"Hi-Ho, Kermit the Frog here, reporting live for Sesame Street News," croaks the most famous trenchcoat-wearing journalistic frog in the world. With his ever-present smile, Kermit would probably feel he had just hit the jackpot interviewing all the exciting language learning characters we have lined up here at American Language Review.

But alas, Kermie, as he is affectionately known on the news room floor (and to that epitome of porcine pulchritude, Ms. Piggy), is on assignment near Cookie Monster¹s (or is that Cokie Roberts') trash can. So it's up to me, a cub reporter, to fill his webbed galoshes. And, what's more, I've got to file the story for La Opinion, Le Figaro, Die Welt, and La Stampa.

Perhaps I should ask MUZZY, a reputed space traveler, for some help? He can speak Spanish, French, German and Italian, so he'll know the best way to write this story. Or, when I'm looking for that mot juste, what about Remi, from Vive le Français. Could his best friend, Chloe, aidez-moi? Then again, Rosco, from ¡Viva el Español!, and his friends Dora the Cow and Tico the Toucan could give me the marcha I need to write en español.

Then again, the charming little girl from English for Me could give me the insight in need. Taking a cue from Winnie the Penguin would be sensible. Winnie's QSteps would help me get my feet wet. I only wish Kermit were here. I bet Tingo, the newest creation from the Children's Television Workshop and the Jim Henson Co., would help out his fellow Muppet. Tingo can speak 4000 languages and by all accounts is no slouch in the kitchen. After interviewing all of these characters, the general consensus is to start by telling you why they are so popular and effective in teaching children to acquire new languages.

So here goes...(do you get the feeling you need to take a deep breath here, also try to resist the temptation to read faster?)

Research has shown that children are receptive to language from an early age. Peter Jucszyk, professor of psychology and cognitive science at Johns Hopkins University, thinks babies distinguish clauses by learning the melody of a language-the rhythm of sounds and pauses, variations of pitch in the voice, different pattern of loudness and softness. Melody, known as "prosody" in linguistics, also helps infants distinguish one language from another. At six months, babies will listen just as long to a foreign language as to their own, but at nine months, their attention is held longer by speech in their native tongue.

Oral stimuli play a large part in an infant's language development. According to Anne Woods, creator of Teletubbies, the show "was designed to address the physical, social, and cognitive needs of young children from one to four years old. "Teletubbies was created from extensive observations of the actual doings of young children. The Teletubbies' vocabulary is comprised of the words and phrases similar to young children__peer language. As a result, children will feel confident and join in. Since the Teletubbies are very responsive to sound, children are encouraged to imitate and, in turn, inclined to listen."

Many educators who point to long-term benefits encourage development of non-native language abilities in young children. According to the Department of Education, "A number of reports have demonstrated that children who have learned a second language earn higher SAT scores, particularly on the verbal section."

One particularly effective language program is the BBC's MUZZY series. The series has won many awards and is proving to be popular in the United States. According to Karen Shepard, a teacher of Spanish at St. Paul's Lower School in Brooklandville, Maryland, who used it in Spanish and French in the second, third and fourth grades said: "Response from the students has been overwhelming, and many parents have ordered it for home use as well."

It is commonly accepted that at an early age, language acquisition is easier and far more effective than in later years. Studies like those carried out by psychologist Elissa Newport and her colleagues at the University of illinois show that non-English speaking immigrants who came to the U.S. between the ages of three and seven perform the same in languages tests as American-born students. Those who arrived between the ages of eight and 15 did not perform as well as the younger students. Immigrants who came to the U.S. as adults had the lowest scores on the test. Achieving the goal of "education and entertainment," is not an easy task. Just ask Steve Miller, Group Vice President, International Television Production, CTW, who says the creation of Tingo, a multiingual Muppet, has been in development virtually since the show's inception 30 years ago. Tingo will be the star of Sesame English, available in selected countries next year. Tingo will also appear in the United States on PBS.

Miller said: "Since the beginning of Sesame Street 30 years ago we have been developing local versions of the show in different countries with their own characters in addition to our own American characters." "In Japan the American version is shown. It was never intended to teach English but it is mainly watched by teenagers to learn English." Cherie King, Early Childhood Educator and Assistant Principal of Burringbar Public School, in Queensland, Australia, told American Language Review that the use of animated and/or puppet characters do help in a child's language education.

"But they are just another tool, another teaching assistant," she added. "It's another way to keep children motivated."