This podcast takes young listeners on a cool ride to interesting moments from history that make us look at the world with wonder
Forever Ago logo. Pic Courtesy/X
History podcasts often revolve around big events that have defined the world as it exists today — change of reign, revolutions and wars, for instance. Forever Ago is a podcast which brings our attention towards smaller moments in history that help us find joy in the world. The show is hosted by actor, performer, and writer Joy Dolo, who is accompanied by various child guests. Belonging to the Brains On! Universe — a collection of podcasts for curious kids — Forever Ago picks up questions that fascinate children: How did popcorn become such an essential snack at the movies? Who was the first woman to win an Olympic medal? When did electric guitars enter pop music? How did the world come together to save the Ozone layer? Where did electric cars come from?
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Joy Dolo
In a recent episode titled ‘Don’t Steal My Thunder! The History of Idioms’, Dolo converses with a young learner Zyah, and her friend Teddy. For the first two minutes, they whisper mostly in idioms, while sitting inside a library. They’re excited about the mysterious sounding ones. This sets the premise for the rest of the episode. Dolo and Zyah take the listeners through what idioms are and where some of the strange, fascinating ones came from. For instance, they recreate a scene from when playwright and literary critic John Dennis would have come up with the phrase “don’t steal my thunder” at the staging of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This technique of learning is more pleasurable for children than handing them a dreary list of idioms to learn. Context and play enable them to grasp such concepts more effectively.
One of the best parts of the episode is a game where the hosts play a guessing game; a common feature in all these 30-minute episodes. In this one, they try to guess an idiom from another language. A lot of US-based podcasts can fall into the danger of becoming unrelatable because of their culturally-specific contexts. Dolo is conscious of this at all times and pauses, from time-to-time, to introduce concepts that many within and outside of the US may be unaware of. She does this through her quick-snacks-and-fun-facts, bite-sized ten-second facts, or a quick discussion with her co-host. This makes the episodes more inclusive for children and adults tuning in from all parts of the world.
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