Another favorite of mine is their program:Draw me a tale,it is very artistic and an interesting twist on telling tales,where a narrator reads the story,usually a little bit modified to make older fairy tales a little more modern,and a very skillful artist animates the story as its being read.In very simple and basic lines,cinderella comes to life,her ragged shabby clothes are illustrated by slipping a newspaper under the cut out lines and the fact that she sleeps next to the fireplace and is covered with cinder,hence her name,is shown by a few black fingerprints that he touches over the newspaper.When she finally goes to the party the newspaper is replaced with a piece of shiny gift wrapping paper and a sprinkle of glitter around the drawing.Absolutely amazing.In another episode they showed the artist(or artist's hand to be more specific,since we see only that)drinking coffee from a cup,the story starts by him using a piece of wood and a brush to draw lines that stem from the circle that the coffee cup has left on the paper.That fascinated me,a lot,I wish I could see it again and tape it.
The programs are all translated in perfect arabic,the presenters are youngish girls and boys who do their job excellently,and who look very normal,not too made up,to like they're going to a wedding party, like some other arabic channels,and they use the formal arabic language,in different dialects since they come from different countries,almost perfectly,grammatically and phonetically ,which is very important to me.The channel could use a few english programs to make sure children learn a foreign language along arabic,I know a lot of kids who won't watch an english program,which is such a shame,given the long hours they spend in front of their TVS.Such a powerful tool that needs to be well exploited.
The channel is very impressive,everyone should try and watch it,even if you don't have kids of your own,you should try and introduce it to cousins,nieces and nephews,if they're not already following it,but as I said earlier,it takes a bit of patience to get them to sit there and get interact with the shows.
More on children's TV to come soon.