This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about Sierra Leone’s new gender equality bill, as well as the “Listeners Corner” and “Music from Erwan”. All that, and the new quiz question, too, so click on the “Play” button above and enjoy!
Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winner's names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.
The ePOP video competition is open! The deadline for entries is 20 April 2023 – but don’t put it off! Start now!
The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment, and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people … you create a three-minute video about climate change, the environment, pollution – told by the people it affects. So put on your thinking caps and get to work ... and by the way, the prizes are incredibly generous!
To read the ePOP entry guidelines – as well as watch videos from previous years – go to the ePOP website.
Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your musical requests, so get them in! Send your musical requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!
Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!
In addition to the breaking news articles on our site, with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts which will leave you hungry for more.
There’s Paris Perspective, Spotlight on France, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.
As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our staff of journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!
To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.
To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show.
Teachers, take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below.
Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English - that’s how I worked on my French, reading books which were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.
Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in all your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!
And don’t forget, there is a Facebook page just for you, the independent RFI English Clubs. Only members of RFI English Clubs can belong to this group page, so when you apply to join, be sure you include the name of your RFI Club and your membership number. Everyone can look at it, but only members of the group can post on it. If you haven’t yet asked to join the group, and you are a member of an independent, officially recognized RFI English club, go to the Facebook link above, and fill out the questionnaire !!!!! (if you do not answer the questions, I click “decline”).
There’s a Facebook page for members of the general RFI Listeners Club too. Just click on the link and fill out the questionnaire, and you can connect with your fellow Club members around the world. Be sure you include your RFI Listeners Club membership number (most of them begin with an A, followed by a number) in the questionnaire, or I will have to click “Decline”, which I don’t like to do!
We have two new RFI Listeners Club members to welcome: Karuna Kanta Paul from West Bengal, India, and Jahangir Alam from Naogaon, Bangladesh.
Welcome, Karuna! Welcome Jahangir! So glad you have joined us! Be sure you join the RFI Listeners Club Facebook page!
You too can be a member of the RFI Listeners Club – just write to me at english.service@rfi.fr and tell me you want to join, and I’ll send you a membership number. It’s that easy. When you win a Sound Kitchen quiz as an RFI Listeners Club member, you receive a premium prize, AND, you can join our Facebook page, the RFI Listeners Club page. You must ask to join the group, and you must furnish your RFI Listeners Club membership number. I’ll approve you, and off you go!
This week’s quiz: On 28 January, I asked you a question about our article “Sierra Leone passes gender law reserving 30 percent of jobs for women”.
The country’s president, Julius Maada Bio, had just signed into law the Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Act, which will guarantee more equal treatment of women in the workplace and the government.
You were to re-read our article and answer these two questions: how many women are currently members of Sierra Leone’s parliament, and how many women are currently serving in President Bio’s 32-member cabinet?
The answer is, to quote our article: “The country has only 18 woman MPs and only four members of Bio's 32-member cabinet are women.”
Let’s see how quickly those numbers change. Go Sierra Leone!
In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “What is your favorite holiday?”
Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us!
The winners are: Nadira Begum, who’s a member of the Shetu RFI Listeners Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh. Nadira is also the winner of this week’s bonus question: “What is your favorite holiday?”
Congratulations, Nadira!
Also on the list of lucky winners this week are two Sierra Leoneans: Abdulai Saiku Bah, the president of the RFI Club Freetown in Sierra Leone, and RFI Listeners Club member Yeami Sanday John Turay, also from Freetown. Great news from your country, my friends!
Rounding out the list are RFI Listeners Club member Samir Mukhopadhyay from Kolkata, India, and RFI English listener Kumar Sankar Adhikary from Nadia, India.
Congratulations winners!
Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: "Dancing Penguin" by George Reshetar, played by Paul Barton; “Bye Bye Blackbird” by Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon, performed by Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, and Red Garland; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy performed by the composer, and John Coltrane/ Hervé Samb’s “Giant Steps / Bëg Tekki”, performed by Hervé Samb, N'dongo D, and Mike Ladd.
Do you have a musical request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr
This week’s question ... you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read Ollia Horton’s article “Meet the African comic book heroes taking the world by storm”, to help you with the answer.
You have until 20 March to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 25 March podcast. When you enter, be sure you send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.
Send your answers to:
english.service@rfi.fr
or
Susan Owensby
RFI – The Sound Kitchen
80, rue Camille Desmoulins
92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux
France
or
By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then 33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.
To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here.
To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club, click here.
