F2F Class Notes (Nick)

Vocabulary

Impressive – very nice, maybe so good it is surprising
e.g. Yellowstone was really impressive. I didn’t think it would be so beautiful.

Geyser – hot water that comes from the ground and into the air (gai – zer)
e.g. Old Faithful is famous geyser in Yellowstone National Park.

Medicine vs. Drug – both are things you use to affect how your body works, but medicine is related to doctors, while drugs are sometimes illegal
e.g. My doctor told me to take a certain type of medicine each day.
e.g. Somebody I knew was caught by the police with drugs. He got in a lot of trouble.

Diplomacy – people who work in embassies on foreign relations
e.g. Diplomacy is an important way to help countries to understand each other.

Alphabet – the letters that a language uses to write, a bunch of sounds written down
e.g. English uses the alphabet that the Romans used to show how words sound.
e.g. Chinese uses pinyin, based upon the same alphabet as English, to show how characters sound.

Numb – when you can’t feel any pain
e.g. 花椒 is supposed to cause your mouth to feel numb, so that the food doesn’t hurt so much!

Grammar

China Character – Chinese Character

都可以　－　both work, both are fine (when there are only two choices)
—     any of them is ok, any of these/those are ok
—     this one is also ok (if there is another choice)

One and a half years – anything more than 1 will use the s

Pronunciation

Numb – the b is silent