AUSTIN – Adults seeking their General Education Development diploma (GED) will have the option of studying from their easy chair next week.

Friday, March 02, 2001

AUSTIN – Adults seeking their General Education Development diploma (GED) will have the option of studying from their easy chair next week.

KSMQ-TV will air a 22-week English and Spanish GED series beginning March 5.

The award-winning series is produced and distributed by Kentucky Educational Television (KET). It is designed to teach adults to analyze and interpret reading passages, write clearly and effectively and solve everyday problems using principles of basic math, including algebra and geometry.

Since 1975, an average of 150,000 students have enrolled in the KET/GED series classes in 48 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Canada and Mexico, according to a KSMQ news release.

KSMQ worked with Riverland Community College to bring the program to their audience.

&uot;We assessed the needs of the community in our region and determined that this is a valuable service we can provide both the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking communities,&uot; said KSMQ-TV general manager Jude Andrews.

Immigrants will find the program useful even if they have a degree from their country of origin, said Kristine Hernandez, public relations at KSMQ.

&uot;A lot of them have their diploma from Mexico or wherever they’re from, but when they go in for (job) interviews, they find it’s useful to have (a U.S.) diploma as well,&uot; she said.

The GED English program airs Mondays and Thursdays at noon, followed by the Spanish version at 12:30.

Both programs will repeat the following Sunday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. with the two English episodes airing from 10-11 a.m. and the two Spanish episodes airing from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Three workbooks and a math formula pocket guide parallel the series and are available for about $25 from KET at 1-800-354-9067.

KSMQ-TV is channel 15 and the following cable channels: 2-Albert Lea, 12-Austin, 22-Faribault, 23-Owatonna, 13-Rochester and 8-Mankato.