Hi. How will it be like if you don't know how to read when you get letters from your friends or parents? What if you can't answer to the letters? You must feel tight and uncomfortable. Globally, there are a lot of people who don't know how to read and write, i.e., the illiterate. How nice will it be if those illiterate people get to know how to read and write? In this lesson, we will look into UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize which is presented to the people who try hard to fight against illiteracy. Then, let's listen to the news. According to the U.N., 20% of world population are illiterate so they can't read or write. Unlike this, 99% of Korean people are literate so it's hard to imagine how life will be like without being literate. It is said that there's high probability of suffering from poverty, disease and inequality for illiterate people. So September 8 was declared International Literacy Day by UNESCO to highlight the importance of a crusade against illiteracy. The international prize named after King Sejong is awarded to the organizations or individuals for their contributions to the fight against illiteracy. Jinso Kim is reporting in detail. The prize named after King Sejong is 'UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize'. It is arranged by UNESCO and funded by the Government of the Republic of Korea to honor the spirit of King Sejong's creation of the Korean alphabet, Hanguel and to encourage the contribution to fight against illiteracy. UNESCO has been presenting the prize to the organizations or individuals that contributed to the development and dissemination of mother-tongue literacy of developing countries since 1990. A lot of institutions and organizations that fights against illiteracy in Mexico, Ecuador, India, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Jordan, the Philippines, France, Egypt, and Turkey have been awarded the prize. 'Eradicators of illiteracy without borders' was chosen to be the winner of this year's award. The organization won the prize as it got credit for the contribution to improve literacy by developing educational program for children in developing countries. This is a program that reads age-appropriate books to children in local language. The program is currently spread to 30 countries and is expected to spread further in the future. Korean government plans to invite the organization to Korea and introduce Korean culture. A society with a high illiteracy rate means that the percentage of people who do not receive a minimal education is high in that society. In other words, efforts to fight against illiteracy can be meaningful behaviors for the neglected social groups. In that sense, let's keep the spirit of King Sejong's creation of Hangeul in mind. Did you listen to the news carefully? Shall we find out what the news is about? Well, what is the subject of the news? What's the news about? The anchor said that the international prize awarded to the organizations or individuals for their contributions to fight against illiteracy was named after King Sejong in the beginning of the news. So we can assume that the story is about the prize named after King Sejong. Then the reporter said that the name of the prize named after King Sejong was 'UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize'. So we get to know that the subject of the news is UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize. When is the International Literacy Day and what kind of day is it? As the anchor said, the International Literacy Day is September 8. And this is a special day to fight against illiteracy, i.e.,to spread the idea that everybody should be able to read and write around the world declared by UNESCO which is a Specialized Agency of the United Nations founded in order for many countries to help each other in the field of Education, Science, and Culture. The reason why UNESCO declared the day is that fighting against illiteracy was thought to be important because there could be a lot of inequality problems that people can't get what they deserve rightly. What kind of prize is the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize? UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize is arranged by UNESCO, i.e., UNESCO takes responsibility for managing the prize and Korean government supports in the back. As you know, we call Korean alphabet Hangeul and King Sejong is the one who created this Hangeul. King Sejong felt sorry that only nobles could read and write so he created Hangeul so that anyone could learn Korean alphabet easily and be able to read and write. UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize is named after King Sejong to commemorate his spirit of creating Hangeul and encourage people for their contributions to fight against illiteracy. UNESCO has been presenting the prize to the organizations or individuals that contributed to the development and dissemination of mother-tongue literacy of developing countries since 1990. What is the reason why 'Eradicators of illiteracy without borders' was chosen to be the winner of UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize? Why did 'Eradicators of illiteracy without borders' got the prize? Eradicators of illiteracy without borders' is a name of an organization. It made an educational program that reads age-appropriate books to children in local language in developing countries. So the children could learn letters and characters. Like this, 'Eradicators of illiteracy without borders' won the prize as it got credit for the contribution to improve literacy of the children. Lastly, shall we summarize the contents? Regarding 'UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize', what does UNESCO and Korean government do respectively? Yes, UNESCO arranges the prize and Korean governments supports it. Which means that 'UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize' is arranged by UNESCO and funded by the Government of the Republic of Korea What kind of contribution does this prize encourage? Yes, the prize was made to encourage the contribution to fight against illiteracy and help illiterate people to be able to read. The prize was presented to the organizations or individuals that contributed to the development and dissemination of mother-tongue literacy of What kind of countries mainly? Yes, the developing countries. Next, why was 'Eradicators of illiteracy without borders' awarded the prize? The organization won the prize as it got credit for the contribution to improve literacy by developing educational program that reads age-appropriate books to children in local language in developing countries. In conclusion, it won the prize as it got credit for the contribution to improve literacy by developing educational program that reads age-appropriate books to children in local languages in developing countries. In this lesson, we listened to the news about 'UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize' which is presented to those who contributes to fight against illiteracy. What kind of efforts or movements are there to help illiterate people to be able to read and write. It would be nice to find out, wouldn't it? Well, it's the end of the lesson. See you later.
