Episode 4404: Latino Festival.
Airdate: September 19 2013.
Sponsors: V, 9.
What's the Word on the Street?: Sturdy.
Street Story.
¡Bienvenidos a Sesame Street!
Wait... Mando is a fellow boricua? They just said he'd be of Latin descent. He's got my approval.
They don't know what a coquí is? They did a whole episode/song about it in a Season 30 or 31 episode that aired on Noggin.
Telly: "I know, it's a big mesa."
Er, that should be "el coquí está "debajo" de la mesa." "Debajo" means "under", "abajo" means "down".
Now that I've had time to hear it, that indeed is a coquí because it's making the "co-quí" sound. Though there are lots of varieties of coquíes or tree frogs all over the Caribbean countries, only the Puerto Rican species make the particular "co-quí" sound when croaking. I should also point out that coquíes come out in the mornings but more commonly at night, especially after it's been raining.
This entire episode, and the song which reminded me of Yako's World, made me extremely happy.
It reminded me of a similar national cultural food representative celebration from my younger schooling days.
Highlights.
1 Celebrity/Muppets: Abby and some guy named John demonstrate "sturdy".
2 Film: Kids playing instruments from South America.
3 Murray shows that people in school have to take turns with a book before...
4 Murray Had a Little Lamb: Flamenco Dance School.
5 Sesame English:
teaches V with a violin.
6 Muppets:
sells Mr. Johnson a letter V.
This is the type of letter sketches we need more of.
7 Abby's Flying Fairy School: Clean-Up Time.
8 Muppets: Zoe interviews twin ballerinas Laura and Loraina as they all dance the Lambarena.
I prefer the Lambaba.
9 More of Murray at flamenco dance school.
10 Kids counting 9 dancers, bleh.
11 Super Grover 2.0: Boat Balancing Act (or whatever the sketch's title is).
12 Murray finishes his day at flamenco dance school.
13 Muppets: "Rhymes With Mando".
It should be noted that all the verbs referenced in Spanish end in "-ar" in their non-conjugated form, and the addition of the suffix "-ando" turns them into gerund or continuous active verbal forms. You tend to remember this kind of stuff when you've had Spanish grammer drilled into your head for your entire basic educative life through twelve grades.
Also, I liked the song much better than I thought I would as I was afraid that based on a quick snipet of the chorus they were reverting to their "fish fish fish shnish" days on the street.
14 Kids with a rhyming game about the mango tree.
15 ETM: Guacamole the Musical.