Integrating Chinese culture into Sesame Street

Transcription

Integrating Chinese Culture into Sesame Street
A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty
of
Drexel University
by
Shengrui Wang
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree
of
Master of Science
June 2011
ii © Copyright 2011
Shengrui Wang. All Rights Reserved.
-‐ ii -‐iiiiii101101101-‐ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to thank my advisor, Albert Tedesco, who has helped me all along from the very
beginning of the project. Step by step, the project goal has become clearer.
Many thanks to Richard, for all the effort and time you’ve spent helping with
proofreading. It’s you that made me think logically. I benefited a lot from discussing
with you.
Thank you, Kaiqin for making my Beibei the panda come alive. He’s so cute!
Last but not least, thank you Mom and Dad for giving me the opportunity to study
abroad. Without you, I wouldn’t have had all of these good experiences. I love you.
-‐ iii -‐iiiiiiiii101101101-‐ iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………......v
LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………vi
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………….………………. vii
1.OVERVIEW ………………………………………………………………1-12
2.PROBLEM STATEMENT………………………………………………13-16
3.CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CHINESE CULTURE IN SESAME STREET…17-18
4.PROJECT DESCRIPTION………………………………….………………....19-28
5.CHARACTER DESIGN……………………………………….……………....29-33
6.SCRIPTS…………………………………………….……..............…………..34-53
7.CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………...54-55
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………..............56-58
APPENDIX A……………………………………….……………………….....59-62
APPENDIX B…………………………………………….……………………...63-64
APPENDIX C……………………………………………..…………………….. 65-93
-‐ iv -‐iviviv101101101-‐ v List of Tables
1. 2010 FLAP Funded Foreign Language Programs in the U.S……………………….10
2. Summary of Chinese Content in Forty Years of Sesame Street…………………….18
3. Sesame Street Chinese curriculum………………………………………………….20
-‐ v -‐vvv101101101-‐ vi List of Figures
1. Growth in Chinese Language Courses……………………………………………….8
2. Erhu………………………………………………………………………………….14
3. Waterlight…………………………………………………………………………...23
4. Beibei the Panda…………………………………………………………………….27
5. Grover……………………………………………………………………………….31
6. Oscar the Grouch……………………………………………………………………34
7. Slimey……………………………………………………………………………….35
8. The Great Wall (1)…………………………………..………………………………41
9. The Great Wall (2)…………………………………………………………………..42
-‐ vi -‐vivivi101101101-‐ vii 10. ABSTRACT
Integrating Chinese Culture into Sesame Street
Shengrui Wang
Albert Tedesco. Supervisor, Ph.D.
This thesis demonstrates a way to integrate Chinese culture into the American television
program, Sesame Street. With increased exposure to the program elements and strategies
suggested herein, American children will draw creative ideas from Chinese culture. A
Sesame Street Chinese curriculum has been designed which uses selected cultural
aspects of Chinese culture as content to address the instructional goals of Sesame Street.
A new puppet called Beibei the Panda will act as a medium to teach American children
about Chinese culture in an entertaining and interesting manner.
From February to July 2010, I interned at the Global Production department of the
Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization that produces Sesame Street. The
internship provided me with precious opportunities to test my thesis ideas with the
Sesame professionals.
-‐ vii -‐viiviivii101101101-‐ viii -‐ viii -‐viiiviiiviii101101101-‐ 1 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW
Sesame Street, that long street that circles the world, celebrated its 40th
anniversary in 2009 with its audience of 8 million viewers, on 350 stations in 120
countries (Davis, 2008).
Sesame Street was created in the late 1960s when, as Amber Smallwood (2008)
put it, “early education seemed to offer the possibility of solving great social
problems.”(p.1) The television program was, in part, a reaction to the chaos in the
United States during the Vietnam War, assassinations and general public unrest.
Additionally it was a response to what Newton Minow (1961), who was a former
Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, called the “vast wasteland” of
programming offered by television stations at the time (p.4).
In 1964, the federal government “The War on Poverty” was initiated. It was
designed to enhance the standard living of the poor. The program was focused on, in
part, improving the quality of schools and preparing children for entry into the US
educational system. Joan Ganz Cooney, “a little-known public television producer,” as
Davis (2008) put it, whose original vision would later become Sesame Street, seized the
opportunity to use television as an educational tool to prepare children for school life
(p.109).
She discussed her idea with “educators, school practitioners, pediatricians,
television and film producers” in search of the skills to make it happen. Eventually, with
-‐ 1 -‐111101101101-‐ 2 the help of the Carnegie Corporation, the Ford Foundation, and the U.S. Office of
Education, Cooney began planning out Sesame Street in 1968 (Fisch & Truglio 2001).
This educational television program that debuted on public broadcasting
television stations, began with the mission of helping children, especially
underprivileged children, prepare for school (Palmer & Fisch 2001). The program has
since been widely praised for its ability to promote school-readiness for children and for
stressing the importance of providing children with intellectual stimulation and culture
appreciation (Zill 2001). According to Sesame Workshop, about 8 million people in the
U.S. watch Sesame Street every week and Sesame Street is the children's program most
recognized by mothers of young children (Appendix B).
Shortly after its first airing in 1969 in the United States, the show attracted the
attention of producers from Brazil, Mexico and Canada who, expressed their interests in
using the format of Sesame Street for addressing the local educational needs of each
country (Cole, Richman, Brown; Children Television Workshop, 2001). Sesame Street
co-productions which use Sesame Street content for localized programming are all over
the world including: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Israel,
Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Kosovo,
Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Palestine. The children of each country view a
program that “has the same essence as the series produced in the United States, in a
context that reflects local values and educational priorities” (Cole, Richman, Brown,
2001).
Take Sesame China, or ‘Zhima Jie’ as an example. Sesame Street first appeared
-‐ 2 -‐222101101101-‐ 3 in China in 1983 with Big Bird in China, a one-hour special produced with CCTV
(Sesameworkshop.org). In 1998, Sesame Workshop launched a coproduction of Sesame
Street, called Zhima Jie, in China. (Natural Resource Management.com) Its production
team consulted with local experts in child development, education, and media. The most
important educational needs were identified. These include basic skills, such as literacy,
numeracy, and an appreciation for arts and they were focused on in the Chinese version
of Sesame Street (Sesame Workshop.org).
The educational curriculum for the first season of the U.S. Sesame Street set
goals in the areas of social, moral, and affective development; as well as language,
mathematics skills, reasoning, problem solving and perception skills (Fisch 2004).
However, in order to avoid a situation in which none of the areas is addressed in depth, a
curriculum focus has always been set for each season of production. One set of related
objectives is specifically emphasized each season to expand on a certain area of child
development.
In some seasons, new concepts are focused on instead. For example, as during
seasons 22-25 (1990-1994), race relations were the focus. In other seasons, existing
areas were reexamined: emergent literacy was the center of attention in seasons 26-28
(1994-1997) (Lesser, Schneider 2001).
Seasons 22-25 from 1990-1994 provided a concentrated effort to teach about
cultural diversity using a four-year curriculum that focused on race relations. Positive
interactions were modeled among five groups, African Americans, American Indians,
Latinos, Asian Americans, and White Americans (Sesame Street Internal Research
-‐ 3 -‐333101101101-‐ 4 Archive, 2010).
In order to get some insight on how important cultural diversity is to the show, an
interview was conducted with Carol-Lynn Parente, the current Executive Producer of
Sesame Street. She said, “Culture diversity is very important to us. It has always been so,
from the very beginning.” She explained that it has always been one of Sesame Street’s
goals to weave culture diversity into the show. The diverse cultural backgrounds of the
human cast are good asset for this purpose. Parente further stated that it is useful “to
reflect the cultures in [the performers’] lives--to integrate something naturally part of the
people into their acting roles,” (Carol-Lynn Parente, Personal Communication, May 6,
2010).
Rosemarie Truglio, Vice President of Education and Research at Sesame
Workshop, elaborated further on Sesame Street’s role in cultural exposure:
“We try to show different cultures living together. The human cast on the Sesame
Street set provides an opportunity for us to explore their culture backgrounds. We have
an African American family, with Susan and Gordan; a Latino intact family, Maria and
Luis. And Mr. Hooper store was run by an older Jewish man; now it’s being operated
by a young Japanese American, Alan. The message has always been the same. We
want to celebrate the uniqueness of a person’s culture as well as highlight the
similarities,” (Rosemarie Truglio, Personal Communication, May 4, 2010).
A format called ‘Global Grover’ was begun in Season 34 (2003), to teach about
foreign cultures. As described by Truglio, the program, “provided the domestic show
[the opportunity] to take these films from international co-productions and bring them
-‐ 4 -‐444101101101-‐ 5 here domestically.” She said that this allowed children in America to observe other
children who might not look similar to them, but were experiencing the similar things in
life.
Both Parente and Truglio believe that the cultural aspects which are visually
most appealing are often chosen to be included in the show. (Rosemarie Truglio,
Personal Communication, May 4, 2010; Carol-Lynn Parente, Personal Communication,
May 6, 2010) Specifically, Truglio stated that, “we always include dance, music, and
cultural holidays” because they were a kind of “visual representation” of the culture.
(Rosemarie Truglio, Personal Communication, May 4, 2010)
However, Parente warned that, “you want to show what’s special and unique
about the culture. And yet, some of the most interesting visuals can be touristy--where
you are kind of feeding into stereotypes,”(Carol-Lynn Parente, Personal Communication,
May 6, 2010; Rosemarie Truglio, Personal Communication, May 4, 2010). For instance,
the live action segment of some young Chinese acrobats doing amazing moves appeared
many times in different seasons of the show. (Table 2)
The Sesame Street curriculum proposed in this project will introduce Chinese
culture using non-clichéd elements.
Additionally, it will attempt to go beyond
superficial archetypes so as to avoid, or at least bring nuance and depth to stereotypes.
The following content analysis of Sesame Street’s 40 years of programming,
focusing on foreign culture, included in the thesis project revealed that the programming
dedicated to Chinese culture on Sesame Street has been, till now, limited to the topics of
-‐ 5 -‐555101101101-‐ 6 acrobatics, noodles, kites, and Chinese Spring Festival. The analysis was made through
reviewing 40 years of episode summaries provided by Muppet Wiki (muppet.wikia.com,
2009), which is “a collaborative project to create an encyclopedia for everything related
to Jim Henson and the Muppets”. (Squidoo.com,20) At the same time, a synthesis was
made to include only the episodes that include foreign culture-Appendix C.
The goal of multiculturalism on Sesame Street as well as the format of the show,
the magazine format, makes it difficult to focus on only one culture (Margot Duffy,
Producer Sesame Languages, Personal Communication, May 3, 2010). “At the same
time, it’s not easy to cover all cultures in depth. You only get a taste of everything.”
One other method Sesame Street uses to expand on cultural content, is through
outreach projects. For example, Shalom Sesame released in 1986, is the Israeli
adaptation of Sesame Street, aimed at teaching about Israel and Judaism to children in
America. Danny Labin, the Executive Director for Shalom Sesame said, “The project is
a platform for children, parents, and educators to explore their Jewish identity, culture
and traditions.” (Sesameworkshop.org) The show was a success among the Jewish
community, religious schools, and culture centers. However, according to Duffy (Margot
Duffy, Personal Communication, May 3, 2010), China has a broader influence in the U.S.
