F2F Class Notes (Raph)

Vocabulary

Suburb (n): 1- an area on the edge of a large town or city where people who work in the town or city often live.
E.g.: Songjiang is a suburb of Shanghai.
E.g.: We drove from middle-class suburbs to a very poor inner-city area.

Kindergarten (n): 1- pre-school. The first years of school, for kids aged 3 to 5.
E.g.: Raph used to work at a kindergarten in Songjiang district.

Environment (n): 1- the air, water, and land in or on which people, animals, and plants live. 2- the conditions that you live or work in and the way that they influence how you feel or how effectively you can work.
E.g.: We’re not doing enough to protect the environment from pollution.
E.g.: The office is quite bright and airy – it’s a pleasant working environment.
E.g.: As a parent you try to create a stable home environment.

Handful (n): 1- a small number of people or things. 2- an amount of something that can be held in one hand:
E.g.: She invited all her friends to her party, but only a handful of them turned up.
E.g.: He pulled out a handful of coins from his pocket.

Translate (v): 1-  to change words into a different language.
E.g.: We were asked to translate a list of sentences.
E.g.: She works for the UN, translating from English into Chinese.

Carpet / Rug (n): 1- 地毯

Grammar

This weekend was usually. – This weekend was just as usual.

My son is two years old, but they didn’t speak more Chinese. –  My son is two years old, but he still doesn’t speak Chinese very well.

Pronunciation

Suburban: /səˈbɝː.bən/

Kindergarten: /ˈkɪn.dɚˌɡɑːr.tən/

Environment: /ɪnˈvaɪ.rən.mənt/

Handful: /ˈhænd.fʊl/

Translate: /trænsˈleɪt/