The world’s most popular televised children’s educational brand, Sesame Street, charmed toddlers and their parents last weekend at Beaches Negril with a live show starring Gordon and Elmo. Actor Roscoe Orman, who plays the character Gordon, is well known across television screens all over the world. He has appeared in several films and is equally accomplished on stage where he has performed on Broadway as well as acting in the New York Shakespearean Festival. Mr Orman, dances, sings and plays several musical instruments.

Children screamed in delight and it was clear that everyone enjoyed both characters. The show had an audience-interactive component that had kids singing along, clapping and volunteering to participate on stage at certain points in the show. Gordon and Elmo’s appearances are unique to Beaches.

To further bolster Sesame activities on the island, parents and early childhood educators from communities in western Jamaica, tapped into the Sesame educational reservoir, when they attended a free educational seminar earlier last month. This was facilitated by New Yorker, Ms Takiema Bunche-Smith, who is director of Content Education and Research at Sesame Workshop.

Despite the winds and threat of rain associated with Hurricane Ike, teachers from over thirty kindergarten and primary schools in the region attended and left feeling even more empowered.

“It was very educational for me,” said Cynthia Witter, a teacher at the Sav-la-Mar Infant School. “It is an ongoing problem at school where the children only want to have sweets. This session though has shown me how to take unique routes in communicating healthy eating habits to the students.”

These ‘unique routes’, as referred to by Witter, were observed in a 30-minute Sesame Street DVD which showed popular Sesame Street characters highlighting the differences between ‘sometimes foods’ and ‘anytime foods’.

Through the DVD, the teachers also explored the importance of having children engage in exercise which can be any everyday playtime activity for them. This was especially brought to the fore with an energetic appearance by Sesame Street character Zoë who showed that the simple act of dancing is a good means of keeping fit and healthy.

Loraine Myrie, a teacher at the Whitehall Basic and Preparatory School, was another excited participant. “This was very, very informative. As parents it’s good for us to show our own children, and as teachers we will now develop on it for our students. It was really great.”

The ‘Healthy Habits for Life’ session is just one in a series of continuing instructive parental events at the Beaches Negril and Beaches Sandy Bay Resorts this fall. Similar to last year’s ‘Learning is Everywhere’ activity, this year’s event is intended to be a fun experience for community members and vacationing families.