VIP Class Notes (Whitney) [S + W]

Have more conversations with topics outside of her comfort zone.

About Susan:

Goals for English:
Travel – enjoy the local culture and have fluent conversations with locals
Work – using longer, more professional sentences and being able to hold a conversation even when people are speaking quickly. (understanding is around 70%, expression 50%) Industry: Law (working for a Singaporean Real Estate company)

Be able to express the things that we are passionate about, our thoughts, opinions and sharing our knowledge and experiences.

Read more articles: Choose topics that interest you https://mashable.com/
Recommended Authors: Tamora Pierce – Fantasy (The Song of the Lioness),  Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale),  Stephen King, George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones series)

Vocabulary

mellow (adj) soft, pleasant, small.
change – a mellow change. Something that changed very slightly.
(opposite: intense)

bombed (v) when a movie performed poorly.
Even though Murder on the Orient express didn’t meet my expectation it still didn’t bomb at the box office.

gloomy (adj) cloudy, rainy, dark and cold all the time.
The perfect way to describe to London or Shanghai weather. (mainly in Winter)

metaphor (n) a figure of speech, when we take something that is not literal or not real and turn it into something living or different.
He has the heart of a lion. = this person is brave and ambitious
You are the sunshine of my life. = this person brings you a lot of joy and happiness

simile (n) a figure of speech, which compares two things by using “like” or “as” (if/than)
Her skin is as white as snow.
The children were running as quick as lightning.

thriller (n) murder/mystery type of books

Topic: Love novels, recently read Agatha Christie
The Murder on the Orient Express

Books vs. Movies – which one is better?
9/10 the book is better the movie. Because generally when we read the books first, we have higher expectations for the movie.

The average rating for the 2017 movie The Murder on the Orient Express is around 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. After watching the old version, I think the original is best.

Even though the movie bombed, the cast was still very strong. The storyline was so simple and no suspense.

They just gave us the results (They didn’t leave much room for imagination)

If I had to rate this movie, I would give it a 5/10. (the IMDb rating is 6.5/10)

Level 1, Super basic: I am sad. 我今天很伤心.

Level 2, Easy, but not so direct: Feeling gloomy.

Level 3, Slightly less direct (ambiguous): When it rains, it pours. (when life is hard, it is really hard)

Level 4, Poetic/artistic: I have sadness living in places sadness shouldn’t live.

metaphor and simile = literature

Sadness: a feeling, invisible, it has no physical form.
Live/Living: physical, you need a home.

My sadness is so real and so alive, that has become physical and I am living with this feeling all the time. But it doesn’t belong here because sadness should not take over someone’s life.