TED The world's largest family reunion

​The world's largest family reunion
A.J. Jacobs

​👩‍❤️‍👨 There are two types of families - immediate (your parents, siblings, spouse and children) and extended ( + grandparents, aunts, cousins, etc).
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👧🏻 Your parent's cousin's child is your second cousin. You might have your third / fourth, etc cousins. If a cousin is separated from you by one / two, etc generations, you say my cousin once / twice removed.
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👩🏻 Your wife's relatives are on your wife's side.

​How big is your extended family?

​👨🏻‍🦳 A relative who lived a long time ago is your ancestor. Relatives who live after you are your descendants or offspring.
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🌳 Genealogy studies the history of your family.

Do you know much about your ancestors?
Do you have a family tree?

🎊 A social event for a group of people who haven't seen each other for a long time is called reunion. There're family / school / college reunions.

Are there any relatives you haven't seen for long?
Have you ever had a family reunion?

You may not know it yet, but A.J. Jacobs is probably your cousin (many, many times removed). Using genealogy websites, he's been following the unexpected links that make us all, however distantly, related. His goal: to throw the world's largest family reunion. See you there?

Multiple Select

Watch Part 1 of the TED Talk. What points does A. J. Jacobs make?

• Genealogy is undergoing a revolution partly because of genetics and the Internet.

• People can add their own information online to create and combine huge family trees.

• Putting our personal family information online can be a dangerous thing to do.

• Most people have famous people and historical figures in their family trees.

Match

Watch Part 2 of the TED Talk. A. J. Jacobs gives four reasons why a world family tree is a good idea. Match each idea to a supporting detail.

• It provides a better understanding of human migration.

• Jacobs found out he was related to a famous person.

• We all come from the same ancestor.

• We treat family better than we treat strangers.

It has scientific value.

It brings history alive.

It shows we're all interconnected.

It creates a kinder world.

• It has scientific value.

• It brings history alive.

• It shows we're all interconnected.

• It creates a kinder world.

​Watch Part 3 of the TED Talk.
Complete the notes.
Event: _____
Activities: _____
Who's invited: _____

​3,700 people
$62,000 raised for Alzheimer’s research

Open Ended

Look at the excerpt from the Talk.

So this email inspired me to dive into genealogy, which I always thought was a very staid and proper field, but it turns out it's going through a fascinating revolution, and a controversial one.

Find a verb that means 'to start doing something suddenly and energetically'

Open Ended

Look at the excerpt from the Talk.

I'm on something on Geni called the world family tree, which has no less than a jaw-dropping 75 million people.

Find an adjective that means 'very surprising or shocking'

Open Ended

Look at the excerpt from the Talk.

Now, I'm not boasting, because all of you have famous people and historical figures in your tree, because we are all connected, and 75 million may seem like a lot, but in a few years, it's quite likely we will have a family tree with all, almost all, seven billion people on Earth.

Find a phrase that's used when you don't want to sound too proud

Open Ended

Look at the excerpt from the Talk.

Now, I know that there are family feuds. I have three sons, so I see how they fight. But I think that there's also a human bias to treat your family a little better than strangers.

Find a noun that means 'an unfair personal opinion that influences your judgement'

Open Ended

Look at the excerpt from the Talk.

Paul McCartney is 11 steps away, so I'm hoping he brings his guitar. He hasn't RSVP'd yet, but fingers crossed. And there is going to be a day of speakers, of fascinating cousins.

Find a phrase that's used when you hope very much that something will happen in the way that you want

Match

Match the halves:

• dive

• jaw

• I'm not

• human

• fingers

into

dropping

boasting

bias

crossed

• into

• dropping

• boasting

• bias

• crossed

Drag and Drop

Complete the sentences:

1) I'm not ​

Placeholder

, but I think I'm good at singing.

2) When I start a new project, I like to ​

Placeholder

right into and see how it works.

3) Let's keep our fingers ​

Placeholder

that it doesn't rain.

4) They provided the lighting and ​

Placeholder

special effects for the show.

5) The news channel has been accused of ​

Placeholder

towards the opposition.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

boasting

dive

jaw-dropping

crossed

bias

​What's A.J. Jacobs's idea worth spreading?
To what extent do you agree with this?