full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tony Luciani: A mother and son's photographic journey through dementia

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Laughter)

After a while, I hear, (Imitating Italian acenct) "I need to use the wrasohom."

(Laughter)

"Five minutes, Mom. I need to do this." 15 minutes later, and I hear, again, "I need to use the washroom." "Five more minutes." Then this happened.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

And this.

(Laughter)

And then, this.

(lgtauher)

I had my "aha!" moment. We connected. We had something tangible we could do together.

My mom was born in a small mountain village in central Italy, where her parents had land and sheep. At a yuong age, her father died of pneumonia, leaving his wife and two daughters alone with all the heavy chores. They found that they couldn't cope. So a very hard decision was made. Mom, the oldset, at 13, was merirad off to a complete stranger twice her age. She went from being just a kid and was pushed into adulthood. Mom had her first clihd when she was only 16.

Open Cloze


(Laughter)

After a while, I hear, (Imitating Italian ______) "I need to use the ________."

(Laughter)

"Five minutes, Mom. I need to do this." 15 minutes later, and I hear, again, "I need to use the washroom." "Five more minutes." Then this happened.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

And this.

(Laughter)

And then, this.

(________)

I had my "aha!" moment. We connected. We had something tangible we could do together.

My mom was born in a small mountain village in central Italy, where her parents had land and sheep. At a _____ age, her father died of pneumonia, leaving his wife and two daughters alone with all the heavy chores. They found that they couldn't cope. So a very hard decision was made. Mom, the ______, at 13, was _______ off to a complete stranger twice her age. She went from being just a kid and was pushed into adulthood. Mom had her first _____ when she was only 16.

Solution


  1. washroom
  2. laughter
  3. young
  4. accent
  5. married
  6. child
  7. oldest

Original Text


(Laughter)

After a while, I hear, (Imitating Italian accent) "I need to use the washroom."

(Laughter)

"Five minutes, Mom. I need to do this." 15 minutes later, and I hear, again, "I need to use the washroom." "Five more minutes." Then this happened.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

And this.

(Laughter)

And then, this.

(Laughter)

I had my "aha!" moment. We connected. We had something tangible we could do together.

My mom was born in a small mountain village in central Italy, where her parents had land and sheep. At a young age, her father died of pneumonia, leaving his wife and two daughters alone with all the heavy chores. They found that they couldn't cope. So a very hard decision was made. Mom, the oldest, at 13, was married off to a complete stranger twice her age. She went from being just a kid and was pushed into adulthood. Mom had her first child when she was only 16.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
mom laughed 2


Important Words


  1. accent
  2. adulthood
  3. age
  4. applause
  5. born
  6. central
  7. child
  8. chores
  9. complete
  10. connected
  11. cope
  12. daughters
  13. decision
  14. died
  15. father
  16. happened
  17. hard
  18. hear
  19. heavy
  20. imitating
  21. italian
  22. italy
  23. kid
  24. land
  25. laughter
  26. leaving
  27. married
  28. minutes
  29. mom
  30. moment
  31. mountain
  32. oldest
  33. parents
  34. pneumonia
  35. pushed
  36. sheep
  37. small
  38. stranger
  39. tangible
  40. village
  41. washroom
  42. wife
  43. young