Lasisi tackles poor use of English in video series

SEASONED journalist, creative writer and teacher, Akeem Lasisi, has unveiled ‘Phenomenal English’, an online platform that teaches the English language with videos.

The video lessons are coming on a YouTube channel called ‘Phenomenal Hub’ and Lasisi says it was a response to the problems that many people encounter in spoken and written English.

The writer had taught English in several schools while he has actively been a journalist since 1993 when he worked as a proofreader with ‘Daily Sketch’ in Ibadan. He was an assistant editor with ‘The Punch’ until last year when he resigned to pursue private goals. While he has established his own online newspaper, phenomenal.com.ng, he, however, still maintains a weekly English language column with ‘Punch’.

Speaking on the new initiative, Lasisi said it was a part of what he had always done. He explained that he is bothered by the way many people handle English language and the fact that whatever is offered in the conventional classroom is no more enough.

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He said in a statement, “The world has gone digital, so there is the need to exploit this to teach the language in an inspiring way. I want to engage the people – old and young – regularly, at their convenience. You can be anywhere and, at any time, still learn at your own pace. Once you have your phone, laptop or any other related gadget, all you need to do is to check out the videos on Phenomenal Hub on YouTube. The videos will be uploaded regularly.”

He added that all aspects of the language were being covered – writing, speech, pronunciation, grammar etc – just as the English Language Competition for Secondary Schools, powered by Neo Media, would also be unveiled soon.

A native of Ibadan, Oyo State, Lasisi studied Education/English at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife—after earning the National Certificate in Education (English/Yoruba) from the Oyo (now Osun) State College of Education, Ila-Orangun. After teaching English language and literature for several years, he went into journalism, working with several media houses variously as a proofreader, reporter, staff writer and an assistant editor. Prizes he has won include the Association of Nigerian Authors/Cadbury Poetry Prize (twice) and the National Media Merit Awards.