full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Joseph Lekuton: A parable for Kenya

Unscramble the Blue Letters

My name is Joseph, a Member of Parliament in Kenya. Picture a Maasai vaillge, and one evening, gnvomrenet soldiers come, surround the village and ask each elder to bnirg one boy to school. That's how I went to school — pretty much a government guy pnntioig a gun and told my ftehar, "You have to make a choice." I wakeld very comfortably to this missionary school, that was run by an American missionary. The first thing the American missionary gave me was a candy. I had never in my life ever tasted candy. So I said to myself, with all these hundred other boys, this is where I belong.

Open Cloze

My name is Joseph, a Member of Parliament in Kenya. Picture a Maasai _______, and one evening, __________ soldiers come, surround the village and ask each elder to _____ one boy to school. That's how I went to school — pretty much a government guy ________ a gun and told my ______, "You have to make a choice." I ______ very comfortably to this missionary school, that was run by an American missionary. The first thing the American missionary gave me was a candy. I had never in my life ever tasted candy. So I said to myself, with all these hundred other boys, this is where I belong.

Solution

  1. government
  2. father
  3. walked
  4. village
  5. bring
  6. pointing

Original Text

My name is Joseph, a Member of Parliament in Kenya. Picture a Maasai village, and one evening, government soldiers come, surround the village and ask each elder to bring one boy to school. That's how I went to school — pretty much a government guy pointing a gun and told my father, "You have to make a choice." I walked very comfortably to this missionary school, that was run by an American missionary. The first thing the American missionary gave me was a candy. I had never in my life ever tasted candy. So I said to myself, with all these hundred other boys, this is where I belong.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
blind man 3
american missionary 2
high school 2
united states 2
man told 2
clean drinking 2
drinking water 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
clean drinking water 2

Important Words

  1. american
  2. belong
  3. boy
  4. boys
  5. bring
  6. candy
  7. choice
  8. comfortably
  9. elder
  10. evening
  11. father
  12. gave
  13. government
  14. gun
  15. guy
  16. joseph
  17. kenya
  18. life
  19. maasai
  20. member
  21. missionary
  22. parliament
  23. picture
  24. pointing
  25. pretty
  26. run
  27. school
  28. soldiers
  29. surround
  30. tasted
  31. told
  32. village
  33. walked