F2F Class Notes 1st March (Tanya) [S]

Vocabulary

to be fond of something – to treasure something, to like something a lot, to think of something as very valuable

e.g. I’m really fond of my high school memories.

instant noodles – 方便面 noodles to which you add hot water, usually in a box

e.g. I love instant noodles, they’re just so convenient!

to renovate something – to make something look nicer, to give something an upgrade

e.g. My house is newly renovated! We just painted the house all over again and bought new furniture.

to nurture – to care for something while it is growing

e.g. You have to nurture these baby chickens until they are big enough to care for themselves.

Original: on living in dorms

I lived in dorms and there were six girls in a room. This is not the most. The regular dorm in China, especially in North-China, there are eight people in one room. For six person room, we have a desk. Each person have a desk. For eight person room, there is maybe only two desk in one room.

(On not getting along with roommates). We didn’t have something like that. I was lucky that all my roommates were very nice. We got along with each other very well. I did hear some horror stories that a girl stole something.

I studied five years in college, but not with the same roommates. Everytime we reach to a higher grade, we change rooms. It’s good, you will know more people. I think it’s good to know more interesting people. Since I graduated for over ten years, I don’t know how it is now but when I was in university not many students lived off-campus.

When I was in university, the food in our  canteen is not that good and we were not allowed to use electric fires to cook on in our dorms. But sometimes we have one in our dorms and we used it very carefully. Just to cook simple food like noodles. That’s the most delicious food in the world.

Correction

I used to lived in dorms and there were six girls in a room. This is not the maximum per room. The regular dorm in China, especially in North-China, has eight people in one room. For a six person room, we have a desk. Each person has a desk. For an eight person room, there is maybe only two desks in one room.

(On not getting along with roommates) We didn’t have anything like that. I was lucky that all my roommates were very nice. We got along with each other very well. I did hear some horror stories about a girl stealing something.

I studied five years in college, but not with the same roommates. Every time we reached a higher grade, we changed rooms. It’s good, you will know more people. I think it’s good to know more interesting people. Since I graduated over ten years ago, I don’t know how it is now but when I was in university not many students lived off-campus.

When I was in university, the food in our canteen was not that good and we were not allowed to use electric fires to cook in our dorms. We had one in our dorm and we used it very carefully. Just to cook simple food like noodles. That’s the most delicious food in the world.

Original: on raising kids 

I do want to make my son happy. Happy is important. Nowadays, children have too much pressure. They started to go to tutors at a very early age, like in kindergarten. But I don’t think they really know what they are doing. What for to be there in the classroom. They don’t feel happy about that, but it’s very contradictory for parents that all other kids go to tutors and try to get high scores in school. If you don’t do the same for your children, they will fall behind their classmates. It’s about competition. It’s more and more serious in China.

Correction

I do want to make my son happy. Happy is important. Nowadays, children have too much pressure. They start to go to tutors at a very early age, like in kindergarten. But I don’t think they really know what they are doing. Why they’re there in the classroom. They don’t feel happy about it, but it’s very contradictory for parents that all other kids go to tutors and try to get high scores in school. If you don’t do the same for your children, they will fall behind their classmates. It’s about competition. It is becoming more and more serious in China.

Pronunciation

mall – mohl