Looking up the phone book, finding dates on a calendar and filling out a betting slip are among the tasks a Government-sponsored television series intends to teach illiterate adults in the autumn.
Read Write Now begins on RTE1 on September 26th and is part of the Government's drive to improve literacy levels, after it was revealed that a quarter of adults in the State cannot read or write.
Those watching the programmes are also shown how to find a compact disc from an alphabetical list, read a menu and scan a newspaper to back a horse.
The intention is to help viewers acquire sufficient literacy to carry out everyday tasks. This will be done through "easy to follow" steps and by using illustrations, said a spokesman for the Department of Education.
The series, produced by the independent production company AV Edge, will go out at 10.40 p.m. on Tuesdays and will be hosted by Ms Teri Garvey.
It is being funded from the £74 million the Government has set aside to tackle poor literacy levels. RTE agreed to air the series after negotiations with the Minister of State with responsibility for adult education, Mr Willie O'Dea.
Mr O'Dea said yesterday an advantage of the series was that adults with a literacy problem would not have to tell others of their difficulty and could improve their skills in private.
The National Adult Literacy Agency, which last week called for further investment in literacy programmes, will be providing materials to accompany the series.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a quarter of adults here are functionally illiterate. During its research it found many adults could not read the label on a medicine bottle or write a simple note.
Consequently the series, which builds on pilot programmes tested on local radio, starts with basic literacy tasks and becomes increasingly challenging.
Mr O'Dea said while the OECD figures were shocking, they were based on research from 1997, and many initiatives in the area had been taken since.
"If a similar survey was undertaken today, I have no doubt that there would be a significant reduction in the numbers of people who are functionally illiterate," he said.
"The literacy service has also become more flexible and innovative, with things like family literacy groups," he added.
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