full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Wajahat Ali: The case for having kids

Unscramble the Blue Letters

jpaan is now producing more audlt diapers than infant ones. The nuembr of kids in Japan has flealn for the 37th straight year. And unlike other countries, it has not been able to replace its ptaouopiln numbers through immigrant workers. There will be labor shortages and not enough money to fund the safety-net programs. Now, Japan has introduced two solutions. First, a financial incentive. Some local governments in Japan have offered couples money to have babies, with the moeny increasing with each additional chlid being born. This actually worked for one year in 2014 in this town called Ama. It actually riaesd the birth rate from about 1.66 kids per woman to 1.8. But it did not gain traction across Japan.

Open Cloze

_____ is now producing more _____ diapers than infant ones. The ______ of kids in Japan has ______ for the 37th straight year. And unlike other countries, it has not been able to replace its __________ numbers through immigrant workers. There will be labor shortages and not enough money to fund the safety-net programs. Now, Japan has introduced two solutions. First, a financial incentive. Some local governments in Japan have offered couples money to have babies, with the _____ increasing with each additional _____ being born. This actually worked for one year in 2014 in this town called Ama. It actually ______ the birth rate from about 1.66 kids per woman to 1.8. But it did not gain traction across Japan.

Solution

  1. japan
  2. raised
  3. money
  4. adult
  5. number
  6. population
  7. child
  8. fallen

Original Text

Japan is now producing more adult diapers than infant ones. The number of kids in Japan has fallen for the 37th straight year. And unlike other countries, it has not been able to replace its population numbers through immigrant workers. There will be labor shortages and not enough money to fund the safety-net programs. Now, Japan has introduced two solutions. First, a financial incentive. Some local governments in Japan have offered couples money to have babies, with the money increasing with each additional child being born. This actually worked for one year in 2014 in this town called Ama. It actually raised the birth rate from about 1.66 kids per woman to 1.8. But it did not gain traction across Japan.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
birth rate 5
birth rates 4
honda odyssey 4
united states 3
climate change 2
odyssey minivan 2
labor shortages 2
tax revenue 2
paid parental 2
parental leave 2
challenging week 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
honda odyssey minivan 2
paid parental leave 2

Important Words

  1. additional
  2. adult
  3. ama
  4. babies
  5. birth
  6. born
  7. called
  8. child
  9. countries
  10. couples
  11. diapers
  12. fallen
  13. financial
  14. fund
  15. gain
  16. governments
  17. immigrant
  18. incentive
  19. increasing
  20. infant
  21. introduced
  22. japan
  23. kids
  24. labor
  25. local
  26. money
  27. number
  28. numbers
  29. offered
  30. population
  31. producing
  32. programs
  33. raised
  34. rate
  35. replace
  36. shortages
  37. solutions
  38. straight
  39. town
  40. traction
  41. woman
  42. worked
  43. workers
  44. year