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Lit World: Power to Write Your Own Story (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Paula Davis.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: And I'm Roger Basic. Spotlight Advanced uses a special English
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  Speaker 2: method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand
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  Speaker 2: no matter where in the world they live.
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  Speaker 1: In Armadabad, India, a group of children are very busy.
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  Speaker 1: They draw and write on a large piece of paper.
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  Speaker 1: They talk and laugh as they work together. Each child
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  Speaker 1: wears a blue shirt that says be the story. They
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  Speaker 1: are learning to read and write at a lit camp.
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  Speaker 1: This camp brings children together to learn and practice reading.
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  Speaker 1: The children will then form lit clubs. They will continue
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  Speaker 1: to meet every week with a leader. They will encourage
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  Speaker 1: each other to read and write. This is important in India.
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  Speaker 1: India has a high population of illiterate people. This group
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  Speaker 1: does not know how to read and write, but literacy
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  Speaker 1: levels are an issue in every part of the world.
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  Speaker 2: Across the world, almost eight hundred million people are illiterate.
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  Speaker 2: They cannot read or write. Two out of every three
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  Speaker 2: of these people are women. More than seven hundred million
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  Speaker 2: adults cannot read. Programs like lit camps and lit clubs
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  Speaker 2: are trying to help spread literacy. These programs are run
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  Speaker 2: by an international organization called lit World. Today's spotlight is
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  Speaker 2: on lit World and their work to help people everywhere
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  Speaker 2: gain power through literacy.
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  Speaker 1: Palm Allen begun the organization lit World in two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and seven. She believed that literacy is a basic human right.
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  Speaker 1: Lit World wants every child in the world to be
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  Speaker 1: able to learn to read and write. Many children learn
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  Speaker 1: to read and write in school, but millions of children,
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  Speaker 1: especially girls, are not in school. This means that they
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  Speaker 1: cannot easily get the important information they need. This makes
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  Speaker 1: it more difficult to make healthy choices. Illiteracy has big
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  Speaker 1: effects on the whole community. Pam Allen says, this is
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  Speaker 1: why people need so put to learn to read. She
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  Speaker 1: told Al Jazeira.
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  Speaker 3: Literacy is really such a tool to open doors to
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  Speaker 3: help children. It helps them become independent economically as they
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  Speaker 3: get older, and it also helps with social, emotional and
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  Speaker 3: communication independence as they grow. Literacy really is the key
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  Speaker 3: to closing the economic distance between the rich and the poor.
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  Speaker 3: I think children in every country deserve the right to
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  Speaker 3: be involved in literacy right from the start.
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  Speaker 2: One way lit World does this is through partnerships with
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  Speaker 2: other organizations like One More Book. One More Book writes
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  Speaker 2: and publishes books for children. They use traditional stories from
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  Speaker 2: all over the world. This connects readers to stories from
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  Speaker 2: their own culture. Then they provide these books to people
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  Speaker 2: in places that have low literacy rates. These kinds of
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  Speaker 2: books are important for people who teach literacy.
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  Speaker 1: Books also give children a good example. Children enjoy reading
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  Speaker 1: stories about other people. Little World then encourages children to
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  Speaker 1: write their own stories. These may be stories of real life,
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  Speaker 1: or they may be fiction made up stories. This helps
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  Speaker 1: children improve their literacy skills, but writing their own words
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  Speaker 1: also makes children feel special and powerful. That empowerment is
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  Speaker 1: possible for individuals all around the world, Pam Allen told
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  Speaker 1: the website good Reads.
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  Speaker 3: In every story, there is a sense of the real.
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  Speaker 3: It is combined with a sense of imagination. Fiction is
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  Speaker 3: the reality of your life combined with the wish that
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  Speaker 3: you have or the fear that you have. You can
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  Speaker 3: use what you have. You do not have to make
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  Speaker 3: something else. You always have something to say. The way
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  Speaker 3: you say it makes it yours. Nobody else can think
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  Speaker 3: of it quite like that.
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  Speaker 2: The largest Lit World program is called the lit club.
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  Speaker 2: Like in Ahmedabad, lit clubs bring people together. In this program,
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  Speaker 2: a community leader guides a group in learning and practicing
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  Speaker 2: reading and writing. Lit World often trains club leaders through
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  Speaker 2: the Internet. The lit clubs provide support for people as
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  Speaker 2: they learn to read.
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  Speaker 1: Through lit Clubs, lit World teaches more than just reading
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  Speaker 1: and writing. It also teaches the value of learning and
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  Speaker 1: sharing together. Other Little World programs use these same values.
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  Speaker 1: One of these programs is World Read Aloud Day. On
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  Speaker 1: this day, people around the world get together in groups.
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  Speaker 1: They read books out loud to each other. This is
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  Speaker 1: a way of building connections between people. It is also
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  Speaker 1: one of the best ways to learn to read. Pam
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  Speaker 1: Allen tells ABC News.
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  Speaker 3: Both research and the children's own lives show that reading
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  Speaker 3: aloud helps all children to read. It is one of
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  Speaker 3: the simplest but best ways to learn. You get to
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  Speaker 3: see a reading model, you get to hear a reading model.
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  Speaker 2: One place where lit Club's celebrated World Read Aloud Day
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  Speaker 2: was in Kisumu, Kenya. All the area lit clubs met
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  Speaker 2: together at the National Library. They prepared and performed their
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  Speaker 2: own poems and stories. They sang and danced together. They
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  Speaker 2: even had a spelling competition. They encouraged each other to
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  Speaker 2: learn new and difficult words, and they were surprised by
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  Speaker 2: the results of the reading contest. The youngest reader was
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  Speaker 2: the winner in Kisumu.
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  Speaker 1: The lit clubs concentrate on girls aged ten to fourteen.
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  Speaker 1: Littworld says that they give special attention to girls because
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  Speaker 1: more girls in Kenya are illiterate. They face many other difficulties.
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  Speaker 1: They may become pregnant or get married at a young age.
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  Speaker 1: WSH girls are also more affected by HIV and AIDS.
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  Speaker 1: Lit World hopes that education can give girls more resources
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  Speaker 1: and more power.
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  Speaker 2: Lit World believes that girls and all people can become
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  Speaker 2: more powerful through learning to read, and they can have
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  Speaker 2: a way to share their own stories with others. Pam
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  Speaker 2: Allen wrote in the Huffington Post.
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  Speaker 3: My life's work stands on this belief. Humankind's greatest invention
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  Speaker 3: is the power of story. We are the product of
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  Speaker 3: our stories. Our greatest tool, our most powerful force for change,
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  Speaker 3: is the strength to tell them. I want children everywhere
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  Speaker 3: to know their power in telling their own true stories.
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  Speaker 3: This way they can have lives of independence, hope, and joy.
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  Speaker 1: How did you learn to read? What is your favorite
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  Speaker 1: book to read and then read again? What stories were
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  Speaker 1: read to you when you were a child. Tell us
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  Speaker 1: what you think about today's program. You can leave a
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  Speaker 1: comment on our website at www dot Spotlight English dot com.
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  Speaker 1: You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram,
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  Speaker 1: and x You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly
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  Speaker 1: to your Android or Apple device through our free official
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Spotlight English app.
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  Speaker 2: The writer of this program was Rina Dan. The producer
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  Speaker 2: was Michyo Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the
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  Speaker 2: United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were ad
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  Speaker 2: for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
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  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight Episodes are written, voiced,
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  Speaker 2: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
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  Speaker 2: where in the world they live. This episode is called
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  Speaker 2: lit World Power to Write your Own Story.
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  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
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  Speaker 1: Spotlight Advanced episode. Goodbye.