Big Bird teaches English: Sesame Street’s globalisation in Japan and Korea

ABSTRACT

This study examines the global expansion strategies that were initiated by the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW), with a specific focus on the adaptations of Sesame Street in Japan and South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. When CTW began its globalisation in the early 1970s, the international adaptation process of Sesame Street had two key methodologies: Co-production and Open Sesame, serving as the framework for disseminating US educational television internationally. However, Sesame Street in both Japan and South Korea had been mainly perceived as a tool to enhance English proficiency for formal schooling. Another significance of these adaptations was the centralised approach to educational broadcasting. State-run broadcasters or national education research institutes in these countries played pivotal roles in broadcasting Sesame Street for formal schooling. This unique adaptation positioned Sesame Street as an educational programme for English-learning programmes, transcending its original preschool focus. The globalisation of Sesame Street in Japan and South Korea enabled the creation of new local educational programmes for preschool children by borrowing the show’s fundamental educational purposes and programme structures. In sum, the cases of Sesame Street in Japan and South Korea represent how educational broadcasting in local countries interacted with both domestic and foreign influences to establish indigenous educational programmes. These adaptation processes reflect the dynamic interactions between local countries and CTW’s global strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Sesame Street
• children’s television workshop
• educational television
• international adaptations
• preschool education
• globalisation of Sesame Street

Acknowledgements

I am most grateful to the Spencer Foundation and Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, whose support was integral to collecting archival sources for this study. I am also indebted to Dr. Sherman Dorn for providing me with careful feedback on various drafts of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ James Poniewozik, “Review: HBO’s ‘Sesame Street,’ Fancy but Not Free”, The New York Times, 15 January 2016.

² Jennifer Mandel, “The Production of a Beloved Community: Sesame Street’s Answer to America’s Inequalities”, The Journal of American Culture; Malden 29, no. 1 (2006): 3–13; Robert W. Morrow, “Sesame Street” and the Reform of Children’s Television (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006); and Victoria Cain, “From Sesame Street to Prime Time School Television: Educational Media in the Wake of the Coleman Report”, History of Education Quarterly 57, no. 4 (2017): 590–601.

³ Edward L. Palmer, Milton Chen, and Gerard S. Lesser, “Sesame Street: Patterns of International Adaptation”, Journal of Communication 26, no. 2 (1976): 108–23; and Gregory J. Gettas, “The Globalization of Sesame Street: A Producer’s Perspective”, Educational Technology Research and Development 38, no. 4 (1990): 55–63.

⁴ Charlotte F. Cole and June H. Lee, The Sesame Effect: The Global Impact of the Longest Street in the World (New York: Routledge, 2016); Palmer, Chen, and Lesser, “Sesame Street”, 108–23; Naomi A. Moland, Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism?: Children’s Television and Globalised Multicultural Education (London: Oxford University Press, 2019); Shalom M. Fisch and Rosemarie T. Truglio, eds., G Is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street (Mahwah, NJ: Routledge, 2000); and Shalom M. Fisch, Rosemarie T. Truglio, and Charlotte F. Cole, “The Impact of Sesame Street on Preschool Children: A Review and Synthesis of 30 Years’ Research”, Media Psychology 1, no. 2 (1999): 165–90.

⁵ David Buckingham, “Childhood in the Age of Global Media”, Children’s Geographies 5, no. 1–2 (2007): 43–54; Helle S. Jensen, Sesame Street: A Transnational History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023); and Helle S. Jensen and Katalin Lustyik, “Negotiating ‘Non-Profit’: The Survival Strategies of the Sesame Workshop”, Media International Australia 163, no. 1 (2017): 97–106.

⁶ Morrow, “Sesame Street” and the Reform of Children’s Television.

⁷ Ibid., 13–15.

⁸ Joan Ganz Cooney, “A Proposal for the Use of Television in Preschool Education” (1966), Series 1, Subseries 1, Box 1, Folder 2, Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁹ Cooney, “A Proposal for the Use of Television in Preschool Education”.

¹⁰ Richard Polsky, Getting to Sesame Street: Origins of the Children’s Television Workshop (New York: Praeger, 1974).

¹¹ Cole and Lee, The Sesame Effect: The Global Impact of the Longest Street in the World, 2–7; Gettas, “The Globalization of Sesame Street”, 55–63.

¹² Palmer, Chen, and Lesser, “Sesame Street”, 108–23; Gerard S. Lesser, “International Adaptations of Sesame Street: Description and Evaluation”, August 1988. Box 168, Series 12, Folder 1. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries; Edward L. Palmer, “CTW_International Research Notes”, Fall 1983. Box 174, Folder 9. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries; and Edward L. Palmer, Gerard S. Lesser, and James Therous, “International Adaptations of Sesame Street”, November 1978. Box 171, Series 12, Folder 4. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

¹³ Gettas, “The Globalization of Sesame Street”, 55.

