Page 33 - Lauren Lolo Spencer Issue
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Meet Elin, The German Sesame Street’s First Muppet with a Disability
A muppet with a disability moves into the German Sesame Street: Elin. Elin uses a wheelchair to get around, but her disability is only a tiny portion of her identity. Elin is a young girl who likes tinker- ing with tech, talks a bit much, and sometimes mixes up words. She is now a permanent and regular- ly appearing character in “der Sesamstraße” on the German TV channel Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR).
Same Street Around The Globe
Who hasn’t at least once heard of the Sesame Street? Who doesn’t know the cult characters, Ernie and Bert? People of all ages can relate to the colorful, quirky, and fun muppets that live on the most famous street around the globe, Sesame Street. The show combines live-action, animation, and pup- petry to educate children in basic academic and life skills, for instance, literacy, problem-solving, and socialization. It is probably the only street known across the whole globe and one of a few shows that managed to survive over decades. Thirty countries co-produce their own version of Sesame Street, all with a slight change in muppets and the stories they tell, which are adapted to the cultural background of the country. For example, Sesame Street in India is called Galli Galli Sim Sim.
The German Sesame Street
And it all started in the US! The first episode of Sesame Street was aired in 1969, and since then,
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