full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Jay Walker: The world's English mania
Unscramble the Blue Letters
(lgeatuhr)
Why English? In a single word: opportunity. Opportunity for a better life, a job, to be able to pay for school, or put better food on the tlbae. Imagine a student taking a giant test for three full days. Her sroce on this one test literally determines her fuurte. She studies 12 hours a day for three years to prepare. Twenty-five percent of her grade is based on English. It's called the gaokao, and 80 million high scoohl Chinese students have already taken this grueling test. The iittsnney to laren English is almost unimaginable, unless you witness it.
Teacher: Perfect! Students: Perfect!
Open Cloze
(________)
Why English? In a single word: opportunity. Opportunity for a better life, a job, to be able to pay for school, or put better food on the _____. Imagine a student taking a giant test for three full days. Her _____ on this one test literally determines her ______. She studies 12 hours a day for three years to prepare. Twenty-five percent of her grade is based on English. It's called the gaokao, and 80 million high ______ Chinese students have already taken this grueling test. The _________ to _____ English is almost unimaginable, unless you witness it.
Teacher: Perfect! Students: Perfect!
Solution
- school
- learn
- intensity
- future
- laughter
- score
- table
Original Text
(Laughter)
Why English? In a single word: opportunity. Opportunity for a better life, a job, to be able to pay for school, or put better food on the table. Imagine a student taking a giant test for three full days. Her score on this one test literally determines her future. She studies 12 hours a day for three years to prepare. Twenty-five percent of her grade is based on English. It's called the gaokao, and 80 million high school Chinese students have already taken this grueling test. The intensity to learn English is almost unimaginable, unless you witness it.
Teacher: Perfect! Students: Perfect!
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| learning english |
2 |
| chinese students |
2 |
| learn english |
2 |
| speak perfect |
2 |
| english mania |
2 |
Important Words
- based
- called
- chinese
- day
- days
- determines
- english
- food
- full
- future
- gaokao
- giant
- grade
- grueling
- high
- hours
- imagine
- intensity
- job
- laughter
- learn
- life
- literally
- million
- opportunity
- pay
- percent
- prepare
- put
- school
- score
- single
- student
- students
- studies
- table
- test
- unimaginable
- witness
- years