¹⁴ Gettas, “The Globalization of Sesame Street”, 55–7; Kristin C. Moran, “The Global Expansion of Children’s Television: A Case Study of the Adaptation of Sesame Street in Spain”, Learning, Media and Technology 31, no. 3 (2006): 287–300; and Rogelio Diaz-Guerrero and Wayne H. Holtzman, “Learning by Televised ‘Plaza Sesamo’ in Mexico”, Journal of Educational Psychology 66, no. 5 (1974): 632–43.

¹⁵ Heather Hendershot, “Sesame Street: Cognition and Communications Imperialism”, in Kids’ Media Culture, ed. Marsha Kinder (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999), 162–3.

¹⁶ Jensen, Sesame Street: A Transnational History, 65.

¹⁷ Ibid., 66–7.

¹⁸ Jensen and Lustyik, “Negotiating ‘Non-Profit’: The Survival Strategies of the Sesame Workshop”, 99.

¹⁹ Thomas P. Kennedy, “Report from Tom Johnston”, 22 March 1973, Series 1, Subseries 12, Box 10, Folder 9. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

²⁰ Joan Ganz Cooney and Xerox Corporation, “XEROX Agreement”, 1 October 1971. Series 1, Subseries 5, Box 30, Folder 84. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries; and Palmer, Chen, and Lesser, “Sesame Street”.

²¹ Palmer, Chen, and Lesser, “Sesame Street”, 109–10.

²² Gettas, “The Globalization of Sesame Street”, 113–19.

²³ John K. Mayo et al., “The Transfer of Sesame Street to Latin America”, Communication Research 11, no. 2 (1984): 259.

²⁴ Jensen, Sesame Street: A Transnational History, 69.

²⁵ Ibid., 73–5.

²⁶ Gettas, “The Globalization of Sesame Street”, 116–17.

²⁷ Charlotte F. Cole, “What Difference Does It Make?: Insights from Research on the Impact of International Co-Productions of Sesame Street”, NHK Broadcasting Studies 7 (2009): 159.

²⁸ Gerald Lesser, “International Adaptations of Sesame Street: Description and Evaluation”, 9 August 1988. Series 12, Box 168, Folder 1. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

²⁹ Duncan Kenworthy, “International Co-Productions of Sesame Street”, Memorandum, 9 February 1977. Series 2, Subseries 1, Box 35, Folder 5. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

³⁰ Jensen, Sesame Street: A Transnational History; Moland, Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism?: Children’s Television and Globalised Multicultural Education.

³¹ Palmer, Chen, and Lesser, “Sesame Street”, 109–10.

³² Palmer, Chen, and Lesser, “Sesame Street”; Palmer, Lesser, and Therous, “International Adaptations of Sesame Street”, 10–11.

³³ Children’s Television Workshop, “The International Television Group Background Information”, 21 January 1981. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 174. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

³⁴ Jensen, Sesame Street: A Transnational History, 81.

³⁵ Hendershot, “Sesame Street”, 145–6.

³⁶ Helle S. Jensen, “Like It or Not: How Sesame Street Influenced European Children’s Television”, in Children, youth, and American television (New York: Routledge, 2018), 102–22.

³⁷ Mayo et al., “The Transfer of Sesame Street to Latin America”, 277–8.

³⁸ Hendershot, “Sesame Street”, 139–76.

³⁹ Lesser, “International Adaptations of Sesame Street: Description and Evaluation”, 24–6.

⁴⁰ Ibid., 28–9.

⁴¹ Alisa Freedman, “Sesame Street’s Place in Japan: Marketing Multicultural New York in Cosmopolitan Tokyo”, Japan Forum 26, no. 2 (2014): 144–63.

⁴² Lesser, “International Adaptations of Sesame Street”, 29.

⁴³ Toru Yamamoto, “The Japanese Experience”, Journal of Communication 26, no. 2 (1976): 136–7.

⁴⁴ Freedman, “Sesame Street’s Place in Japan”.

⁴⁵ David Connell, “Japan Trip”, 1971. Children’s Television Workshop papers, Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 203. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁴⁶ Jensen, Sesame Street: A Transnational History, 66.

⁴⁷ Toru Yamamoto, “Sesame Street in Japan”, Children’s Television Workshop papers, Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 203, p. 64. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁴⁸ Yamamoto, “The Japanese Experience”, 136–7.

⁴⁹ Makoto Gotoda, “Proposal on Telecasting of ‘Sesame Street’ Program for 1972 in Japan”, 1971. Children’s Television Workshop papers, Series 12, Subseries, Box 203. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁵⁰ Makoto Gotoda, “Proposal on Telecasting of ‘Sesame Street’ Program for 1972 in Japan”; and Yamamoto, “The Japanese Experience”, 136–7.

⁵¹ Toru Yamamoto, “The Japanese Experience”, 136–7.

