Youngsters can improve their vocabulary and writing skills with the help of a new series beginning this Thursday in The Royal Gazette.

And teachers will be able to use the weekly stories of Kiesha the Mermaid as a learning tool in the classroom. Kiesha the Mermaid is back with six new underwater adventures involving her friends both in and out of the water. Her return kicks off the Newspapers in Education programme for the new school year.

The six short stories are intended to engage young readers with an environmental message.

They have been adapted from the screenplays written by Daron Lowe and appear once a week on Thursdays beginning September 18.

The Royal Gazette is joined in this literacy initiative by sponsors Bermuda Electric Light Company and the English Speaking Union. With the permission of Mr. Lowe, and the sponsorship of the English Speaking Union who paid the royalty fees, NIE co-ordinator Jennifer Hind has adapted the screenplays to short stories, which she hopes young people will find entertaining.

She has also developed a series of detailed lesson plans for teachers that examine vocabulary, sentence awareness and text features. Today, The Royal Gazette is publishing a workbook-cum-scrapbook so that young readers can collate the stories.

Parents are encouraged to pull out and save the workbook, which provides space for pasting in each story, colouring in the line drawings and exploring story lines so that young authors can write their own series of adventures.

There are also questions that will help parents discuss the stories with their young readers.

Also in the line-up for the NIE programme this term is a weekly current events series, 'Election PLUS', to bring the US 2008 presidential election to life for students.

The series will run for the last six weeks before US Election Day, November 4. Written by a former political reporter, these half page news features will target the issues and events making news each week in the presidential campaign, explore issues important to children and families and explain developments as they happen in the presidential race. The series runs every Tuesday beginning September 23.

Later in the term, The Royal Gazette also intends to publish a series written by young lawyers at the law firm Trott and Duncan entitled 'The Law and You', which examines legal issues affecting young people and their parents.

For more information about the Newspapers in Education programme, contact Mrs. Hind by emailing nie@royalgazette.bm or telephoning 278-0136.