and there is much more pressure for children to learn Chinese. An article from the New
York Times recently reported about the Chinese language surge in Indonesia: “As
China’s economic power grows, the study of Mandarin is surging around the world,”
(Wong, 2010).
In the United States, “Thousands of public schools stopped teaching foreign
-‐ 6 -‐666101101101-‐ 7 languages in the last decade, according to a government survey,” (Dillon, 2010). While
other foreign language classes are shrinking, Chinese seems to be the exception, as noted
in the New York Times. “Rough calculations based on the government’s survey suggest
that perhaps 1,600 American public and private schools are teaching Chinese, up from
300 or so a decade ago. And the numbers are growing exponentially,” (Dillon, 2010).
-‐ 7 -‐777101101101-‐ 8 Figure 1: Growth in Chinese Language Courses (2010)
(Photo Courtesy to The New York Times, January 21, 2010)
-‐ 8 -‐888101101101-‐ 9 According to an article from Asia Society, there has been a significant growth of
Chinese teaching programs in the United States since 2005. (Asia Society.org)
Government funding contributes greatly to such growth. Foreign Language
Assistance Program (FLAP), a program under the U.S. Department of Education,
provides grants to establish, improve, or expand innovative foreign language programs
for elementary and secondary school students.
The program makes a priority of funding to critical need languages identified as:
Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, and languages in the Indic, Iranian, and
Turkic language families. (Foreign Language Assistance Program: Applicant
Information).
According to the funding status reported by the U.S. Department of Education, in
fiscal year 2010, $15,718,185 was appropriated to FLAP. Through an analysis of the
2010 FLAP Grant Abstract, 15 Chinese programs got the funding, 12 Spanish, 6 Arabic,
2 French, 1 Latin, 1 Turkey, 1 Hindi.
-‐ 9 -‐999101101101-‐ 10 Table 1
2010 FLAP Funded Foreign Language Programs in the U.S.
Chinese
California; Colorado; Kansas; Indiana;
Iowa; Michigan; New Jersey; New York;
Pennsylvania; Massachusetts
Spanish
California; Colorado; Florida; Georgia;
North Carolina; Tennesse; Texas; Ohio
Arabic
Arizona;
Michigan;
Tennesse;
Pennsylvania
French
North Carolina; Ohio
Latin
Tennesse
Turkey
Ohio
Hindi
Texas
-‐ 10 -‐101010101101101-‐ 11 National Security Education Program (NSEP) is another major Federal initiative
designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign
language and international skills. Two important projects of NSEP are Startalk and The
Language Flagship.
Startalk seeks to expand and improve the teaching and learning of strategically
important world languages that are not now widely taught in the U.S. such as Arabic and
Chinese. It provides assistance to curriculum planning and development of materials.
(Teaching Heritage Languages) A popular Startalk-sponsored program is the Chinese
Monster Magic which features puppets to make Chinese fun and enjoyable. It is a brand
new teaching curriculum for Pre-School and Grades K-2. (Chinese Monster Magic.com)
“The Language Flagship community is made up of 23 Flagship centers and
programs at institutions of higher education. Programs are led by nationally-recognized
leaders and innovators in language education.” (The Language Flagship.org)
10 universities across the country have Chinese teaching programs for undergraduates.
For example, the ASU Chinese Language Flagship Program in the Arizona State
University.
Aside from governmental initiatives, non-governmental organizations, such as Asia
Society have played “important roles in the expanding of the Chinese field.” The
organization along with Hanban, the Chinese government agency spearheading the
establishment of Chinese language programs overseas, will set up a network of 100
-‐ 11 -‐111111101101101-‐ 12 exemplary Chinese languages programs as model sites for effective teaching and
learning of Chinese in the United States within 3 years. 20 pioneer schools and districts
are in place. (Asia Society, 2010)
Sesame Street Chinese (or the Ohio Mandarin Project) is a pilot program that began
by Sesame Workshop in 2008 to introduce Mandarin and Chinese culture to young
children in Ohio. The project attempts to expose the audiences to the contrast between
Chinese and American cultures. The success of the program is closely related to the
unique assets of Sesame Workshop: Sesame Street Characters, culturally specific
materials in their native languages, broad curricular goals from socio-emotional to
cognitive learning and global networks with local experts, children and caregivers.
(Internal Reference)
-‐ 12 -‐121212101101101-‐ 13 CHAPTER 2: PROBLEM STATEMENT
The core idea of this project is to make Chinese cultural elements more familiar
to children in America. With increased multicultural exposure, children will draw ideas
from divergent sources.
Consider the following common examples from the daily lives of children in the
States:
One afternoon, four little girls gather and listen attentively to an old Chinese man
playing the Erhu on a subway platform. They are enchanted by the beautiful sounds
emanating from the strange and exotic device.
-‐ 13 -‐131313101101101-‐ 14 Figure 2: Erhu, a traditional Chinese instrument
(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
-‐ 14 -‐141414101101101-‐ 15 On another sunny day, after a long walk along the Hudson River, a young boy
and his parents find themselves in Chinatown. They sit in a Chinese restaurant and are
advised by the Chinese waiters on special dishes. They look through the menus full of
foreign names and afterwards compare the messages they get from their fortune cookies.
In these examples one can see how children in America hear the words ‘China’
and ‘Chinese’ constantly in their daily lives. And also, according to the data from US
Census Bureau, in 2004 Chinese was the second biggest language, after Spanish, spoken
by school children 5 to 17 years old, out of the 229 languages spoken within the U.S.
(Census.gov, 2010).
This project focused on specific ways in which Sesame Street producers can
include Chinese culture in Sesame Street programming in the United States. The easiest
elements to include are things that children see, hear, taste, smell and touch in daily life-things such as fortune cookies, the Chinese zodiac, Chinese food, chopsticks, Chinese
instruments, etc.--and to weave them into the educational curriculum of Sesame Street.
The project aimed to design a way of making Chinese culture elements better
understood by American children. It was thought that increased multicultural exposure
would equip American children with new sources from which to draw creative ideas
about Chinese culture. In this way each child can say, “I know this is from China,
Mexico, or Finland, but this is as much a part of my life as apple pie. It’s mine too.”
Young viewers’ lives will be enriched as they have more options and ideas to
play with. The foregoing assumption is well supported by recent research which asserts
-‐ 15 -‐151515101101101-‐ 16 that “multicultural experiences can provide a valuable cognitive resource for creative
thinking” (Leung and Chiu, p.14, 2010).
The research by Leung and Chiu studied the effects of American and Chinese
culture exposure on European Americans. The findings show “significant immediate and
delayed creative benefits” (p.14) as a direct result of such introduction to unfamiliar
cultures. These conclusions suggested that multicultural experiences had “engaged [the
participants] in some creativity-supporting cognitive skills, such as a spontaneous
tendency to sample ideas from divergent sources and to attempt creative integration of
seemingly unconnected ideas” (Leung and Chiu, p.14, 2010)
-‐ 16 -‐161616101101101-‐ 17 CHAPTER 3: CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CHINESE CULTURAL ELEMENTS
IN SESAME STREET
This evaluation analyzes the content of Sesame Street, focusing on foreignculture related programming. It is aimed at finding out how much exposure Chinese
culture had and how it was presented to the American audience in previous episodes.
Appendix C, made through collecting data from the Muppet Wiki, is a summary
of culture-related programming for the last 40 seasons of Sesame Street. And the table
below is a summary of episodes with Chinese culture content only. From the table, it can
be seen that Chinese culture did not have a significant presence on Sesame Street and
what little content is shown seems to be restricted to a small number of topics. Only
eight of the fourty seasons contained programming with information about China.
-‐ 17 -‐171717101101101-‐ 18 Table 2
Summary of Chinese Content in Forty Years of Sesame Street (Muppit Wiki.com)
Season 5
Episodes
Muppets
Season 8
Season 22
Season 25
Film
Film
Film
Season 25
Season 27
Animation
Film
Season 31
Season 32
Season 36
Film
Animation
Miscellaneous
segments
Muppets
Season 36
Kermit News
(Chinese food
mentioned)
Chinese noodles
Kite
Chinese
calligraphy
Chinese patterns
Chinese New
Year
Acrobatics
Letter to China
Chinese food
Global
Grover
returns
from
China.
-‐ 18 -‐181818101101101-‐ 19 CHAPTER 4: PROJECT DESCRIPTION
In this section, examples are given to demonstrate the feasibility of the project.
Chinese culture will be used along with American culture for Sesame Street
programming to create multi-cultural experiences with the goal of provoking creativity
and openness towards foreign-culture concepts. The Chinese-focused curriculum in this
thesis project references the “Sesame Street Instructional Goals” as stated in the Sesame
Street Research Archive. (Internal Reference)
The proposed curriculum will use selected cultural aspects of Chinese culture as
content to address the instructional goals of Sesame Street as shown in Table 3:
-‐ 19 -‐191919101101101-‐ 20 Table 3
Sesame Street Chinese Curriculum
Chinese
Sesame Street Instructional Goals
Aspects
Child and World:
Home life
Cultural
 Self
Cultural Celebration
 Social Units
Language
Human Diversity:
Food
 Differing Perspectives
Music
 Cultural Diversity
Dance
 Special Needs
Art and Crafts
Symbolic Representation:
Architecture
 Pre-Reading & Writing
 Numbers
 Geometric Forms
-‐ 20 -‐202020101101101-‐ 21 Cognitive Organization:
 Perceptual
Discrimination
And
Orientation
 Relational Concepts
 Classifying
Example 1: Symbolic Representation-Food
The popular Chinese food, tofu could be used to demonstrate shapes. Tofu is
originally from China, however, it has come to be popular throughout the United States.
The process of making tofu goes from a circle (the original product—yellow beans) to a
square (the final product—tofu cubes) in a typical dish. Moreover, the texture of tofu
tends to be very soft. Therefore, it can also be used to demonstrate hard and soft by
contrast to, say, a rock. It has now been related to different shapes and textures, while
the origins of this once strange type of food have been demonstrated.
Example 2: Relational Concepts-Art
As another example, traditional Chinese landscape painting could give children a
good sense of positions. The paintings are typically composed of elements such as
forests, streams and mountains (ChineseArt.com, 2010). Through the process of painting
itself it is easy to show young viewers spatial concepts, e.g., near/far, in front/behind,
-‐ 21 -‐212121101101101-‐ 22 top/bottom, low/high, around, etc.
Example 3: Child and World-Art & Crafts
Folk arts, such as Chinese paper-cutting, could be used as an interesting
demonstration of the Chinese zodiac animals1, from the Rat to the Pig. A Sesame Street
Character could introduce the Chinese zodiac by telling his/her friends what year he/she
was born and what animal represents that year. Paper-cutting animation with a voiceover narration from the character could follow as a visually enticing, and educational
explanation. It would show all the animals along with the interesting and identifiable
characteristics of each.
Additionally, the twelve animals which represent the Zodiac, could be related in
their respective order to numbers by use of the traditional story of their institution
(perhaps performed by a number of Muppets). After this, the Zodiac on the Chinese
restaurant menu wouldn’t be so strange anymore. Children could feel connected to it
since a Muppet they know on Sesame Street was born in the year of Ox.
Example 4: Symbolic Representation-Home Life
In some water towns in China, people fold little colorful paper boats in which
candles are laid. Different colors have distinct connotations, for example, red for health,
purple for fortune, etc. (Travelogue-XiTang, 2007) People put them into the river at
night to make wishes and watch them float past the various homes on shore. These
1
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig -‐ 22 -‐222222101101101-‐ 23 colorful water-lights that drift along, carrying wishes down the river, can be used to
teach colors and numbers.
-‐ 23 -‐232323101101101-‐ 24 Figure 3: Water light
(Photo courtesy of Xitang.com)
-‐ 24 -‐242424101101101-‐ 25 Example 5: Visual Discrimination –Language
Some Chinese characters look like what they refer to. That is, they derive from
pictures. Consider the following:

