full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Karim Abouelnaga: A summer school kids actually want to attend

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Getting a college education is a 20-year investment. When you're growing up poor, you're not accustomed to tknnhiig that far ahead. Instead, you're thinking about where you're going to get your next meal and how your family is going to pay rent that motnh. Besides, my parents and my friends' parents seemed to be doing just fine driving taxis and working as janitors. It wasn't until I was a teenager when I realized I didn't want to do those things. By then, I was two-thirds of the way through my education, and it was almost too late to turn things around.

When you grow up poor, you want to be rich. I was no different. I'm the second-oldest of seven, and was raised by a single mother on geornvment aid in Queens, New York. By vuirte of gorwnig up low-income, my sbiginls and I went to some of New York City's most struggling public schools. I had over 60 absences when I was in seventh grade, because I didn't feel like going to class. My high school had a 55 percent gtoraiduan rate, and even worse, only 20 percent of the kids ganudtraig were college-ready.

Open Cloze


Getting a college education is a 20-year investment. When you're growing up poor, you're not accustomed to ________ that far ahead. Instead, you're thinking about where you're going to get your next meal and how your family is going to pay rent that _____. Besides, my parents and my friends' parents seemed to be doing just fine driving taxis and working as janitors. It wasn't until I was a teenager when I realized I didn't want to do those things. By then, I was two-thirds of the way through my education, and it was almost too late to turn things around.

When you grow up poor, you want to be rich. I was no different. I'm the second-oldest of seven, and was raised by a single mother on __________ aid in Queens, New York. By ______ of _______ up low-income, my ________ and I went to some of New York City's most struggling public schools. I had over 60 absences when I was in seventh grade, because I didn't feel like going to class. My high school had a 55 percent __________ rate, and even worse, only 20 percent of the kids __________ were college-ready.

Solution


  1. siblings
  2. government
  3. virtue
  4. growing
  5. month
  6. graduation
  7. graduating
  8. thinking

Original Text


Getting a college education is a 20-year investment. When you're growing up poor, you're not accustomed to thinking that far ahead. Instead, you're thinking about where you're going to get your next meal and how your family is going to pay rent that month. Besides, my parents and my friends' parents seemed to be doing just fine driving taxis and working as janitors. It wasn't until I was a teenager when I realized I didn't want to do those things. By then, I was two-thirds of the way through my education, and it was almost too late to turn things around.

When you grow up poor, you want to be rich. I was no different. I'm the second-oldest of seven, and was raised by a single mother on government aid in Queens, New York. By virtue of growing up low-income, my siblings and I went to some of New York City's most struggling public schools. I had over 60 absences when I was in seventh grade, because I didn't feel like going to class. My high school had a 55 percent graduation rate, and even worse, only 20 percent of the kids graduating were college-ready.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
summer school 4
summer learning 3
learning loss 3
school year 3
single mother 2
government aid 2
high school 2
good chance 2
public education 2
education system 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
summer learning loss 3
public education system 2

Important Words


  1. absences
  2. accustomed
  3. aid
  4. class
  5. college
  6. driving
  7. education
  8. family
  9. feel
  10. fine
  11. government
  12. grade
  13. graduating
  14. graduation
  15. grow
  16. growing
  17. high
  18. investment
  19. janitors
  20. kids
  21. late
  22. meal
  23. month
  24. mother
  25. parents
  26. pay
  27. percent
  28. poor
  29. public
  30. queens
  31. raised
  32. rate
  33. realized
  34. rent
  35. rich
  36. school
  37. schools
  38. seventh
  39. siblings
  40. single
  41. struggling
  42. taxis
  43. teenager
  44. thinking
  45. turn
  46. virtue
  47. working
  48. worse
  49. york