Alam Simsim Alam Simsim is the Egyptian co - production of " Sesame Street " . It is co - produced between Al Karma Edutainment and Sesame Workshop and funded by USAID under a bilateral agreement with the Egyptian Ministry of Education . The show airs on ETV and MBC , and can be seen via satellite across the Middle East ( dubbed into Classical Arabic ) , and in Iraq on Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network . Three seasons have been produced , comprising 230 30 - minute episodes . The first season premiered on August 2000 . The show is set in the imaginary Alam Simsim ( Sesame World ) neighborhood in Egypt . This area is Medieval - looking like Old Cairo except perhaps more rural and green . It consists of a small public square surrounded by a park ; a store owned by ' Am Gherghis ; the carpenter ' s shop owned by ' Am Hussein with apartments above occupied by ' Am Hussein ' s family , ' Ama Kheireya his wife , Mona his teenage daughter and Kareem his young son . A bookstore or library ( the same word is used for both in Arabic so it is hard to tell which is intended ) is run by a young woman named Nabila . The humans are referred to as ' Am and ' Ama , which are " Uncle " and " Aunt " in Egyptian Arabic . These titles denote familiarity common in Egyptian neighborhoods . Characters . The show also includes three main Muppet characters who interact with the humans in the neighborhood just as they do on the original American program . Nimnim ( tiny ) is a large green furry character who wears a skullcap and patterned vest . He is a somewhat gentle and naive creature who enjoys gardening . Khokha ( peach ) is a furry pinkish orange colored monster with long black hair . She is a very inquisitive , imaginative and confident character who ' s main message is to encourage young girls . Filfil ( pepper ) is a bearded furry purple monster who often gets carried away with himself . He is a bit egotistical and loves to eat honey - sesame sticks . " Alam Simsim " reuses many of the sketches from other versions of " Sesame Street " , dubbed into Egyptian Arabic . Some of these include segments using American Muppets , however some names are changed . Ernie and Bert are known as Shadi and Hadi , Elmo is called Tohfa ( antique ) , Telly is named Mosaad , and Grover is Antar . Kermit is simply called Kermit . Language Learning . The use of language in " Alam Simsim " is designed to serve multiple purposes as part of early childhood education . The letter and reading segments are taught in Modern Standard Arabic which is the language that all Arabic children will use for reading and writing . However , the skits are all in Egyptian Arabic dialect , that used in Egypt for regular interaction . For example , a segment on the letter Sin will show a picture of a car and call it by the Standard Arabic name , Sayara . However , cars that appear in skits will be called by the word ' Arabiya , as they are commonly known in Egypt . In this way , children learn that there are two words for the object depending on the context and therefore are not confused when learning to read Modern Standard Arabic . This is the same way that a bilingual child learns words in different languages at the same time . Alam Simsim also introduces the very first Arabic alphabet song created by the show ' s producers so Egyptian girls and boys will sing their alphabet for the first time . Crew . Executive Producer : Robert Knezevic Producer : Amr Koura , CEO of Alkarma Edutainment Managing Director and Head Writer : Dina Amin DVDs . Nine Alam Simsim DVD ' s have been released in Egypt to date . All feature segments from the show loosely based around themes :