口-Mouth

山-Mountain

飞-Fly (Flying humming bird)

哭-Cry(Crying person with a tear)

火-Fire

中-middle, center

伞-umbrella
These are examples of Chinese pictograms, a part of Chinese written language.
Pictograms convey meaning through their pictorial resemblance to a physical object.
(Pictogram, Wikipedia, 2010) This manner of communication allows for a different,
interesting perspective by using pictures to describe thoughts and concepts. It shortens
the distance between Chinese language and the audience by introducing pictures as a
medium which children can easily understand. Either animation or live action film could
be used to present these characters.
The main intent of all these examples is to embed foreign culture concepts into
the educational content of Sesame Street.
-‐ 25 -‐252525101101101-‐ 26 My Internship at Sesame Workshop:
Sesame Street has always been a concentration of the efforts of content
experts, television producers, and educational researchers who have collaborated
throughout the life of the project.
As an intern at the Sesame Workshop’s Global Production department, I
was able to participate in the production process from pre-production to postproduction, which allowed me to directly observe and gain practical production
skills. For instance, I helped brainstorm for titles, worked on script development
and proof all updates.
The scripts included in this thesis project were developed by me based on
these observations at Sesame Street. The experience of doing live studio production
has familiarized me with the Sesame Street set. I’ve personally been to Hooper
store, Oscar’s trash can, Big Bird’s nest, etc. Moreover, one week of training at the
Henson Workshop gave me some basic knowledge of how puppets are made,
prepared and maintained.
All these observations and practices have greatly
advanced the development of this thesis.
Through a curriculum, scripts and a new puppet character, this project will
endeavor to address the close relationship between Chinese and American societies
with the goal of fostering friendly attitudes towards Chinese and other foreign
cultures. Stephanie Bell-Rosethe, president of The Goldman Sachs Foundation once
said: "If young Americans are to take on challenging global leadership roles, they
27 must possess a deep understanding of and appreciation for other cultures,
economies, history and languages," (Earlyadvantage.com 2010). This thesis will
attempt to address exactly such a need, for the benefit and education of American
children.
In order to achieve this, a Muppet (or marionette puppet), which resembles a
panda will join the cast of Sesame Street. His name is Beibei.
28 Introduction to a New Character:
My design and conception of Beibei as a character
Figure 4: Beibei the Panda
(Copyright by Kaiqin Zhang)
29 CHAPTER 5: CHARACTER DESIGN

Why a panda?
Pandas are a well-known feature of China, are cute and an animal loved by
children. Pandas are also strongly associated with China, which is the only country that
has them. (ChinaUnique.com, 2010)

Character background
Beibei the panda was born in China. Later, when he was still young, he came
to the National Zoological Park in Washington D.C., an institution to which children can
feel some attachment to. He has decided to move to Sesame Street in order to make new
friends with the cool characters that he has been hearing so many good things about, and
watching on television.
He has been considering the pros and cons of moving for a long time because
of his over cautiousness. On one hand, he wants to stay with his friends in the zoo,
living a laid-back life. On the other hand, he is tempted to get out of the zoo to meet
new friends and see more of the wide world. After some deliberation, he decided that
he'd rather give up his secure life for freedom and fun on the outside.

Characteristics
The most dominant trait of Beibei the Panda is that he tends to consider the
pros and cons of everything. Thus, he is always very calm when dealing with problems
30 but takes a long time to reach any conclusion. However his carefully laid-out plans don’t
work all the time. Things get out of his control, and then he has to learn from mistakes.
“That his character hems and haws over decisions is a very visual way of
teaching critical thinking. That’s really a wonderful way to get that curriculum across,”
said Parente. According to Parente, “critical thinking is the toughest curriculum we
have.” She added that “if we have a character like this, it will get a little easier” (CarolLynn Parente, Personal Communication, May 6, 2010).
This characteristic of Beibei has a lot of correlation with the Yin and Yang, a
dominant concept of Chinese philosophy which maintains that nothing is absolutely
good or bad, but a mixture of both. Because he always thinks about the pros and cons of
everything, Beibei will be fit for teaching antonyms, for instance, safe and dangerous,
fail and succeed, boring and interesting.
Since he is from China, Beibei is bi-lingual, speaking both Chinese and
English. He is, however, in the process of learning more English vocabulary. He has an
intense curiosity about everything new. However, with his nature being over cautious,
he always finds conflict within himself. “To do or not to do” is always a question for
him.

Beibei’s friend, Grover
Grover and Beibei the panda can become very good buddies because their
characteristics can help each other. “Grover is a lovable, furry, wide-eyed blue monster
who sees the world from a four-year-old’s point of view. Excitable and compulsive, he
31 is always willing to help, but he rushes into things without thinking of the consequences.
He has limited experience and few analytical skills, so he usually ends up doing things
the long way around.” (Sesame Workshop Muppet Guide)
32 Figure 5: Grover (Photo courtesy of Sesame Workshop)
33 Grover is excitable and compulsive, while Beibei is calm and over cautious.
When the two get together, they’ll make a good team in terms of going on adventures
with good and logical planning.
Moreover, with the Global Grover series, in which “the blue monster travels all
over the world to explore the traditions of peoples from many diverse cultures.” (Muppet
Wikia.com) He has been to China as well. Therefore, the two of them have a lot in
common and similar experiences to share. The two of them can teach kids about Chinese
culture together. Grover is able to give passionate speeches about what he has seen in
China and Beibei can add in his logical perspective to expand the children’s knowledge
of China.

Beibei’s appearance
Beibei’s look was designed by Kaiqin Zhang2, a graduate student of
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (PAFA).
2
http://zhangkaiqin.com/
34 CHAPTER 6: SCRIPTS
TITLE 1: “THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA”
EDUCATIONAL GOALS:
Instructional Goals
Cultural Aspects
Cultural Diversity
Language
Perceptual
Architecture
Discrimination
SCRIPT OBJECTIVE

After viewing, young audiences will be familiar with the Great Wall of China
and know some simple facts, such as that it is very old, very long, and it was used as
a defense system.

Young audiences will enjoy using the name, ‘the Great Wall’ in their play,
like the example given in the script, ‘the Great Wall of Oscar.’

Young audiences will acquire the notion that things as magnificent as the
Great Wall take a long time and a lot of effort to build.

