The article review(文章导读):
EXPLORATIONS - Puppets Teaching Children Around the WorldBy Karen Leggett
Broadcast: Wednesday, January 05, 2005
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
The Kids on the Block can hel
Text(正文):
EXPLORATIONS - Puppets Teaching Children Around the World
By Karen Leggett
Broadcast: Wednesday, January 05, 2005
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
The Kids on the Block can help children deal with serious matters.
And I'm Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS, in VOA Special English. Do you think it is possible to make children laugh and teach them about very serious problems at the same time? Two organizations in the United States and Britain say "YES!"
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Brenda Dubrowski is eleven years old. Her parents do not live together anymore. Brenda sometimes has a hard time talking about that. Diane Delaney is also eleven years old. She has a very serious disease called cancer. Salimah Rahman came to the United States from Pakistan. She wants people to know that she is a Muslim, she is an American and she wants to work with computers when she grows up.
VOICE TWO:
Brenda and Diane and Salimah are just like real children in America. But they are not real. They are puppets. They are made of wood and cloth. Each puppet is about one meter tall. People called puppeteers stand behind each puppet and use sticks to make the puppet's arms and legs move. The puppeteers also talk for the puppets.
VOICE ONE:
These puppets are part of an American organization called Kids on the Block. There are more than fifty puppets. They all have names and stories about where they live, what they enjoy doing and the other people in their family.
Almost all of the puppets are working on a problem. Some have a disease or a disability. Some are not treated fairly at school or in their community.
Some are treated badly at home. They talk about their problems in plays that are presented in schools all over the world. One thousand two hundred groups of Kids on the Block Puppets perform in the United States, Canada and thirty other countries. There are Kids on the Block puppets in Hong Kong and Japan, Kuwait and Brazil, New Zealand and Australia as well as many countries in Europe.
VOICE TWO:
Children can have fun and learn from puppets. (Picture - kotb.com)
Kids on the Block started in the United States almost thirty years ago. At that time, the puppets had physical or mental problems called disabilities. There were new laws in the United States that said children with disabilities should be educated in the same schools with other children. The puppets helped all children understand what it is like to live with a disability. Now it is very common to see children with all kinds of disabilities in American schools.
VOICE ONE:
Kids on the Block puppets now talk to children about forty-two different diseases, disabilities and social issues. There are plays about AIDS and cancer, learning disabilities, alcohol and tobacco use, pregnancy, and children who are treated badly.
One very popular new play talks about bullies. Bullies are children who treat other children badly. They may hurt them physically or just say words that are harmful or unfriendly. |
