ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

For the next couple of weeks, I wanted to mention some classic TV shows that are an important part of American culture. I wonder how many you know about already?

One that you probably know of already is Sesame Street. It's not unusual to find Sesame Street branded items here in Japan. I wonder how many children in Japan actually watch or have watched it before? Sesame Street has different varieties in many different countries, but I think they also just dub the American version sometimes.

For many years in America, Sesame Street was one of the top children's TV shows. Every child watched it, and Sesame Street books, toys, and clothing were incredibly popular.

I was a huge fan when I was a small child. Back then, the main cast of the show looked like this:



Jim Henson was the creator of Sesame Street. When he died, the show became very different. Elmo became the main character, and many other changes were made. I remember when my younger sister watched Sesame Street, I would think, "Wow, this show is totally different now."

Nowadays, Sesame Street is still fairly popular, but since there are so many other TV shows (as well as YouTube), it doesn't have the same cultural impact on children that it used to. But adults have lots of nostalgia for the show. Since we watched it as very young children, the cartoon segments especially were branded on our young brains, and they bring back happy memories.

I've heard of people using Sesame Street to help them learn English. Do you think it's a helpful show for that?