Young audiences will become more considerate about how they treat friends
from foreign cultures.
35 Figure 6: Oscar the Grouch (Photo courtesy of Sesame Workshop)
OSCAR
The resident grouch on Sesame Street. He loves collecting junk and
trash, standing in line, arguing, rainy days, anchovy milkshakes, etc. and hates
anything nice and sweet. Oscar lives in a trash can that houses several elephants, a
swimming pool, music room, and just about everything else. (Sesame Workshop
Muppet Guide)
36 Figure 7: Slimey
(Photo courtesy of Sesame Workshop)
Slimey
Oscar’s friendly pet worm. Slimey is so small that everyday objects
become obstacles for him. The puppet has limited mobility; usually appears on the
crate next to Oscar. Slimey doesn’t speak. (Sesame Workshop Muppet Guide)
37 LOGLINE:
Beibei the panda is homesick. He misses his own country, China, so much that he
decides to build the Great Wall out of building blocks by himself. Beibei happens to
build the Wall outside Oscar the Grouch’s trash can. It turns out Oscar likes Beibei
because the Wall forms a fence that can block everybody else on Sesame Street
from entering his territory.
SCENIC: OSCAR’S TRASH CAN
TALENT: BEIBEI THE PANDA,
OSCAR THE GROUCH,
GROVER
PROPS: BUILDING BLOCKS
WE FIND BEIBEI WALKING INTO SESAME STREET FOR THE
FIRST TIME TO SEE OSCAR THROWING BLOCKS OUT OF HIS
TRASH CAN.
HE’S SURPRISED TO SEE SOMETHING IN TRASH.
OSCAR (GRUMBLING): These just aren't my style,--they're too well
made!
BEIBEI (TO HIMSELF): What is that?! Shall I go talk to him? Seems
like a wild animal... Is it safe or dangerous? Should I go and talk to him?
Or run away? Oh dear, what should I do?
Well, I guess it doesn't hurt to try...
BEIBEI STRETCHING OUT HIS ARM TO
SHAKE OSCAR’S HAND
BEIBEI: Ni Hao! ... Hello? (HELLO IN CHINESE)
OSCAR(FROWNING): Whoa…Whoa…What are you doing? Don’t you know that
grouches don’t like to be touched?
BEIBEI: Oh, sorry. I don't know what a Grouch is... I’m from China.
38 OSCAR: China! I’ve been to China when Big Bird visited there. It’s not an
interesting country at all.
BEIBEI: That’s not true! China is a wonderful country with lots of interesting
things to see. I miss my beautiful home so much!
OSCAR: Calm down…listen buddy, I like China a lot because it is not interesting!
Now, if you excuse me, I’ll go back to my nap now. You can stick around if you are
still homesick. Being sad is good.
BEIBEI: Wait, I can show you what a nice country China is…
OSCAR GETS BACK INTO THE TRASH CAN BEFORE BEIBEI GET TO
FINISH TALKING
BEIBEI: (TALKING TO HIMSELF) I’ll prove to Oscar that China is interesting.
HE SEES THE PILE OF BLOCKS AROUND THE CORNER, SO HE DECIDES
TO BUILD THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA BY HIMSELF. WHILE BEIBEI IS
BUILDING THE WALL PIECE BY PIECE, GROVER COMES BY, AMAZED
BY WHAT HIS GOOD BUDDY IS DOING
GROVER: Hey BEIBEI! What are you doing with these building blocks?
BEIBEI: Oh, hiya! I’m building the Great Wall of China.
GROVER: What wall?
BEIBEI: The Great Wall of China. It’s a very long wall built of earth and stone. It’s
more than 2,000 years old. That’s much older than most of our great grandpas and
grandmas.
GROVER: Wow, that’s pretty old. What was it used for then?
BEIBEI: It was built by Chinese people to protect them from harm.
GROVER: I see. But why are you building the Great Wall in front of Oscar’s trash
can? He will not be happy to see this grand thing.
BEIBEI: Oscar thinks China is not an interesting country. I need to show him that it
39 is, by making the Great Wall on my own. But I’m running out of blocks…
GROVER: Don’t worry, buddy! Grover is always ready to help. I’ll go get you
more blocks. So how many do you need?
BEIBEI: The more the merrier. The Great Wall of China took miles and miles of
stones to build.
GROVER: Alright, I’ll go get some for you. (SWOOSH)
OSCAR POPS OUT TO CHECK WHAT’S GOING ON OUTSIDE OF HIS
TRASH CAN
OSCAR: (ANNOYED) What is this again?
BEIBEI: I’m making the Great Wall of China to show you how interesting China is.
OSCAR: It doesn’t look like a wall to me. And it certainly is not great looking
either.
BEIBEI: I’m only at the beginning of my project. It took ancient Chinese people
many years to build it. I’m making a small version of the Great Wall just to give
you an idea of how great the Great Wall is.
OSCAR: Oh, boy, I don’t understand why you’re trying this hard to ruin the boring
memory of China that I have.
OSCAR COVERS THE LID ONCE AGAIN
AND GROVER COMES BACK DRAGGING
A CART FULL OF BUILDING BLOCKS
GROVER: Beibei, Beibei, there you go! I collected all the building blocks I could
find on Sesame Street for you. I hope these will be enough for your Great Wall.
BEIBEI: Thank you so much Grover!!! You are so helpful. Now, would you like to
make the Great Wall with me? It’s such a big project. There were thousands of
Chinese people building it. I need your help to make it happen.
GROVER: (EXCITED) Of course! It looks so much fun! Grover loves to help!
There is nothing more interesting than building the Great Wall! I’m so happy to be
part of this honorable mission… But, eh…Beibei, I’ve never seen the Great Wall of
China. I certainly don’t know what it looks like. How do I build it then?
40 BEIBEI: Oh, let’s see what it looks like first; that will help us make it more real!
GROVER: Smart thinking Beibei!!
BEIBEI: My friend Panpan in China lives in Beijing, which is the capital of China.
He often goes to climb the Great Wall with his grandfather for exercise.
WIPE TO:
WE SEE A LITTLE BOY
WALKING ON THE GREAT
WALL OF CHINA WITH HIS
GRANDPA. THE BOY TAKES
SMALL BUT FAST STEPS IN
FRONT OF HIS GRANDPA, WHO
FOLLOWS RIGHT BEHIND WITH
A SMILE ON HIS FACE.
OFTENTIMES THEY COME AT
DIFFERENT TIMES OF THE DAY,
SUNRISE, NOON AND SUNSET.
THE GREAT WALL ALWAYS
LOOKS DIFFERENT, SEEN FROM
VARIOUS ANGLES, SPOTS, AND
TIMES. THE BOY RUNS BACK TO
FIND GRANDPA WHO IS
HUNCHING HIS BACK
LOOKING CAREFULLY AT THE STAIRS, CONTEMPLATING. THE
BOY RUNS BACK TO GRANDPA AND ASKS WHAT HE IS
THINKING ABOUT. GRANDPA
TELLS HIM HOW THOUSANDS
OF HANDS OF THE CHINESE
PEOPLE USING BRICKS,
STONES, EARTH ETC. THE BOY
AND GRANDPA COME TO
THREE IMPORTANT AND BASIC COMPONENTS OF THE GREAT
WALL, WHICH ARE PASSES,
TOWERS, AND WALLS.
GRANDPA TEACHES THE BOY
THE DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS OF EACH.
WIPE TO:
41 GROVER: Wow, the Great Wall is so magnificent. I’ve never seen such a
long wall built among mountains. I can’t see the ends of it.
BEIBEI: Yeah! It all comes from the hard work and determination of the
ancient Chinese people. So grandpa told us there are three important
components of the Great Wall. Do you remember what are they?
GROVER: Let me see… Pass, wall, and…I can’t remember the third one.
BEIBEI: Towers! They used beacons on top of them to attract attention
and send messages.
GROVER: Good! Now let’s start our project!!
BEIBEI: Alright! But we need to work together like a team.
GROVER: Sounds like a plan!
BEIBEI: Let’s start from the beacon tower. How about that?
GROVER: Yeah! Yeah! But… how?
BEIBEI: Haha… If you look closely, you’ll see the most important
feature of the beacon tower is that it’s located somewhere high, like on
the tops of mountains. Because the soldiers needed to send messages out
by fire or smoke, they had to stand on top of the roof so that people can
see the signals clearly.
GROVER: That makes perfect sense!
BEIBEI: You see, to make a beacon tower, we need two parts, the
foundation and the roof.
GROVER: Oh, the tower seems like a box with an E-shaped roof.
BEIBIE: Really?
42 Figure 8: The Great Wall
(Photo courtesy of Richard Kroon, my friend,
who has been to the Great Wall in China 2008)
GROVER: Look, the foundation is a big box at the bottom and the roof is
made by the letter E lying down.
BEIBEI: That’s right!! You are so smart Grover!
GROVER: Hahaha, thank you!
BEIBEI: Actually, you just used a very good method to understand things
that are new and unknown to us.
GROVER: Really? What’s that?
BEIBEI: Using what you already know to make new things
understandable!
GROVER: I can do the same with the pass too!
BEIBEI: Try it, try it!!
43 Figure 9: The Great Wall
(Photo courtesy of TravelChinaGuide.com)
GROVER: Hmm, the pass has a big gate and two layers of birthday cakes
on top!
BEIBEI: Ha Ha, that’s great! Our project’s easy now, thanks to smart
Grover!
GROVER: Oh, Yeah!!!
WIPE TO:
WE SEE IT’S SUNSET TIME. BEIBEI AND GROVER ARE STILL
WORKING
ON THE GREAT WALL PROJECT.
GROVER PUTS DOWN THE LAST
BUILDING BLOCK PIECE. THE
THREE PARTS, BEACON TOWER,
PASS AND WALL ARE MADE
READY. NOW THEY NEED TO PUT
THEM TOGETHER. THEY SET THE
BEACON TOWER HIGHER THAN
THE REST OF THE GREAT WALL.
BEIBEI: Wow, we did a fantastic job!! High five!
GROVER: (TIRED, BREATHING
QUICKLY, WIPING SWEAT FROM
FOREHEAD) Oh boy, it’s definitely a
lot of work!! I respect myself as a hard-working Great Wall builder…You
too, Beibei!
44 OSCAR COMES OUT OF HIS TRASH
CAN
OSCAR: That’s it!! You guys have been around my trash can for the
whole day! I can’t bear it anymore!
BEIBEI: Look, Oscar!
OSCAR: What is this long wall in front of my trash can for?
GROVER: It’s the Little Great Wall of China we built! Isn’t that
amazing? We spent a long time and all our effort to make this. (STILL
TRYING TO CATCH HIS BREATH)
OSCAR IS STILL CAREFULLY
EXAMINING THE GREAT WALL
BEIBEI: So, what do you think? Do you think the Great Wall is
interesting?
OSCAR(THINKING FOR A SECOND): Come here, Slimey!
GROVER AND BEIBEI LOOK
CONFUSED WONDERING WHY
OSCAR CALLS SLIMEY OUT.
OSCAR: Come on buddy, you’re honored as the solider for my Great
Wall of Oscar.
GROVER: What! The Great Wall of Oscar? Why is that?
OSCAR: You see, this is such a good defense system for my trash can!
From now on, no one will be able to invade my territory without my
permission. And I assign Slimey as my loyal solider to stand here to
alarm me of anything usual.
SLIMEY MOVES
GRACEFULLY
SLOWLY
TO
THE
BEACON
TOWER
OSCAR: (POINTING AT THE BEACON TOWER) What is this?
45 BEIBEI: It’s the beacon tower. Ancient Chinese soldiers stand here to
send messages out if there is anything strange happened.
OSCAR: (TALKING TO SLIMEY) Good boy! You know just where to
be!
(TALKING TO BEIBEI) Thank you for building the Great Wall of
Oscar!
BEIBEI: So, you change your idea about China now?
OSCAR: Oh, yeah! For sure! I like this wall so much! Now there will be
less people, monsters, animals that can bother me. Now, if you can leave,
