full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jessica Shortall: The US needs paid family leave -- for the sake of its future

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Here's the first. "I was an active duty secirve member at a federal prison. I rteneurd to work after the maximum awelold eight weeks for my C-section. A male creokwor was annoyed that I had been out on 'vacation,' so he ienttalnilnoy opened the door on me while I was pumping breast milk and stood in the doorway with inmates in the hallway."

Most of the stories that these weomn, total strangers, send to me now, are not actually even about breastfeeding.

A woman wrote to me to say, "I gave birth to twins and went back to work after seven unpaid weeks. Emotionally, I was a wrcek. Physically, I had a sevree hemorrhage during labor, and major tearing, so I could barely get up, sit or walk. My employer told me I wasn't allowed to use my available vacation days because it was budget season."

Open Cloze


Here's the first. "I was an active duty _______ member at a federal prison. I ________ to work after the maximum _______ eight weeks for my C-section. A male ________ was annoyed that I had been out on 'vacation,' so he _____________ opened the door on me while I was pumping breast milk and stood in the doorway with inmates in the hallway."

Most of the stories that these _____, total strangers, send to me now, are not actually even about breastfeeding.

A woman wrote to me to say, "I gave birth to twins and went back to work after seven unpaid weeks. Emotionally, I was a _____. Physically, I had a ______ hemorrhage during labor, and major tearing, so I could barely get up, sit or walk. My employer told me I wasn't allowed to use my available vacation days because it was budget season."

Solution


  1. intentionally
  2. severe
  3. returned
  4. allowed
  5. wreck
  6. coworker
  7. service
  8. women

Original Text


Here's the first. "I was an active duty service member at a federal prison. I returned to work after the maximum allowed eight weeks for my C-section. A male coworker was annoyed that I had been out on 'vacation,' so he intentionally opened the door on me while I was pumping breast milk and stood in the doorway with inmates in the hallway."

Most of the stories that these women, total strangers, send to me now, are not actually even about breastfeeding.

A woman wrote to me to say, "I gave birth to twins and went back to work after seven unpaid weeks. Emotionally, I was a wreck. Physically, I had a severe hemorrhage during labor, and major tearing, so I could barely get up, sit or walk. My employer told me I wasn't allowed to use my available vacation days because it was budget season."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
working mothers 6
paid leave 5
working mother 3
working women 3
national paid 3
stock photos 2
breast milk 2
unpaid weeks 2
paid work 2
national scale 2
unpaid leave 2
office door 2
woman told 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
national paid leave 3

Important Words


  1. active
  2. allowed
  3. annoyed
  4. barely
  5. birth
  6. breast
  7. breastfeeding
  8. budget
  9. coworker
  10. days
  11. door
  12. doorway
  13. duty
  14. emotionally
  15. employer
  16. federal
  17. gave
  18. hallway
  19. hemorrhage
  20. inmates
  21. intentionally
  22. labor
  23. major
  24. male
  25. maximum
  26. member
  27. milk
  28. opened
  29. physically
  30. prison
  31. pumping
  32. returned
  33. season
  34. send
  35. service
  36. severe
  37. sit
  38. stood
  39. stories
  40. strangers
  41. tearing
  42. told
  43. total
  44. twins
  45. unpaid
  46. vacation
  47. walk
  48. weeks
  49. woman
  50. women
  51. work
  52. wreck
  53. wrote