full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Alvin Irby: How to inspire every child to be a lifelong reader

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Many of the children's bkoos promoted to black boys focus on serious topics, like slavery, ciivl rights and biographies. Less than two percent of teheacrs in the uetnid stetas are black males. And a majority of balck boys are raised by single mothers. There are literally young black boys who have never seen a black man reading. Or never had a black man encourage him to read. What cartluul factors, what social cues are present that would lead a young black boy to conclude that reading is even something he should do?

Open Cloze

Many of the children's _____ promoted to black boys focus on serious topics, like slavery, _____ rights and biographies. Less than two percent of ________ in the ______ ______ are black males. And a majority of _____ boys are raised by single mothers. There are literally young black boys who have never seen a black man reading. Or never had a black man encourage him to read. What ________ factors, what social cues are present that would lead a young black boy to conclude that reading is even something he should do?

Solution

  1. black
  2. books
  3. states
  4. cultural
  5. united
  6. civil
  7. teachers

Original Text

Many of the children's books promoted to black boys focus on serious topics, like slavery, civil rights and biographies. Less than two percent of teachers in the United States are black males. And a majority of black boys are raised by single mothers. There are literally young black boys who have never seen a black man reading. Or never had a black man encourage him to read. What cultural factors, what social cues are present that would lead a young black boy to conclude that reading is even something he should do?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
black boys 10
reading experiences 3
young black 3
reading lessons 2
high school 2
english class 2
advanced english 2
bar jokes 2
black man 2
barbershop books 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
young black boys 2

Important Words

  1. biographies
  2. black
  3. books
  4. boy
  5. boys
  6. civil
  7. conclude
  8. cues
  9. cultural
  10. encourage
  11. factors
  12. focus
  13. lead
  14. literally
  15. majority
  16. males
  17. man
  18. mothers
  19. percent
  20. present
  21. promoted
  22. raised
  23. read
  24. reading
  25. rights
  26. single
  27. slavery
  28. social
  29. states
  30. teachers
  31. topics
  32. united
  33. young