⁵² Yasuko Tanaka, “The Present Reaction and Its Analysis to the Weekly Program of Sesame Street in Japan”, 23 May 1972. Children’s Television Workshop papers, Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 203. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁵³ Makoto Gotoda, “Present Status and Future Prospect of Sesame Street in Japan”, 31 August 1972. Children’s Television Workshop papers, Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 203. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁵⁴ Tadashi Yamamoto, “Future of CTW in Japan”, 8 June 1973. Children’s Television Workshop papers, Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 203. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁵⁵ Freedman, “Sesame Street’s Place in Japan”, 144–63.

⁵⁶ Ibid., 145–6.

⁵⁷ Yamamoto, “Sesame Street in Japan”.

⁵⁸ Lesser, “International Adaptations of Sesame Street”; Freedman, “Sesame Street’s Place in Japan”, 148–9.

⁵⁹ Freedman, “Sesame Street’s Place in Japan”, 150–2.

⁶⁰ Ian Todd, “Todd to Kang”, 2 August 1972. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁶¹ Paul H. Masoner and Frank H. Klassen, “Analytical Case Study of the Korean Educational Development Institute. Final Report” (1979). American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Washington DC; Pittsburgh University, PA.

⁶² Korean Educational Development Institute, Hankukgyoyukgaebalwon sipnyeonsa [10 Years History of the Korean Educational Development Institute] (Seoul: Korean Educational Development Institute, 1983).

⁶³ Wooyeong Kim, “Dualized Modernization: USAID and the Educational Television in South Korea”, Learning, Media and Technology (2023): 7–8.

⁶⁴ Masoner and Klassen, “Analytical Case Study of the Korean Educational Development Institute. Final Report”, 51–63.

⁶⁵ For example, Hyng Huh and Joon-gon Kim, “Contents and Objectives of Early Children’s Television Workshop Programme”, Research Bulletin (Seoul: Korean Institute for Research in the Behavioural Sciences, January 1977); Hyo-jung Park, Young-joo Moon, and Dong-sik Kim, yua tellebijyeon peulogeulaem mohyeong gaebal [Development of Television Program Models for the Early Childhood Education] (Seoul: Korea Educational Development Institute, 1982).

⁶⁶ Park, Moon, and Kim, yua tellebijyeon peulogeulaem mohyeong gaebal [Development of television program models for the early childhood education].

⁶⁷ Hae-Ryung Yeu, “Ideologies in Korean Children’s TV: A Culture in Transition in a Postmodern Period”, Interchange 30, no. 1 (1999): 57–72.

⁶⁸ Ha Keun Kang, “Kang to Todd”, 28 October 1971, Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204, Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁶⁹ Korean Educational Development Institute, Hankukgyoyukgaebalwon sipnyeonsa [10 Years History of the Korean Educational Development Institute] (Seoul: Korean Educational Development Institute, 1983).

⁷⁰ Children’s Television Workshop. “Report No. 7”, 30 January 1971. Children’s Television Workshop Papers, Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204, Folder 33. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries; Ha Keun Kang, “Kang to Stirling”, 16 August 1971. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries; and Ian Todd, “Todd to Kang”, 19 October 1971. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁷¹ Ian Todd, “Todd to Kang”, 19 October 1971. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁷² Ha Keun Kang, “Kang to Todd”, 28 March 1972. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁷³ Ha Keun Kang, “Kang to Todd”, 28 March 1972; Sarah Frank, “Frank to Orton”, 2 July 1976. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁷⁴ Park, Moon, and Kim, yua tellebijyeon peulogeulaem mohyeong gaebal [Development of Television Program Models for Early Childhood Education]”.

⁷⁵ Anne Marie Santoro, “Santoro to Davis”, 2 June 1980. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries; and James F. Wilkey, “Wilkey to Bohn”, 23 October 1973. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁷⁶ Park, Moon and Kim, yua tellebijyeon peulogeulaem mohyeong gaebal [Development of Television Program Models for the Early Childhood Education].

⁷⁷ Ian Todd, “Todd to Frank”, 2 November 1971. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁷⁸ Stanley Moldow, “Moldow to Kang”, 29 April 1976. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁷⁹ Lane Blackwell, “Blackwell to Park”, 16 May 1977. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁸⁰ Anne Kreamer, “Kreamer to Whaley, Davis, and Palmer”, 15 May 1984. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁸¹ Hansung Chang, “Chang to Vaughn”, 27 March 1974. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries; and Jack H. Vaughan, “Vaughn to Lee”, 26 July 1973. Series 12, Subseries 2, Box 204. Archive of the Children’s Television Workshop, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.

⁸² Hae-Ryung Yeu, “Ideologies in Korean Children’s TV: A Culture in Transition in a Postmodern Period”, Interchange 30, no. 1 (1999): 57–72.

⁸³ Park, Moon, and Kim, yua tellebijyeon peulogeulaem mohyeong gaebal [Development of Television Program Models for the Early Childhood Education].

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Wooyeong Kim

Wooyeong Kim is a research professor at Dongguk University. His research focuses on the history of educational broadcasting and how educational broadcasting has influenced US educational aid programmes in developing countries.