full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sheila Marie Orfano and Densho: Can stereotypes ever be good?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


During wlrod War II, the US grmneneovt tried to “Americanize” incarcerated Japanese Americans. They did this through egisnlh language classes, patriotic exercises, and lessons on how to behave in white American society. When iearrecnces were released, they were instructed to avoid returning to their own communities and cultural practices, and instead, integrate into white society. But after decades of anti-Asian policies and propaganda, white aancmeirs had to be persuaded that Japanese Americans were no longer a tearht. So the government organized media coverage to transform the public piectorpen of jnapaese Americans from suspected traitors to an American success story. In fact, the phrase “model minority” was coined by one such article from 1966.

Open Cloze


During _____ War II, the US __________ tried to “Americanize” incarcerated Japanese Americans. They did this through _______ language classes, patriotic exercises, and lessons on how to behave in white American society. When ___________ were released, they were instructed to avoid returning to their own communities and cultural practices, and instead, integrate into white society. But after decades of anti-Asian policies and propaganda, white _________ had to be persuaded that Japanese Americans were no longer a ______. So the government organized media coverage to transform the public __________ of ________ Americans from suspected traitors to an American success story. In fact, the phrase “model minority” was coined by one such article from 1966.

Solution


  1. government
  2. threat
  3. perception
  4. world
  5. incarcerees
  6. japanese
  7. english
  8. americans

Original Text


During World War II, the US government tried to “Americanize” incarcerated Japanese Americans. They did this through English language classes, patriotic exercises, and lessons on how to behave in white American society. When incarcerees were released, they were instructed to avoid returning to their own communities and cultural practices, and instead, integrate into white society. But after decades of anti-Asian policies and propaganda, white Americans had to be persuaded that Japanese Americans were no longer a threat. So the government organized media coverage to transform the public perception of Japanese Americans from suspected traitors to an American success story. In fact, the phrase “model minority” was coined by one such article from 1966.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
japanese americans 4
asian americans 4
model minority 4
asian students 3
racial groups 2
world war 2
american society 2
asian populations 2
white americans 2
american success 2


Important Words


  1. american
  2. americans
  3. article
  4. avoid
  5. behave
  6. classes
  7. coined
  8. communities
  9. coverage
  10. cultural
  11. decades
  12. english
  13. exercises
  14. fact
  15. government
  16. ii
  17. incarcerated
  18. incarcerees
  19. instructed
  20. integrate
  21. japanese
  22. language
  23. lessons
  24. longer
  25. media
  26. organized
  27. patriotic
  28. perception
  29. persuaded
  30. phrase
  31. policies
  32. practices
  33. propaganda
  34. public
  35. released
  36. returning
  37. society
  38. story
  39. success
  40. suspected
  41. threat
  42. traitors
  43. transform
  44. war
  45. white
  46. world