My parents have told me that I started watching “Sesame Street” when I was age 3. I grew up in the Philippines and stateside programming was 3 to 5 years behind the current period. My first memories include: Mr. Hooper and his store, Kermit on News Flash, Grover and John-John (with his mini-fro!), The Alligator King, and The Adventures of Super Grover. One of my all-time favorite segment is when Ernie made a sculpture of Bert, but didn’t have enough clay to give him a nose—so he “borrowed” Bert’s real nose and attached it to the clay!!!
Looking back, I learned to appreciate “Sesame Street” even more, because it gave me my FIRST exposure to the English language. We spoke Tagalog 24/7 at home, so learning to speak English was a real plus before I entered kindergarten. It gave me a leg up and put me ahead of the class. “Sesame Street” made learning so much fun that when I was in school, I developed to be one of those bright-eyed students who were eager to learn. Indeed, it had a resonating effect all through my schooling years.
“Sesame Street” was, and continues to be, the quintessential preschooler’s educational program. Happy 40th Anniversary to my favorite street!!!
-Ricardo