I’ll be able to test if the Great Wall of Oscar works well as it looks.
BEIBEI AND GROVER LOOK AT
EACH OTHER, SHRUGGING
SHOULDERS
BEIBEI AND GROVER: Oh, boy…
BEIBEI: At least, Oscar likes it…haha…
Hey Grover, I don’t feel homesick and sad anymore. I feel so happy after
building the Great Wall of China with you.
GROVER: I’m glad to hear that, pal! And next time, when you are
homesick, come find me, we can play together, ok?
BEIBEI: I will! Thank you buddy!
The End
46 TITLE 2: “CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTING”
Educational Goals:
Instructional Goals
Cultural Aspects
Relational Concepts
Art
Critical Thinking
Calligraphy
Script Objective
 Children will get an idea about some of the common elements of
traditional Chinese landscape painting.
 Through the project, children get to practice prepositional vocabulary, (such as
top, bottom, left, right, above, below etc) through designing a painting.
SCENIC: 123 SUBWAY ENTRANCE
TALENT: BEIBEI THE PANDA, BIG BIRD,
A STREET ARTIST
PROPS: PAPER SCROLL
LOGLINE: A STREET ARTIST SETS UP A BOOTH FOR NAME
DECORATION IN CHINATOWN. BEIBEI THE PANDA AND BIG
BIRD PASSES BY. BIG BIRD WANTS A CUSTOMIZED NAME
SCROLL TO PUT UP ON HIS WALL.
THE ARTIST IS SINGING MERRILY WHILE ORGANIZING SOME
CLIP ART ON THE TABLE, EACH WITH A DIFFERENT ELEMENT
OF CHINESE TRADITIONAL LANDSCAPE PAINTING, SUCH AS
MOUNTAINS, WATERFALLS, RIVERS, CANOES, HOUSES,
BRIDGES, BAMBOOS, BIRDSS, AND RED LANTERNS.
THE ARTIST: (Taking a deep breath) What a beautiful Day! Hope there
47 will be some more business with such good weather!
BIG BIRD AND BEIBEI THE PANDA WALK ALONG THE STREET
BIG BIRD: Hang on Beibei! Look!
BEIBEI: (Taking a U-turn) What?
BIG BIRD: (Stopping by the art booth) Wow, this is cool!
BEIBEI: (Saying hi to the artist in Chinese) Ni hao!
THE ARTIST: (While working on a piece of art) Ni hao! How are you
doing, guys?
BIG BIRD: Good, thank you sir! Beibei, I want one; I can put it up on my
wall.
BEIBEI: Very good idea!
BIG BIRD: May I have one name scroll please?
THE ARTIST: Of course! You get to pick whatever you want on your
name scroll, and you can arrange them according to you own taste!
BIG BIRD: This sounds so interesting!
BEIBEI: Yeah!
THE ARTIST: All right then! Let’s get started…Here are the options:
mountain, river, waterfall, bridge, house, bamboo, bird, canoe, red lantern.
Pick anything you like, I can put them on the scroll to decorate your name.
BIG BIRD: Wow, amazing!! But, er…Beibei, I need your help. I don’t
know what to pick. There are so many of them.
BEIBEI: Sure, I’d love to help! Let’s see…hmm, first, think about what
you like.
BIG BIRD: Well, I love mountains…
48 BEIBEI: Good choice! Traditional Chinese landscape paintings have lots
of mountains since they are so huge and great looking.
BIG BIRD: Oh, good! I like rivers too; they always run happily, non-stop,
full of life.
BEIBEI: River and mountain are nice combination. They go together
pretty well. What else do you want?
BIG BIRD: I would like to have a house…
BEIBEI: Interesting!
BIG BIRD: I have a good idea!
BEIBEI: What’s that?
BIG BIRD: On the river, I want to have a bridge; and some red lanterns
on the roof of my house!
THE ARTIST: (Jumping up on his feet, excited) Wow, such good
imagination! Keep going!
BIG BIRD: Some waterfalls will be great to have, I just enjoy watching
them falling from up high all the way down to the bottom, so powerful…
BEIBEI: Big bird, they are good to have, but your name scroll will be
quite full with all these.
BIG BIRD: Will that be a problem? I really love them all.
THE ARTIST: Not if we arrange them properly.
BEIBEI: But how?
THE ARTIST: Well, that’s usually my secret. But you boys are full of
curiosity; I’ll show you how I do it. Keep it within the three of us, will
you?
BIG BIRD AND BEIBEI: Yay!
49 THE ARTIST: Now that we have so many things we want to have on the
name scroll, to make it not crowded, it’s helpful to think about where you
want to put each one of them on the limited space.
BEIBEI: Oh, I see, it’s like arranging the stuff I have in my room so that
it isn’t too crowded.
Oh, I know!! We can put the mountain on the left top of the scroll and the
river at the bottom.
THE ARTIST: Smart! That’s exactly what I meant!
BIG BIRD: Oh, how about the house by the river and the bridge running
across the river?
THE ARTIST: Very good! It will be a wonderful name scroll!
BIG BIRD: Now, we have everything settled, don’t we?
THE ARTIST: Not yet… You forget the most important thing!
BEIBEI: Haha, I know, Big Bird’s name!
BIG BIRD: Right! Haha, where do I put my name then?
BEIBEI: How about on top of the river, below the mountain?
BIG BIRD: Oh, I love the idea!
THE ARTIST: Alright then! We have a plan now!
THE ARTIST STARTS ASSEMBLING ALL THE ELEMENTS BIG
BIRD WANTS IN HIS NAME SCROLL
THE ARTIST: Oh, can you boys do me a favor?
BIG BIRD AND BEIBEI: Of course!
THE ARTIST: Can you count how many letters there are for Big Bird?
BEIBEI: Don’t worry. We can figure it out for you! Big Bird starts with
the word “big”, which spells like, “B” -“I”- “G”; so 1, 2, 3, three letters in
50 total.
BIG BIRD: “Bird” is spelled as “B”-“I”-“R” “D”; 1,2,3,4, four letters. So
three letters add four, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Seven!
THE ARTIST：You boys are so intelligent, good at art design and
counting numbers as well!
ALL LAUGH
THE ARTIST FINISHES THE NAME DECORATION AND SHOWS IT
TO THEM
BIG BIRD: Wow, this is amazing! I love it so much! This is exactly like
what we planned: the mountains are at the left top, the river is at the
bottom running from left to right. A little bridge stands across the river.
BEIBEI: And a waterfall drop from the top of the mountains all the way
down into the river. Your house is by the river. And there are 1,2,3,4, four
big red lanterns hanging on each corner of the roof.
BIG BIRD: And my name is right above the river;And it’s yellow-the
color of my feathers! This is fantastic!
THE ARTIST FROWNS
BEIBEI: What’s the matter?
THE ARTIST: My years of experience are telling me something is
missing.
BIG BIRD: Really? What’s that?
THE ARTIST: Oh, I got it! There’s no story told here in this painting.
BIG BIRD: I thought it was a name scroll. Why does it have to be a story?
THE ARTIST: Well, it will be much more interesting if there is a story in the
51 painting rather than a name only. That’s the second secret of my art.
BEIBEI: But there won’t be enough space for more things to make a story.
BIG BIRD: I think so too…
THE ARTIST: Doesn’t hurt to try, does it? Let me think…
MUSIC
THE ARTIST STARTS SINGING
I’M AN ARTIST IN CHINATOWN
I WANT TO SET MY IDEAS DOWN
IF YOU ASK ME WHAT I’LL DO
LOOK UP,
LOOK DOWN
I’LL DRAW BEIBEI ANDYOU
TO TELL YOUR STORY IS MY AIM
THIS ART IS MY CLAIM TO FAME
SO BIG BIRD, LOOK WHAT WE’VE GOT
WE’VE GOT MOUNTAINS AT THE TOP
RIVERS RUNNING BY
A BRIDGE GOING OVER
A HOUSE STANDS ON THE SIDE
WATERFALLS FALLING DOWN
RED LANTERNS UP ABOVE THE GROUND
52 BIG BIRD ACROSS THE SKY
NOW FOR THE FINAL TOUCH
WE’RE ALMOST THERE, DON’T NEED MUCH
EVERYONE LOOK AND SEE
WHAT DO WE NEED
WHAT COULD IT BE
WHAT’S MISSING
TO MAKE A STORY OUT OF THE PAINTING
WHAT’S MISSING
TO TELL A STORY ON THE SCROLL
OH, I KNOW (SINGING STOPS, ARTIST STARTS MUMBLING)
Oh, I know! Oh, I know!
BEIBEI: What is it, sir?
BIG BIRD: Tell us…
THE ARTIST PICKS UP THE INK BRUSH
AND PAINTS BEIBEI THE PANDA ON THE
SCROLL BY THE HOUSE,
SOME DUCKS IN THE RIVER,
SOME PEOPLE WALKING ACROSS THE BRIDGE,
A CANOE DRIFTING ALONG THE RIVER
THE ARTIST: Now, we have a story here.
53 Doesn’t that look better?
BIG BIRD: It sure does! I have company now!
BEIBEI: Er…
THE ARTIST: What’s wrong?
BEIBEI: Is there any room to draw some more things?
THE ARTIST: Why is that? According to my YEARS of experience, this is enough.
BIG BIRD: Yeah, what do you need, Beibei?
BEIBEI: It’s just…hmm, I’d love to be in the scroll, but I need something there
which I can’t live without…
THE ARTIST: Which is...?
BEIBEI: BAMBOO!
ALL LAUGH
The End
54 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION
The purpose of the previous examples and the new character of Beibei the
Panda on Sesame Street is to engender in American children the same acceptance of
Chinese people and culture, as they have for cute and cuddly pandas. And, in this
way, to make the Chinese cultural elements they commonly see and encounter in
daily life more interesting, more useful and more understood.
The thesis project grew with me as my internship went on at the Sesame
Workshop. It was being developed at the time when I got to be on the set of Sesame
Street and see the scripts for some of the Sesame episodes that went on air. I got to
sit in most of the script review meetings for Season China Season One, with the
Sesame China producers from May to June 2010. Because of my Chinese language
background, I could provide culture consulting to the production team. The episodes
in this thesis project, to a certain degree, must have been influenced by the
experience. The daily research on Sesame Street videos during the internship, gave
me a good understanding of all the Sesame characters as well, which made script
writing for this thesis project a fun and enjoyable experience.
From the end of July, I got hired as a production assistant for both the
Sesame Street English department, which devotes to producing multimedia
educational material for children learning English in Asia, and also the Sesame
Street Chinese project, that’s mentioned in the overview section of the thesis.
Because of the opportunity, I got to bring my thesis up to Manabu Nagaoka, the
55 Executive Producer of the Sesame Street Chinese project. The feedback I got from
him and the on-going development of the project itself gave me a realistic view of
my thesis. At the moment, the Sesame Street Chinese project is repurposing the
media assets that have been developed by the Sesame Street English language
project. For example, we chose a song from the asset pool; then I translated the
English lyrics and rewrote it into easy and catchy Chinese song. And it became part
of the Sesame Street Chinese project, which includes other elements, such as games,
animation, dictionary etc. Since the Chinese project is still under development,
details of the project aren’t currently available.
China and United States are closely connected in so many aspects.
Together, they face the challenges of environmental issues, population rise and
