Russian "Sesame Street"

[Burton & Rachel Davis]

Hi Everyone!

I was listening to NPR this morning and they had a story on a truly =
"Russian" version of "Sesame Street" being produced in Russia.  Although =
the producers are apparently free to borrow from the archives of the =
American program, it's more than just a translation of the American =
program into Russian.  The producers are Russian and they're actually =
recreating the program for Russian children and focusing on their =
culture and their lives.  What I found really interesting is that from =
what I understand they have deliberately decided to stay away from =
"escapist" themes like aliens coming in and fixing the problem instead =
of Russians fixing it themselves, or stories about leaving the country, =
etc.

It seems to me that this would be a great language tool at any level.  I =
know that when I was a T.A., my students seemed to enjoy children's =
programming more than any other type and I think that something with as =
familiar a format as "Sesame Street" would be very popular and very =
useful.

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the programming schedule, let =
alone the actual name in Russian, but I would *love* to get hold of some =
of these programs!  If anyone, anywhere can get some tapes of the show =
to send to me, *please* let me know!  I will pay whatever costs are =
associated with it.  If anyone else has heard about the show, I'd be =
interested in hearing from you.

Rachel Kilbourn Davis
University of Wisconsin - Madison
twoofus at execpc.com