full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Pearl Arredondo: My story, from gangland daughter to star teacher

Unscramble the Blue Letters

So I grew up in East Los Angeles, not even realizing I was poor. My dad was a high-ranking gang meebmr who ran the streets. Everyone knew who I was, so I thought I was a pertty big deal, and I was preotcted, and even though my dad spent most of my life in and out of jail, I had an aimznag mom who was just fiercely independent. She worked at the local high school as a secretary in the dean's office, so she got to see all the kids that got thrown out of class, for whatever reason, who were wantiig to be disciplined. Man, her office was pekcad.

Open Cloze

So I grew up in East Los Angeles, not even realizing I was poor. My dad was a high-ranking gang ______ who ran the streets. Everyone knew who I was, so I thought I was a ______ big deal, and I was _________, and even though my dad spent most of my life in and out of jail, I had an _______ mom who was just fiercely independent. She worked at the local high school as a secretary in the dean's office, so she got to see all the kids that got thrown out of class, for whatever reason, who were _______ to be disciplined. Man, her office was ______.

Solution

  1. packed
  2. pretty
  3. amazing
  4. protected
  5. member
  6. waiting

Original Text

So I grew up in East Los Angeles, not even realizing I was poor. My dad was a high-ranking gang member who ran the streets. Everyone knew who I was, so I thought I was a pretty big deal, and I was protected, and even though my dad spent most of my life in and out of jail, I had an amazing mom who was just fiercely independent. She worked at the local high school as a secretary in the dean's office, so she got to see all the kids that got thrown out of class, for whatever reason, who were waiting to be disciplined. Man, her office was packed.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
high school 3
middle school 2

Important Words

  1. amazing
  2. angeles
  3. big
  4. class
  5. dad
  6. deal
  7. disciplined
  8. east
  9. fiercely
  10. gang
  11. grew
  12. high
  13. independent
  14. jail
  15. kids
  16. knew
  17. life
  18. local
  19. los
  20. man
  21. member
  22. mom
  23. office
  24. packed
  25. poor
  26. pretty
  27. protected
  28. ran
  29. realizing
  30. reason
  31. school
  32. secretary
  33. spent
  34. streets
  35. thought
  36. thrown
  37. waiting
  38. worked