terrorism. At the same time, the cooperation and collaboration between the two
countries is vitally important in terms of conducting business, trade, and the impact
of currency fluctuation. Therefore, a better mutual understanding will propel the
development of a positive partnership in the interest of both parties.
“Given the diversity of the United States, knowledge of other cultures is
also essential to strengthening the functioning of our own democracy and education
system.” (Asia Society, 2006, p.6) Sesame Street and Beibei the Panda joining
together will bring a brand new perspective to children in America, and enrich their
lives a little bit more.
56 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Blum, R.A. (2001). Television and Screen Writing: From Concept to Contract.
(4thed.) Woburn, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
2. Perret, G. (1990). Comedy Writing Step by Step: How to Write and
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Sell Your
3. Cole, C.F., Richman, B.A., & McCann Brown, S.K. (2001). The World of
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Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street. (pp.147-180) Mahwah,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
4. Panda Facts and Information. Retrieved from
http://www.chinaunique.com/Panda/pandaedu.htm
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Ardila-Rey, A., Leavitt, L.A., Lesser, G., Richman, B.A., Yung, F. (2003). The
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Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. International Journal of Behavioral
Development. 27(5), 409 – 422.
6. Smallwood, A.M.K. (2008). Sesame Street and the Reform of Children’s
Television. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 52(2), 323-324.
7. Davis, M. (2008). Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. New
York, NY: Penguin Group (USA). Inc.
8. Sesame Street Episode Guide. Retrieved from
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Sesame_Street_Episode_Guide
9. Sesame Workshop. From China to America, a Brilliant Spectacle of Light and
Color. Retrieved from http://www.sesameworkshop.org/initiatives/respect/sky
10. Sesame Workshop, Sesame Workshop Muppet Guide. Internal reference.
11. Natural Resource Management. Zhima Jie.
Retrieved from http://www.comminit.com/en/node/131020/306
57 12. Pictogram. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictogram
13. Dillon, S. (2010, Jan. 20). Foreign Languages Fade in Class-Except Chinese.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/education/21chinese.html
14. Asia Society. 20 Schools Named Confucius Classrooms. Retrieved from
http://asiasociety.org/education-learning/chinese-language-initiatives/20-schoolsnamed-confucius-classrooms
15. Chinese Children to come and play on Sesame Street (1997, Nov.7) Retrieved
from http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9711/07/china.sesame.street/index.html
16. Chinese Monster Magic. (2010)
Retrieved from http://www.chinesemonstermagic.com/
17. Chinese Painting. Retrieved from
http://www.chineseart.com/chinese-painting.htm
18. Asia Society. Afterschool for the Global Age. (2006). Retrieved from
http://www.asiasociety.org/files/afterschoolreport-1.pdf
19. Asia Society. Chinese: An Expanding Field. Retrieved from
http://asiasociety.org/education-learning/chinese-language-initiatives/chineseexpanding-field
20. Early Advantage. Learning Chinese. Retrieved from
http://www.early-advantage.com/Articles/Learnchinese.aspx
21. Fisch, S.M. (2004) Children’s Learning from Educational Television: Sesame
Street and Beyond. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
22. Travelogue-Xi Tang. Retrieved from
http://ringingear.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/travelogue-xi-tang-西塘-china-july
2007/
23. Fisch, S.M. and Truglio. R.T. (2001) “G” is for Growing: Thirty Years of
Research on Children and Sesame Street. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Inc.
58 24. U.S. Department of Education. (2010). Funding Status. Retrieved
from http://www2.ed.gov/programs/flap/funding.html
25. Westat, N.Z. Does Sesame Street Enhance School Readiness? : Evidence from a
National Survey of Children. In Shalom, F.M. & Truglio, R.T. “G” is for
Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street. (pp.115-130)
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
26. U.S. Department of Education. (2010). Funding Status. Retrieved from
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/flap/funding.html
27. Fisch, S.M. (2000). A Capacity Model of Children’s Comprehension of
Educational Content on Television. Media Psychology. 2(1), 63-91.
28. Gettas, G.J. (1990). The Globalization of Sesame Street: A Producer's
Perspective. Educational Technology Research and Development. 38(4), 55-63.
29. Great Wall Fortifications Design. Retrieved from
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/construction/fortifications.htm
30. Kominski. R. A. & Shin, H.B. (2008). Language Needs of School-Age Children
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://search.census.gov/search?q=chinese+american+children&baseUrl=http%3
A%2F%2Fsearch.census.gov%2Fsearch&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&ud=1&
client=subsite&proxystylesheet=subsite&filter=0&hq=inurl%3Afactfinder.censu
s.gov&subtitle=aff&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8
31. Leung, A.K., & Chiu,C. (2010) Multicultural Experience,
Receptiveness, and Creativity. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
0: 0022022110361707v2
Idea
32. Minow, N.N. (1961). Television and the Public Interest. [PDF document].
Retrieved from
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/PDFFiles/Newton%20Minow%20%
20Television%20and%20the%20Public%20Interest.pdf
59 Appendix A: Interviews with Sesame Workshop Managers
 Interview with Carol-Lynn Parente, Executive Producer of Sesame Street,
Carol-Lynn’s office, May 06, 2010
Question: What is the process of introducing new puppets into Sesame Street like?
Parente: With Abby, we were looking for new species on the street. We were
looking for a way to teach diversity and about entering new groups. So when kids
see other kids that different are from them, whether it because of race or ability or
the way they dress or their hair, we’d like to model that. That awkward feeling you
get when you are a kid entering a new group. We were looking for new species, and
Abby is a fairy, and we don’t have any fairies on the show. And that was the reason
she got developed. That was the first time in like 17 years that we added a new
character. We don’t add them so often. Part of the reason for Sesame Street is that
we already have so many characters and we are a show for very young children. So
it’s hard for kids to learn all the characters.
With Zoey and Rosita, we really made an effort to add girls to the cast, because they
just were underrepresented. All the popular characters, Grover, cookie monster, Big
Bird, they were all male. And so Rosita came around. We just wanted to add a
female, as it turns out, Carmen, who is Mexican. We just decided to write that
character to her ethnic background because she was a really strong performer and
puppeteer. It is hard to find female puppeteers. So we decided to use her ethnicity in
the show, but we didn’t set out to create a Spanish puppet. She was a very strong
puppeteer; we decided to use her natural accent in her character. It wasn’t at first.
We were just looking for a strong female puppeteer, because we were adding
females. Because she naturally had this Spanish language, then it was a bonus.
When you do casting, you always just want the best, funniest performer. If you
could find that, it adds a dimension to the show, like language. That was great.
Because now we were able to deal with a character whose language was Spanish
and who also speaks English. Because when Rosita becomes angry, frustrated
sometimes, she breaks into Spanish. And you have the natural ability to teach a
language like that.
60 Question: Do children get a lot of exposure to foreign culture through Sesame
Street?
Parente: I think more than any other children’s show, because diversity is very
important to us. And it has been so from the very beginning. We focus on different
cultures. We have had the entire seasons where cultural diversity was the main
focus. So we’ve done an entire season of African American culture and an entire
season of Asian cultures. Even though those were particular season where we really
went very deep into focus. We still include diversity in everything we do. And that
goes from the film we commission. We also have a segment for a while called
Global Grover, that was actually using films from all over the world. We actually
went to the international producers, and took their films, and tried to use the films
that worked the best. We would put in an English voice-over to explain what was
going on. So I think Sesame Street probably has more cultural exposure than most
children’s shows.
You know the interesting thing is, you need to be careful when you want to be
focusing on cultural diversity: it’s not to take a touristy approach to it. You are
trying to show what special and unique about the culture from food to dance to
dress to celebrations or traditions and yet some of the most interesting visuals can
be touristy, where you are kind of feeding in stereotypes. You want to show that
diversity in the most interesting way, but you also don’t want to be offensive. It’s
really difficult. We go for what is the most organic way to introduce cultural
differences so that it does feels like real and not insulting anyone’s heritage.
I really love the idea of Beibei. This character hems and haws over decisions. It’s a
very visual way to teach critical thinking. And that’s a hard thing to visualize. So
having a character that double thinnks himself, that goes back. That’s really good
for education. That’s really a wonderful way to get that curriculum across because
that’s a tough curriculum to do. We have a format called Abby’s flying fairy school.
That’s supposed to be critical thinking. It’s not strong enough yet. If we have a
character like Beibei, it will get a little easier. So you’ve done a beautiful job with
the character design, I think that will teach very well. Critical thinking is toughest
curriculum we have. I think that’s a really good idea for that.

