Profile Update Class (Nick)

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Next update October 2019

Previous Levels

Listening: 2.75
Speaking: 2.5
Pronunciation: 2.25
Writing: 3
Apr '19: 10.5
12.75

New levels

Listening: 3.5
Speaking: 3
Pronunciation: 3
Writing: 3.25

Changes to profile:
Topics: None
Teaching method + (Focus):
Add “In-Class Reading (Vocabulary)”
Homework type + (Focus): None
Joyce wants to do more reading in class, in particular to improve her vocabulary, but also to work through understanding more complex sentences in English. Articles from ChinaDaily or NBCNews should work well.

Class Notes from today:

Homework

If you can finish the article, write some thoughts about it OR be ready to do a speaking next class.

But if you can’t finish the article then we will continue reading the article during the next class.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201907/22/WS5d34cd63a310d83056400295.html
(Class finished partway through the third paragraph)

Vocabulary

Magazine – like a newspaper, but shiny and smaller and with more color
e.g. The Economist is my favorite magazine (though they call themselves a newspaper).

Blocked – a place you cannot get to
e.g. The Economist is a blocked website in China. You cannot access it without a vpn.
e.g. The tree fell over and blocked the road, so we had to go around another way.

Singapore – 新加坡

An example sentence from the Economist:
The junta leader’s plan to create a parliament to rubber-stamp his authority comes to fruition

Junta – a small group of people who rule a country, usually after taking power by force (they aren’t chosen to lead, but use force to become the leaders); often related to the military (军) but not necessarily
Military Junta – when military generals take control of a government (军政府)
e.g. The junta in Thailand has been in control for five years now.

推翻 – Overthrow – to take power by force, to take control of a country by force

Parliament – the part of government that creates the laws; 议会
e.g.

Rubber-stamp – someone or some group that has the authority to approve the actions of another BUT does not exercise that power; someone or some group who approves everything without asking questions; a small group of leaders can do whatever they want because the parliament is not going to ask questions
e.g. In Thailand, the parliament is too weak to fight with the President and his junta, so they just approve any laws that the junta wants to have.

Fruition – when something is finished after a long time or a lot of work; like when a piece of fruit is finally ripe and ready to eat after lots of work and waiting on the farm
e.g. Mao Zedong spent many years working in the countryside to convince the farmers that Communism was the future of China, and in 1949 his plans came to fruition.
— NOTE: this word is almost always used in the phrase “to come to fruition”

Peach – 桃子,油桃

Foodstuffs – a formal word that includes not only food (things that you can eat directly) but also things you can use to make food, usually used in the context of trade
e.g. A banana is a food because you can just peel it and eat it.
e.g. Flour is not a food really, because you can’t eat it without doing something else first (making bread, maybe).

Flower -花
Flour – 粉 (小麦粉,玉米粉,米粉,etc.)

Consensus – agreement, to reach an agreement

Agricultural – things related to farms

Exemption – when there is a rule but you ask the authorities not to apply it to you (ever) 豁免
e.g. He has very good 关系, so he has an exemption from the import tariff (he doesn’t have to pay).
e.g. Because our conditions are worse than for most companies, we will apply for an exemption from the rule so that we can grow our business.
Exception – when a rule is not applied to you one time
e.g. I know that I was late today, but could you make an exception and let me in anyway because it wasn’t my fault?

To be in line – the natural result of something; something that follows logically from something else; a specific situation agrees with a more general situation
e.g. Your application for an exemption is in line with our policy, so we will approve it.

Counterpart – someone who has the same position as you but in a different group
e.g. The two companies sent their counterparts from the legal department to talk about the contract (each company sent a person in a similar position to talk, like their head lawyers).
e.g. Xi Jinping and Donald Trump are counterparts because they are both Presidents, but of different countries.