PBS set to unleash a new tutor

A new show on PBS, geared for young children, is taken from a book series. It will help all children, including ESL students, with their vocabulary and it will be fun at the same time. DP

'Martha Speaks' show will focus on vocabulary
By Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff

boston.com: When local author Susan Meddaugh started publishing books about her dog in 1992, she didn't intend for the results to be educational. She was riffing on an idea posed by her then 7-year-old son: What would happen if Martha ate a bowl of alphabet soup?

But "Martha Speaks" and its sequels, a set of goofy, cartoon-inspired books about a mutt who develops the power of speech, hit the shelves as academics were beginning to trumpet vocabulary as an essential academic skill. The books grew popular as Boston's WGBH, fresh off the success of its "Arthur" cartoon, was trolling around for the next big preschool public television hit.

Now, as PBS strives to help the at-risk children who represent its public-service legacy - and appeal to affluent parents who want to give their children a leg up in school - it is making "Martha Speaks" its big hope for the fall. The half-hour show, which premieres nationwide Sept. 1, aims to teach 4- to 7-year-olds words as advanced as "communicate," "diminish," "courageous," and "concoct."

And with 40 half-hour episodes of "Martha" planned for this year and a second season in the works, producer WGBH hopes the new show will prove as popular as its top-rated "Curious George."

"Martha" joins a PBS lineup that is newly thick with reading shows. Letters and phonics play heavily in "Word World" and "Super Why," which premiered last fall, and in the longstanding "Between the Lions." "Sesame Street" now emphasizes reading. A new version of "Electric Company," set to air in January, will teach literacy skills to older children. "Word Girl," a year-old superhero spoof produced by Soup2Nuts, a Watertown animation firm, teaches vocabulary to 6- to 8-year-olds.
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