61 Interview with Rosemarie Truglio Vice President of Education & Research,
Rosemarie’s office, May 04, 2010
Question: Sesame Street has always stressed cultural diversity. How is it
represented in the show?
Truglio: We try to show different cultures living together. The human cast on the
Sesame Street set provides an opportunity for us to explore their culture
backgrounds. We have an African American family, with Susan and Gordan; a
Latino intact family, Maria and Luis. And Mr. Hooper store was run by an older
Jewish man; now it’s being operated by a young Japanese American, Alan. Our
most recent is Lila, who runs the laundromat. So it’s really through the human cast;
we explore their cultural roots. The message has always been the same. We want to
celebrate the uniqueness of a person’s culture as well as highlight the similarities.
We also focus not only on cultural differences but represent people who have
different abilities. And even when we represent those individuals, we’re focusing on
the things that they can’t do but more importantly the things they can do in their
special way. So if you’re in a wheel chair, you can’t use your legs to dance. But the
wheel chair is an extension of your body, and through technology, you can dance,
but you’re dancing in a different way.
And we’ve done other things, such as a format called ‘Global Grover’, where that
was an opportunity to have Grover go and visit friends around the world through the
technique of films. And that provided the domestic show to take these films from
international co-productions and bring them here domestically so that children here
can see that children, while they might not look like them, they are dealing with
very similar issues. The films that did the best were films where you are watching a
child learn something and gain mastery.
Question: What cultural aspects are touched upon frequently?
Truglio: We always include dance and cultural holidays. There is a visual
representation.
Question: Is the project to include Chinese culture into domestic Sesame Street
feasible?
Truglio: The only time you get a lot of shows is when we decide what the
curriculum focus is going to be for the season. So when we decided to do race
relations, we decided for 4 years to highlight a culture every season. Without a
curriculum focus, you are not going to get a lot of shows. It would have to be
62 determined what the curriculum focus is. For instance, for Season 40, the focus is
on science and nature, they got about 15 out of 26 shows. And we decided what the
goals are, and what the key messages are. Once you decide what the goals and key
messages are, then the writers start writing and we have shows represent the goals
and key messages.
I can’t see it happening in the near future, because we are focusing on the next year
or 2 years on science, technology, engineering and math.
63 Appendix B: Sesame Street Fact Sheet from Mysesameworkshop.org
Contributed by Leah Baker, Production Assistant at Sesame Workshop
Sunday, 25 September 2005
The Sesame Street experience is nearly universal,
beginning with the television programs, extending
through magazines, licensed products, daycare
centers and grass-roots outreach efforts:
- In the U.S. alone, there are over 74 million
"graduates" of Sesame Street.
- Approximately 8 million people in the U.S. tune
in to Sesame Street each week.
- Sesame Street is the number one program
recalled by mothers of children ages 6 months to
11 years who were asked to name any children's
program.
- More mothers with a child under 3 watch Sesame
Street than any other children's program on
commercial television.
- Parents of preschoolers are most likely to choose
Sesame Street as the one program they would want
their child to watch.
- To date, Sesame Street has won 109 Emmy
Awards - more Emmys than any other television
show in history.
- Sesame Street and its international coproductions have aired in over 120 countries since
its inception, making it the most widely viewed
children's series in the world.
- A portion of the proceeds received from the sales
of products help fund Sesame Workshop's
educational programs worldwide. Sesame Street
- Sesame Street books and magazines are
published in 5 continents and
many languages to delight and educate children the
world over. In 2005, over 18 million Sesame Street
books and magazines were sold worldwide.
64 - New children's book categories will be
introduced 2006, including value-added Novelty
Books, Educational Workbooks and Flashcards, as
well as expanded traditional categories such as
Coloring/Activity Books and traditional
Storybooks.
- Sesame Street has a series of award-winning CD
ROMs, PlayStation and Game Boy titles, as well as
a web site -www.sesameworkshop.org - that educates and
entertains over 1,000,000 visitors each month.
Online tools have also been developed for
Publishing Licensees to aid in creative
development and content re-purposing, including
an archive of over 250 book and magazine titles.
- Healthy Habits for Life is a content-driven
initiative developed to help young children and
their caregivers establish an early foundation of
healthy eating and physical activity. Overall health
and well-being is a crucial part of our ever
developing Sesame Street curriculum.
- Sesame Workshop, the producers of Sesame
Street, provides educationalresources featuring
Sesame Street characters that are used by Ready to
Learn Coordinators in workshops with caregivers
and parents.
65 Appendix C: Summary of Foreign Culture Content in Forty Years
of Sesame Street (Muppet Wikia.com)
Season 02
198
Film
African kids play at various
activities, including a game with
stone.
Season 03
299
Muppets
346
Muppets
355/
299
Muppets
Season 04
Japanese Stories: The Young Son
has until midnight to find the four
mysterious dragons hidden in the
royal throne room.
Japanese Stories: Japan is
victimized by an emperor, who
boasts that he will relinquish his
post to anyone who shows him
something unique. Villagers bring
flowers, fans, and hats, identical
to those owned by the emperor,
but a young girl is able to prove
that she herself is different from
anything else.
Japanese Stories: A Japanese
storyteller tells "The Mystery of
the Four Dragons." An aged
emperor offers the throne to his
son if he can find four hidden
dragons in the room.
66 410
Muppets
Japanese Stories: The Emperor of
Japan is dissatisfied with the
sound his gong makes. He calls
the imperial gong delivery man
that presents different gongs for
his approval. They're either too
loud or too soft, however, until
the imperial gong delivery man
uses his own head as a gong.
Season 06
666
Muppets
685/
299
Muppets
743/
299
Muppets
Season 07
Roosevelt Franklin Elementary
School: Roosevelt Franklin talks
to his class about Africa. Smart
Tina thinks that Africa is just a
big jungle, because she's seen it
that way in Tarzan movies.
Roosevelt corrects her; only a
small portion of Africa is a
jungle. Africa also has cities and
deserts and lakes. Hard head
Haris compared Africa to Smart
Tina.
the Four Dragons."An aged
67 803/
299
Muppets
880/
Muppets
666
Season 08
926
Film
963
1031/
573
1041
1052/
299
A giant panda walks around.
Film
Preparing Mexican tortillas
Film
Cartoon
Preparing Mexican tortillas
The pink panther karate
Luis and Maria demonstrate some
of the musical instruments
associated with the Puerto Rican
and Mexican cultures.
Muppets
935
Scene
Season 09
1056
Roosevelt Franklin Elementary
School: Roosevelt Franklin talks
to his class about Africa. Smart
Tina thinks that Africa is just a
big jungle, because she's seen it
that way in Tarzan movies.
Roosevelt corrects her; only a
small portion of Africa is a
jungle.
Film
Footage of a Chinese noodle
factory
68 1059/
346
1061/
198
1088/
128
Muppets
Film
Film
that she herself is different from
anything else.
African children play with bonelike marbles.
Sesame Street Animal Films:
African animals
Oscar witnesses Buffy and some
kids talking about their
nationalities.
1092
Scene 2
1094
Cartoon
1100
Film
K is for Karate.
People in different countries are
seen running. A Mexican girl is
seen on a swing in a playground.
1100
1124/
573
1128/
813
1141/
1056
Film
How Chinese noodles are made.
Film
Tortillas
Film
"Indian Baby Bath"
factory
African animals
Panda
1150/
346
1153/1
28
1159/9
26
Film
Muppets
Film
Film
69 1164
Film
Season 11
Puerto
1316
Rico
1396
1525/
1094
African lizards
Film
Russian nesting doll 1-10
Cartoon
K is for Karate.
Season 17
2179
2269/
1094
2282
Muppets
Film
Cartoon
2341
Film
Season 19
2363/
2282
Animation
Cartoon
2366/
2341
2395
Film
Cartoon
2453/
299
Muppets
2483
Cartoon
Ernie and Bert explore an
Egyptian pyramid.
Elephants (African percussion
soundtrack)
P is for Pyramid.
Two boys working at the family
Mexican restaurant show how
they prepare for the day, and how
tacos and enchiladas are made.
P is for Pyramid.
The alphabet Song (Country,
gospel, Mexican)
A report on homes around the
world
70 Season 20
2558
Film
2574
Cartoon
Sesame
Street
News
Flash
2610/
2404
Season 21
2687/
2574
Cartoon
2727/
2574
Cartoon
Children dance to different
rhythms from around the world.
How they say "good night" in
Haiti and in India.
London Fog
Haiti and in India.
Haiti and in India.
Season 22
2749/
2687
Film
Animation
2754/
1041
Cartoon
2754
Film
2755
2781/
2404
Cartoon
2782
Animation
2783
Film
Muppets
A boy who lives in the Congo (in
Africa) narrates a film of the
kinds of games he and his friends
play.
A girl unfolds a map and uses it to
describe her trip to Mexico,
stopping in Texas along the way.
The Pink Panther Karate
Two kids help an old Chinese
man get his dragon kite in the air.
A map of African morphs into the
shape of animals that are found
there.
African Alphabet Song
A map of China morphs into the
shape of animals and things that
are found there.
A girl goes to school somewhere
in Africa.
71 2784/
2282
2789/1
056
Animation
Film
Cartoon
2820
Cartoon
Season 23
2876/
2483
Cartoon
2877
2900/
1396
Cartoon
Film
2932/
2755
Animation
2946/
2877
Cartoon
2951/
2749
Animation
2955/
2855
Cartoon
2963/
813
Cartoon
P is for Pyramid.
factory
Gloria Globe pulls a tiger out of
her hat, which belongs to India.
"Do the Continental"-two kids
jump into Africa
world
Gloria Globe is about to pull a
rabbit out of her hat, but pulls out
a kangaroo instead, which
belongs in Australia.
A map Africa morphs into the
there.
Gloria Globe is about to pull a
a kangaroo instead, which
belongs in Australia.
Gloria Globe attempts to pull a
a camel instead, which belongs in
Egypt.
A group of Oriental children
demonstrates the concept of in
and out, by climbing in and out of
a gigantic time.
72 Muppets
Floral patterns are formed to
Eastern European music.
Members of the Congo nation get
together for a ceremonial dance.
there.
A map of Australia morphs into
the shape of animals that are
found there.
Floral patterns are formed to
Eastern European music.
Zork lands in Australia, where a
kangaroo greets him.
Gloria Globe sings "I Am the
World."
world
there.
Waiter Grover: Mr Johnson eats
at an airport restaurant and is on
his way to South America. When
Grover learns about Mr. Johnson's
trip, he gives a big lecture on
South America, causing Mr
Johnson to miss his flight.
Cartoon
2969
Animation
2977
Film
3008/
2755
Cartoon
3010/
2749
Animation
3021
3023/
2969
Cartoon
3031
Cartoon
Animation
Cartoon
3037/
2483
Cartoon
3038/
2755
Cartoon
3047/
2341
Film
3048/
2616
3056/
1041
73 Animation
3057/
2558
3059/
2977
Film
Muppets
3073
Cartoon
Animation
3076
3079
3080/
2820
Film
Muppets
3081
Film
Film
Cartoon
3091
3093
Film
Animation
Film
Film
A map of Australia morphs into
the shape of animals that are
found there.
Caribbean Anything Muppets
sing about "Caribbean Air".
Gloria Globe appears sick and
ailing, because of pollution and
damage to the planet. Only by
taking better care of the Earth can
Gloria become well again.
"We are kids from Far and Wide."
A girl narrates a film of how pan
dulce, Mexican bread is made.
African Alphabet Song
jump into Africa
A Puerto Rican family gettogether includes cooking,
playing soccer, and finally the big
dinner
world
in Africa.
Counting to 10 (Latin rhythm)
factory
A giant panda walks around.
74 3098
Muppets
Cartoon
Cartoon
3100
Film
Cartoon
3102
Cartoon
Film
3105
Film
Animation
3108
Cartoon
Cartoon
Film
Waiter Grover: Mr Johnson eats at
an airport restaurant and is on his
way to South America. When
Grover learns about Mr. Johnson's
trip, he gives a big lecture on
South America, causing Mr
Johnson to miss his flight.
Haiti and in India.
K is for Karate.
A girl named Maria and her
family is having a Cuban Bar-BQ. She invited her friend, Stewart
to enjoy the fun and learn about
Cuban culture.
A map of Puerto Rico forms into
the shape of animals and other
things that are found there.
Gloria Globe attempts to pull a
a camel instead, which belongs in
Egypt.
In a village in Africa, people
catch fish and celebrate
afterwards.
In South America, they
say'Buenos Dias' for good
morning, and 'Buenos Noches' for
good night.
"We are kids from Far and
Wide."-Columbia
P is for Pyramid.
75 3119
3123/2
558
Film
Muppets
Cartoon
Cartoon
Cartoon
3127
Film
Film
Film
3134
3135/3
105
Celebrity
Animation
Muppets
play.
"African Alphabet Song"
Gloria Globe appears sick and
ailing, because of pollution and
damage to the planet. Only by
taking better care of the Earth can
Gloria become well again.
jump into Africa
in Africa. We see the girl getting
ready to go to school as she
washes herself and brushes her
teeth, puts on here clothes,
brushes her hair, and takes her
lunch, all with some help from
her mother. We see her walking
past
Gilberto, who lives in Central
America, learns how bricks are
made.
Cuban culture.
Paul Silmon and Ladysmith Black
Mambazo sing the African
Alphabet Song.
African quilt pattern #2
In South America, they say
'Buenos Dias' for good morning
and 'Buenos Noches' for good
night.
76 Season 26
3283
Film
Film
3374
Animation
Animation
3385/
Animation
2755
Season 30
3786/
3145
Cartoon
A group of girls dance a Korean
spring dance.
A Japanese mother shows her son
how to play taiko drum.
"We are kids from Far and Wide":
Jittar, who lives in Thailand,
describes the holiday of
Songkran.
A map of Africa morphs into the
there.
Film
African quilt pattern
A Karate team punches out the
