Dora the Explorer New Episode Offers Language Lessons

From AWN Headline News:

Dora the Explorer New Episode Offers Language Lessons

DORA THE EXPLORER is reaching for the stars as Nick Jr. premieres a new half-hour episode entitled, "Star Mountain" on March 12. 2007, at 9:00 am on Nick Jr. and will encore later in the week on Friday, March 16 at 9:00 am. The new episode offers viewers lessons on numbers and colors in Spanish, as they journey along with Dora, Boots and the Tres Estrellas Exploradoras (Three Explorer Stars). Nick Jr. Video offered an "instant replay" of the full episode at 2:00 pm on March 12.

DORA THE EXPLORER is a play-along, animated adventure series starring Dora, a seven-year-old Latina heroine whose adventures take place in an imaginative, tropical world filled with jungles, beaches and rainforests. Dora explores her world just as preschoolers do everyday, and the show is designed to actively engage its audience in an interactive quest using a variety of learning techniques.

In every episode, Dora and her best friend Boots invite the audience to participate in an exciting adventure, where each step of their journey features a problem or puzzle that Dora and the audience must think their way through in order to solve the next problem. Dora is proudly bilingual and uses her knowledge of English and Spanish to communicate with her friends, overcome obstacles and reach her goals.

In "Star Mountain," Dora's grandmother makes her a necklace, but Swiper flings it all the way to the top of Star Mountain. Dora and Boots must race up 15 star steps and climb up a diamond to get to the giant star. Along their journey, Dora and Boots team up with the Tres Estrellas Exploradoras (Three Explorer Stars), made up of Glowy, the bright light star; Tool Star, the star with the cool gadgets; and Saltador, the jumping star. The group battles fog, ice, wind, snow and must steer clear of the rising green goo. Dora and Boots ask the preschoolers at home to help them find Dora's necklace by teaching them numbers and colors in Spanish.

Since its debut in 2000, DORA THE EXPLORER was the top-rated preschool series on all of commercial TV for more than five consecutive years and garnered the number two spot for 2006, second only to Nick Jr.'s number-one rated THE WONDER PETS! DORA THE EXPLORER airs regularly Monday through Friday on Nick Jr. at 9:00 am and 11:30 am.

DORA THE EXPLORER is broadcast all over the world, teaching the majority of her viewers English rather than Spanish. Syndicated to TV broadcasters in 125 markets and translated in 24 languages, Dora the Explorer is the number one rated show in France, Canada, Italy and Mexico and is a top 10 rated show in nearly every major broadcast market in the world including the U.K. and China.

DORA THE EXPLORER was created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh and Eric Weiner. Gifford and Walsh are exec producers on the series. "Star Mountain" was written by Gifford.

Nick Jr. is a specially designed programming block airing on Nickelodeon weekdays from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Completely dedicated to preschoolers 2-5, Nick Jr.'s Emmy, Peabody and Parents' Choice Award-winning programs are curriculum based, fun and commercial free.

Nickelodeon(www.nick.com), in its 27th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the U.S. and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in almost 92 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for almost 12 consecutive years.