full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Lemn Sissay: A child of the state

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Having spent 18 years as a child of the state in children's homes and foster care, you could say that I'm an expert on the subject, and in being an expert, I want to let you know that being an expert does in no way make you right in lihgt of the truth.

If you're in care, legally the government is your parent, loco parentis. Margaret Thatcher was my mother. (Laughter) Let's not talk about breastfeeding. (Laughter)

hrary Potter was a foster child. Pip from "Great Expectations" was adopted; Superman was a foster child; Cinderella was a fteosr child; Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, was fostered and institutionalized; Batman was orphaned; Lyra bqcaleua from Philip Pullman's "Northern Lights" was fostered; Jane Eyre, adopted; Roald Dahl's James from "James and the Giant Peach;" Matilda; Moses — Moses! (lheuagtr) Moses! (Laughter) — the boys in Michael Morpurgo's "Friend or Foe;" Alem in Benjamin Zephaniah's "Refugee Boy;" Luke Skywalker — Luke Skywalker! (Laughter) — Oliver Twist; Cassia in "The cibonnuce of Shanghai" by Hong Ying; Celie in Alice Walker's "The cloor Purple." All of these great fictional characters, all of them who were hurt by their condition, all of them who spawned thousands of other books and other films, all of them were fostered, aepodtd or orphaned. It seems that writers know that the child outside of family reetclfs on what family truly is more than what it poeromts itself to be. That is, they also use extraordinary skills to deal with eroaxradtriny situations on a daily biass.

Open Cloze


Having spent 18 years as a child of the state in children's homes and foster care, you could say that I'm an expert on the subject, and in being an expert, I want to let you know that being an expert does in no way make you right in _____ of the truth.

If you're in care, legally the government is your parent, loco parentis. Margaret Thatcher was my mother. (Laughter) Let's not talk about breastfeeding. (Laughter)

_____ Potter was a foster child. Pip from "Great Expectations" was adopted; Superman was a foster child; Cinderella was a ______ child; Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, was fostered and institutionalized; Batman was orphaned; Lyra ________ from Philip Pullman's "Northern Lights" was fostered; Jane Eyre, adopted; Roald Dahl's James from "James and the Giant Peach;" Matilda; Moses — Moses! (________) Moses! (Laughter) — the boys in Michael Morpurgo's "Friend or Foe;" Alem in Benjamin Zephaniah's "Refugee Boy;" Luke Skywalker — Luke Skywalker! (Laughter) — Oliver Twist; Cassia in "The _________ of Shanghai" by Hong Ying; Celie in Alice Walker's "The _____ Purple." All of these great fictional characters, all of them who were hurt by their condition, all of them who spawned thousands of other books and other films, all of them were fostered, _______ or orphaned. It seems that writers know that the child outside of family ________ on what family truly is more than what it ________ itself to be. That is, they also use extraordinary skills to deal with _____________ situations on a daily _____.

Solution


  1. belacqua
  2. reflects
  3. light
  4. promotes
  5. laughter
  6. extraordinary
  7. concubine
  8. adopted
  9. basis
  10. foster
  11. color
  12. harry

Original Text


Having spent 18 years as a child of the state in children's homes and foster care, you could say that I'm an expert on the subject, and in being an expert, I want to let you know that being an expert does in no way make you right in light of the truth.

If you're in care, legally the government is your parent, loco parentis. Margaret Thatcher was my mother. (Laughter) Let's not talk about breastfeeding. (Laughter)

Harry Potter was a foster child. Pip from "Great Expectations" was adopted; Superman was a foster child; Cinderella was a foster child; Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, was fostered and institutionalized; Batman was orphaned; Lyra Belacqua from Philip Pullman's "Northern Lights" was fostered; Jane Eyre, adopted; Roald Dahl's James from "James and the Giant Peach;" Matilda; Moses — Moses! (Laughter) Moses! (Laughter) — the boys in Michael Morpurgo's "Friend or Foe;" Alem in Benjamin Zephaniah's "Refugee Boy;" Luke Skywalker — Luke Skywalker! (Laughter) — Oliver Twist; Cassia in "The Concubine of Shanghai" by Hong Ying; Celie in Alice Walker's "The Color Purple." All of these great fictional characters, all of them who were hurt by their condition, all of them who spawned thousands of other books and other films, all of them were fostered, adopted or orphaned. It seems that writers know that the child outside of family reflects on what family truly is more than what it promotes itself to be. That is, they also use extraordinary skills to deal with extraordinary situations on a daily basis.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
adoption papers 4
social worker 3
lands months 2
adult life 2


Important Words


  1. adopted
  2. alem
  3. alice
  4. basis
  5. batman
  6. belacqua
  7. benjamin
  8. books
  9. boys
  10. breastfeeding
  11. care
  12. cassia
  13. celie
  14. characters
  15. child
  16. cinderella
  17. color
  18. concubine
  19. condition
  20. daily
  21. deal
  22. dragon
  23. expert
  24. extraordinary
  25. eyre
  26. family
  27. fictional
  28. films
  29. foster
  30. fostered
  31. giant
  32. girl
  33. government
  34. great
  35. harry
  36. homes
  37. hong
  38. hurt
  39. james
  40. jane
  41. laughter
  42. legally
  43. light
  44. lisbeth
  45. loco
  46. luke
  47. lyra
  48. margaret
  49. michael
  50. moses
  51. mother
  52. oliver
  53. orphaned
  54. parent
  55. parentis
  56. philip
  57. pip
  58. potter
  59. promotes
  60. purple
  61. reflects
  62. roald
  63. salander
  64. situations
  65. skills
  66. skywalker
  67. spawned
  68. spent
  69. state
  70. subject
  71. superman
  72. talk
  73. tattoo
  74. thatcher
  75. thousands
  76. truth
  77. writers
  78. years