alphabet.
Cartoon
Cartoon
Cartoon
Egyptian #2
The moon listens to everyone say
"Good night" in different
languages.
Cartoon
Film
K is for Karate.
Kids in a park do Karate kicks.
Cartoon
3812
3827
Cartoon
Cartoon
3834
Animation
Cartoon
Cartoon
Cartoon
Film
K is for Karate.
Kids in a park do Karate kicks.
Animation
3792
3793/
3145
3797
3836
3849/3
134
77 Season 27
3408
Film
Film
3410/
3164
3425
Animation
Film
Animation
3426
Film
3427
Film
Film
3480/
3145
Cartoon
Film
Film
3522
Film
Animation
Season 28
3540/2
483
Cartoon
Xiao-Mei from northern China
describes a festical at the end of
every year that her family
participates in. Each day of the
festival, there is a new show to
watch, a series of parades and lots
of food like noodles and
dumplings. Women prepare floats
for t
Lucia, who lives in Argentina,
narrates a segment where she
visits her abuelo's chocolate
factory, where they make candy
out of chocolate and mazapan.
Bali, Indonesia
Korean festival
Counting up to 11 (African
masks)
An Indian boy narrates how
Chapati bread is made.
A Japanese mother shows her son
how to play taiko drum.
In Tinidad, Asha and her friends
practice a dance on stilts in
preparation for a carnival.
Podrigo lives in Philippines spent
a day with his family at the park.
A Judo class does 20 jumping
jack.
Counting from 1-10 (Latin
rhythm)
world
78 Season 29
3664/
3140
Film
3665
Film
Children in Jamaica learn how to
make their own tie-dyed shirts.
Haiti and in India.
"The African Animal Alphabet"
A boy in Jamaica goes to school
and attends drum class.
jump into Africa
Wide"-Columbia
languages.
Haiti and in India.
Cuban culture.
Animation
Cartoon
Film
3671
Cartoon
Song
Film
3673
Cartoon
Animation
3688
Cartoon
Film
3691
Cartoon
Cartoon
3694/
3048
79 3695
Film
Film
3696/
3108
Animation
3699
Animation
Film
3701
Cartoon
Film
3702
Film
Film
3712/
3695
3713
Cartoon
Cartoon
Film
Cartoon
Rory, the green-belt aged 6, goes
to Karate class and learns under
his senei, where he does toe
touches, kickin, stretches,
jumping jacks, and an unnamed
move consisting of tumbling, then
posing. Not only do they practice
inside, but they also practice
outside in the park.
Korean girls do a spring dance.
Counting up to 11 (African
masks)
alphabet.
Wide"-West Africa
Kids rehearse a large group
African dance in the park, get
their faces painted, and perform.
Miles live in Kuwait, and
sometimes play staiko drums at
the park.
In a village in Africa, people
catch fish and celebrate
afterwards.
Korean girls do a spring dance.
Egyptian #2
alphabet.
languages.
80 3714/
3408
Film
3717
Cartoon
Film
3723
3733/
2755
3741/
2574
Animation
Song
Animation
Cartoon
Film
3745
3750/3
162
Cartoon
Film
Xiao-Mei from northern China
describes a festival at the end of
every year that her family
participates in. Each day of the
festival, there is a new show to
watch, a series of parades and lots
of food like noodles and
dumplings. Women prepare floats
for the parade which men dress up
as river animals. Xiao-Mei's
favorite is the lion dance. XiaoMei also demonstrates how she
can walk on tilts which are
strapped to her leg, and hopes
someday to dance in the big
parade.
their faces painted, and perform.
Counting from 10-0 (Latin
rhythm)
there.
Haiti and in India.
in Africa. We see the girl getting
ready to go to school as she
washes herself and brushes her
teeth, puts on her clothes, brushes
her hair, and takes her lunch, all
with some help from her mother.
We see her walking past
In Egypt, three lemons make
lemonade.
A girl narrates a segment about a
Korean festival. She attended
81 3751/
2749
3752
3761/
3134
Film
Cartoon
Animation
with her two friends.
play.
A map of India morphs into the
there.
Film
Song
"African Animal Alphabet"
Animation
3766/
3699
Film
3770
Film
3773/
3164
Animation
Karate team
Kids in Jamaica play bongo
drums
A girl describes the preparation
for the Galungan festival in Bali,
Indonesia.
Cartoon
Song
Film
A trip to an African dance school
Film
Film
Korean festival. She attended
with her two friends.
Cartoon
Haiti and in India.
Film
3763/
3076
3775/
3671
3776/
3465
3779/
1396
3783/
3162
3785/
2574
82 Season 31
Episode
Format
3851
Film
3860
Cartoon
3871
3872/
3136
Film
3874
Muppets
Animation
Counting
to
10(Chines
e imagery)
Film
3876
Film
3885
Celebrity
The Count
counts the
musicians
in the
Tokyo
String
Quartet.
3886
Muppets
3888
Film
Content
their faces painted.
Egyptian #4
alphabet.
Baby Tooth and the Funky Funk
(Caribbean dance part 1.2)
Chinese acrobats balance 4 plates
on sticks in each hand
Five Chinese kid acrobats jump
through hoops
Caribbean Anything Muppets
sing about "Caribbean Air"
dulce, Mexican bread, is made.
83 3889
Cartoon
Film
3896
3901/
3671
Song
Cartoon
Animation
Counting
to
10(Chines
e imagery)
3902
Song
Animation
Counting
to
10(Chines
e imagery)
3903
Film
3909
Film
Animation
Counting
to
10(Chines
e imagery)
3911
3912
Cartoon
Season 32
3917/
3098
3919/
3699
3920
3924
Film
Cartoon
Film
Cartoon
Egyptian #2
alphabet.
"We Are Kids from Far and
Wide" West Africa
Chinese acrobats balance 4 plates
on sticks in each hand
Korean festival she attended with
her two friends.
lemonade.
Michael introduces his friend to
the Afro-Brazilian martial art
capoeira.
Haiti and in India.
alphabet.
84 In Egypt, three lemons make
lemonade.
3937
3940/
3194
Cartoon
3843
3947
Film
Cartoon
dulce bread is made, Mexican.
3952
Cartoon
3954
Song
3954
Cartoon
3961/
3845
Film
3962
Film
Film
Cartoon
Dinah from South Carolina
exchanges letters with her friend
Ling Lu in China.
The Tokyo String Quartet and
some kids show how important it
is to practice.
Four Chinese acrobats do stunts
with giant spools.
Cartoon
Cartoon
3963
Film
3972
Film
Season 33
3981
Cartoon
3982
3983
3986
Film
Film
Topic
3998
Film
Season 34
4031
4044
Muppets/F
ilm
Muppets
Counting 10 Australian animals.
Egyptian # 4
alphabet.
A Haitian girl writes a letter to
her grandmother.
lemonade.
Egyptian figures illustrate the
number 4.
A trip to an African dance school
Lost bird from Paraguay
Chinese acrobats demonstrate "5"
Global Grover: Grover returns
from having attended school
somewhere in Africa.
Global Grover: Malaysia, Kites
85 4047
Muppets
4056
Muppets
Season 35
4060
Muppets/F
ilm
4062
Muppets/F
ilm
4065
Muppets/F
ilm
4066
4067
Muppets
Muppets
4068
Muppets
4069
Film
4070
Muppets
4072/4
039
Muppets
Global Grover: "There's a lot of
different ways to get to school."
from Egypt with his camel.
Global Grover: Grover comes
back from Malaysia, where they
make kites with bamboo sticks,
strings, glue and paper.
from Russia and shows a film of a
boy who attends a Russian dance
school.
somewhere in Africa.
from Poland with a pile of old
clothes. In his film he explains the
function and construction of
scarecrows, and afterwards he
creates a scarecrow of his own
and dressed up as a crow to
demonstrate its effects.
Global Grover: Australia
Global Grover: Grover has driven
back from South Africa in his
wire car. In his film, Niyanja and
his cousins make toy cars out of
scrap wire.
"Kibbutz” Children make a play
house in Israel.
G'day! Grover returns from
Australia. In his film, Emily and
her family fulfill the role of
wildlife rescue volunteers.
Global Grover: Grover travels to
Mongolia to watch the traditional
Mongolian bowl dance.
86 4073
Muppets
4075
Muppets
4076
Muppets
4078
Muppets
4079
Muppets
4081
Muppets
4082
Muppets
Season 36
4084/4
058
Muppets
4085/3
100
Film
4087
Film
Muppets
4089
Muppets
Global Grover: Grover has just
swum back to Sesame Street from
Jamaica where he learned how to
tie-dye a shirt, but he lost his shirt
in the process.
taken a trip all over the globe and
learned about different ways
people bathe.
Global Grover: Grover has
returned from Alaska on a dog
sled.
from Nicaragua carrying bricks
that he made himself.
back from Argentina, where they
make candy out of chocolate and
mazapan.
Global Grover: Grover and his
burro Roberto return from Mexico
with a lump of clay.
Global Grover: Egypt
back from Jordan, where they
make baskets from banana leaves.
A girl name Maria and her family
are having a Cuban Bar-B-Q. She
invited her friend, Stewart, to
enjoy in the fun and learn about
Cuban culture.
Joey, the green-belt aged 6, goes
to Karate class and learns under
his sense.
from England and is ready to play
a new game.
from Egypt with his camel.
87 4092
Muppets
4093
Muppets
4094
Muppets
4095
Muppets
4096
Cold Open
Film
Muppets
2479
Animation
4098
Cartoon
Muppets
4100
Muppets/
Celebrity
Muppets
4101
4103
Muppets
Muppets
returned from the deserts of
Arizona.
Global Grover: "There's a lot of
different ways to get to school."
Global Grover: Grover goes to
Mongolia to learn a bout bowl
dancing.
from Bangladesh.
Rosita comments that there is
great food around the world; She
also said how eating food together
with family is a great way also.
Together with here family, they
are getting ready to eat Chinese
food.
dulce bread is made, Mexican.
with a lump of clay.
lemonade.
Global Grover: Africa
India: Arie and Elmo sing The
Alphabet Song
taken a trip all over the globe and
learned about different ways
people bathe.
Global Grover: Grover arrives
wearing an Indian vest and
holding an Indian board game
called Carrom.
Global Grover: Jamaica
88 4104
Muppets
4105
Muppets
4106/
4069
Muppets
4107
Muppets
Season 37
4109
Muppets
4110
Muppets
Film
4111
Animation
4112
Muppets
4113
Muppets
4114
Muppets
4115
Muppets
scrap wire.
from Puerto Rico with a guiro-a
musical instrument made from a
piece of fruit.
Global Grover: Grover goes to
Israel and meets some of the kids
at a Kibbutz. The children at the
Kibbutz make a play house
together.
from China with a peacock and
persuade it to do its peacock
dance.
from Iceland with an empty box.
Global Grover: returns from
Bangladesh with a fruit basket of
"art supplies."
Egyptian 2
A clay animation of Russian,
Arabian, and South American
scenes
Global Grover: Grover has come
back from Jamaica, where he
learned to tie-dye T-shirts.
from Puerto Rico with a guiro-a
musical instrument made from a
piece of fruit.
from the Netherlands, and wishes
to learn how to ride a bicycle.
Global Grover: Grover has surfed
back from Hawaii.
89 4116/
4047
Muppets
4117
Muppets
4118
Muppets
4119
Muppets
4120/
3480
Muppets/F
ilm
4121
Muppets
4122/
4085
Muppets
returned from a trip around the
world and resolves to ride his
camel Sidney to school.
from Jordan with a basket. In his
film, a grandmother teaches her
grandchildren to make baskets
from banana leaves.
from England and is ready to play
a new game. In his film, a child
learns how to play cricket in
school.
from Saskatchewan on his steed
Fred. In his film, Jody teaches
Shelby how to be a cowgirl on
their ranch.
from the Philippines with a slide.
In his film, Rodrigo and his
family play at a Manila park.
brought back coconut leaves from
Bangladesh. In his film, a child
retrieves coconut leaves fro his
friends to make toys from.
from Poland with a pile of old
clothes. In his film he explains the
function and construction of
scarecrows, and afterwards he
creates a scarecrow of his own
and dressed up as a crow to
demonstrate its effects.
90 4124/
4059
Muppets
4125/
4067
Muppets
4126/
4079
Muppets
4127/
4070
Muppets
4128
Muppets
Animation
returned from Mexico with a
homemade string puppet. In his
film, Tita crafts a puppet of her
very own and puts on a puppet
show.
Global Grover: Grover and a
kangaroo named Sheila return
from Australia. In his film, Lenny
demonstrates his dugout house.
Afterwards, Grover and Sheila try
digging a house of their own on
Sesame Street, with unforeseen
consequences.
from Argentina with a box of
candy. In his film, Lucia watches
her grandparents make candy in
their chocolate factory.
Afterwards, the Three Little Pigs
come and compliment Grover on
his candy pig.
Global Grover: G'day! Grover
returns from Australia. In his
film, Emily and her family fulfill
the role of wildlife rescue
volunteers.
with a lump of clay. In his film,
Saul and his family make clay
pottery. Afterwards Grover
completes his sculpture, which he
calls "Potato." Roberto has
created a more interesting
composition, however.
91 4129
Muppets
4132
Muppets
4133/
4056
Muppets
4134/
Muppets
4068
Season 38
4151
4152/3
927
from Bangladesh. He narrates his
film, in which Runa and her
father travel to a river to fish.
Afterwards Grover tries to play a
taiko drum. Afterwards, Grover
has had his drum fixed and is
ready to play.
from Germany with a bundle of
reeds. In his film, Paul's father
helps make a thatched roof.
Grover has built himself a
thatched hat similar to a
birdhouse roof…attracting the
attention of all birds in the
vicinity.
from Egypt with his camel
Sidney. In his film, Achmed visits
his cousins and works on a farm.
Afterwards he prepared to eat the
basket of lunch that he brought
back…but Sidney ate it all!
scrap wire.
Muppets
Global Grover: Grover visits
Paris, France, where he learns
how to shop for food at a French
market.
Animation
Egyptian #2
92 4156/
3427
Muppets
4157/
3081
Film
4158
Muppets/
Film
Song
4164/
4101
4166/
3428
4169/
3770
4170/
4100
4171/
3978
4174/
3713
from Trinidad on a pair of stilts.
In his film Asha and her friends
practice and dance on stilts in
preparation for a carnival.
Afterward, Grover muses about
the things he's learned to do on
stilts…including the need to
practice more!
A Puerto Rican family gettogether includes cooking,
playing soccer, and finally the big
dinner
somewhere in Africa. The
elephant has never been to school,
so Grover shows him about a girl
as she prepares to go to school.
After the film, Grover has written
the word "boy". The elephant
show what he has learned by
jumping.
Film
Muppets/
Celebrity
Global Grover: Grover arrives
wearing on Indian vest and
holding an Indian board game
called Carrom.
Egyptian figures illustrate the
number 4
Kids in Jamaica play bongo
drums
India: Arie and Elmo sing The
Alphabet Song
Film
Chinese acrobats demonstrate "5"
Animation
Egyptian #2
Muppets
Animation
93 4175/
4070
4177/
4111
4178/
3671
4183/
4061
4184
Muppets
Animation
Song
Global Grover: G'day! Grover
returns from Australia.
A clay animation of Russian,
Arabian, and South American
scenes
Muppets
from Saskatchewan on his steed
Fred.
Film
A boy shows how sushi is made.

Integrating Chinese culture into Sesame Street

Transcription

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