F2F Class Notes (Raph)[R]

Vocabulary

Headcount (n): 1- the act of counting how many people are present in a place. 2- the number of people who are in a place, at an event, or employed by a company.
E.g.: The teacher did a quick headcount before we all got back on the bus.
E.g.: Times were hard, and the company was unwilling to increase the headcount (= employ more people).

Adequate (adj): 1- enough or satisfactory for a particular purpose.
E.g.: Have we got adequate food for 20 guests?
E.g.: I didn’t have adequate time to prepare.
E.g.: It’s not a big salary but it’s adequate for our needs.

Reinforce (v): 1- to make something stronger. 2- If something reinforces an idea or opinion, it provides more proof or support for it and makes it seem true.
E.g.: The pockets on my jeans are reinforced with double stitching.
E.g.: The final technical report into the accident reinforces the findings of initial investigations.
E.g.: His behavior only reinforced my dislike of him.

Join forces (v): 1- to work together with someone else in order to achieve something.
E.g.: Teachers joined forces with parents to prepare the hall for the school play.

Fraction (n): 1- a number that results from dividing one whole number by another. 2- a small part of something, or a small amount.
E.g.: ¼ and 0.25 are different ways of representing the same fraction.
E.g.: ​They can produce it at a fraction of the cost of (= much more cheaply than) traditional methods.

A drop in the ocean (n): 1- a very small amount compared to the amount needed:
E.g.: My letter of protest was just a drop in the ocean.

Slum (n): 1- a very poor and crowded area, especially of a city:
E.g.: She was brought up in the slums of Lima.

El Salvador (n): 1- 萨尔瓦多

Reading

3D-printer Homes to Reduce Homelessness
(Source: www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1803/180315-3d-printer-homes.html)

Having a roof over your head is a basic human need, but there are 1.2 billion people in the world without adequate housing. This may change thanks to a revolutionary, low-cost use of 3D printers to construct houses. With 3D printing, materials are joined together or reinforced by using a computer-controlled device to create a three-dimensional object. Two companies have joined forces to try and ease homelessness around the world by building affordable homes using 3D printing. Tech company ICON has developed a method for printing a one-floor, 60-square-meter house out of cement in a day for just $10,000. This is a fraction of both the time and cost needed to build a similar construction using conventional methods.

ICON has teamed up with the non-profit, international housing organization New Story. Together, they will start building homes in developing countries. Their joint venture will see 100 new homes constructed in El Salvador next year. New Story’s co-founder Alexandria Lafci acknowledged that the 100 homes were just a drop in the ocean. She said: “There are over 100 million people living in slum conditions, in what we call survival mode.” She also saw possibilities for 3D-printed houses to become common in richer countries in years to come. However, she said that for the moment: “The tech is ready now to print very high-quality, safe homes in the places we’re building.”

Grammar

Approvement – Approval

They need to apply for new headcount. – They need to apply for an increase in their headcount. / They need to add one more staff member to their store. / They need to get an approval from the main office to add another member to their staff.

Pronunciation

Skyscraper: /ˈskaɪˌskreɪ.pɚ/

Hand: /hænd/

Head: /hed/

Adequate: /ˈæd.ə.kwət/

Reinforce: /ˌriː.ɪnˈfɔːrs/

Material: /məˈtɪr.i.əl/

Method: /ˈmeθ.əd/

El Salvador:  /ˌel ˈsæl.və.dɔːr/