Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Case Study No. 1880: Unnamed Female Librarian (Oh Noah!)

OH NOAH! | Cowboys and Librarians
3:03
In the webisode, Cowboys and Librarians, Coco's library book about cowboys is overdue, and Noah offers to return it for her. But when he gets in a cab and says "library" in English while pointing to the book cover, the Spanish-speaking cabdriver misunderstands and takes him to a ranch. His initial attempts to mount a horse are unsuccessful until his lasso catches the tail of a plane, which pulls him into the saddle. Noah gallops off into the sunset, and gets to the library just before closing time.


Play Oh Noah! games at http://pbs kids.org/noah.
Tags: Oh Noah! PBS KIDS Language Spanish Noah education cowboys librarians library Misunderstanding (Composition)
Added: 2 months ago
From: PBS KIDS
Views: 658

[scene opens with a young boy (wearing a cowboy hat) hanging from a rope attached to the tail of a plane flying in the sky]
NOAH: How did I ever get into this mess?
[screen fades to black, then cut to the boy sitting in his kitchen with a young girl, as he points to a picture of a horse in a book]
NOAH: Horse!
COCO: Horse ... Caballo!
NOAH: [slowly] "Caballo" ...
[she points at the picutre of a cowboy on the opposite page]
COCO: Vaquero!
NOAH: Vaquero ... Cowboy!
COCO: "Cowboy" ...
NOAH: Very good, Coco! I mean ... muy bien!
[he looks down at the little white mouse sitting next to the book]
NOAH: Pequeno?
[the mouse turns the page for him]
NOAH: The end!
COCO: Gracias, Noah!
[she leaves]
NOAH: De nada, Coco!
[he turns to the mouse]
NOAH: It was nice of Abuela to get this book out of the library for Coco ... I wonder when it's due?
[the mouse pulls the "due date" card out of the back of the book, then starts jumping up and down in agitation]
NOAH: Oh no! The book is due today ...
[he looks up at the clock on the wall]
NOAH: And the library's about to close!
[he picks up the book, as the mouse jumps into his shirt pocket]
NOAH: I'd better bring it back right away!
[he leaves, then cut to Noah walking outside when a cab drives by]
NOAH: Taxi! Taxi!
[the cab stops, and he gets in]
NOAH: Uh, can you take me to the library?
CABDRIVER: No comprendo.
NOAH: Oh no! What's the word for "library?"
[he holds up the library book, and points to the cover (featuring a cowboy riding his horse)]
NOAH: "Library!" See?
CABDRIVER: Ah! Si, si!
[she drives off, then cut to the cab stopping on a dirt road, as Noah gets out]
NOAH: Huh?
[cut to a ranch at the end of the dirt road (as an airplane flies overhead)]
NOAH: What're we doing here? I asked her to take us to the library!
[he shrugs, then the mouse points at the book cover]
NOAH: I get it ... She thought we wanted to go to a ranch, with horses! Oh no! The book! We have to bring it back to the library! But how are we gonna get there?
[a horse neighs from off camera]
NOAH: Aha!
[cut to Noah standing next to the horse, as the mouse sits on a nearby fencepost ... however, when he tries to grab the horse's reigns, it keeps trotting away]
NOAH: Come on, horse!
[he sees a lasso hanging on the fence, then cut to Noah (now wearing a cowboy hat) trying to swing the lasso over his head ... except it wraps around him and he ends up accidentally hog-tying himself (causing the mouse to laugh)]
NOAH: This looked a lot easier in the book ...
[he shakes the rope off, then picks it up and tries again ... except the lasso goes right past the horse and lands on the ground (which the horse politely picks up in its teeth and brings back to him)]
NOAH: Phew ...
[cut to Noah again swinging the lasso over his head]
NOAH: Y'know, I think I'm getting the hang of this ...
[he throws the lasso, but it goes high in the air and wraps itself around the tail of the plane]
NOAH: Ahhh!
[he's lifted off the ground (as the mouse quickly jumps onto his hat) and dragged away by the plane]
NOAH: How did I ever get into this mess?
[the mouse climbs up the rope and tosses it off the plane ... causing Noah to fall]
NOAH: Ahhh!
[cut back to the mouse jumping off the plane, then to the horse as Noah lands perfectly on the saddle (followed moments later by the mouse landing lightly on the horse's backside)]
NOAH: Oof!
[the horse looks up, as Noah smiles with newfound confidence]
NOAH: To the library!
[the horse looks at him in confusion]
HORSE: Hmm?
NOAH: The library! The library!
[he holds up the book]
HORSE: Ah, la biblioteca!
NOAH: "Biblioteca!" Now I remem--
[the horse suddenly bolts off camera]
NOAH: Whoa!
[cut to the horse galloping through the town, until it climbs up the stairs of the library, where the female librarian (short brown hair, pink flower above her ear, glasses, grey sweater, pink blouse, purple skirt) is about to lock the door]
LIBRARIAN: Gracias, Noah!
[he hands her the book, then tips his hat]
NOAH: De nada, ma'am ...
[he gallops away, as two young girls watch him go]
GIRL 1: Quien era?
GIRL 2: Ese era ... Noah!
[hearts fly over her head, then cut to the horse suddenly standing on the edge of a cliff (framed against the sunset in a dramatic pose) as Noah laughs]

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From pbs.org:

It's another wild and wacky day in the life of Noah, a nine-year-old boy living in a world where just about no one understands him.

Literally.

Noah is visiting his grandmother. Where she lives, no one speaks English. He's trying to learn Spanish, but sometimes he gets it wrong...and that's when the trouble starts.

But somehow Noah always manages to solve the problems he's created, learning Spanish in the process. Kids laugh and learn along with him.

*****

Oh Noah! is designed to teach Spanish to children ages six to eight through animated videos with embedded games that help build vocabulary. In each three-minute video, a misunderstanding launches a comic misadventure. Kids learn language better when they can put it into meaningful context. Although - like Noah - they may not understand all the Spanish dialogue, kids can comprehend the story told through rich visual storytelling, much like a silent movie.

Each video features opportunities for kids to roll their cursor over objects on the screen to hear the Spanish translation. Three different vocabulary-driven, arcade-style games reinforce learning. Leveling and racing against the clock encourage replayability and repeated exposure to vocabulary. Another game on the website, How Do You Say...?, helps kids learn common expressions in Spanish.

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