F2F Class Notes 8th December (Jesse) [2]

get cold feet / get up the courage

spiral staircase = winding staircase

confide / confiding / confided / will confide v. – to discuss private matters or problems privately

randomly – Students were selected randomly to be pretend to be prisoners or security guards.

warrant n. – Law. an instrument, issued by a magistrate, authorizing an officer to make an arrest, seize property, make a search, or carry a judgment into execution

jail/prison cell – room in prison or jail

customary adj. –according to or depending on custom; usual; habitual

When i was little there was a small / tiny abandoned house on the opposite side of the street which was in the front of my school gate / opposite my school. There was a rumour about this house in which people said that there were ghosts haunting that house (…a rumour which told of ghosts that haunted….). As a student in an elementary school (as an elementary school student) my friends and I always went to the front yard of this house. I remember there was a wanted poster that had been posted on the wall of this house and the guy on the poster was the person that the police wanted put into a prison cell. One day, one of my friends came to confide in me on the spiral staircase in the school, telling me / claiming that she knew what was haunting the house. Several / a few / a bunch of friends and I decided to go to the house to find out the truth. When we got to the entrance of the house, I was picked randomly to be the first person to knock on the door. At first I had cold feet but in front of all my friends I had to get up the courage to take the first step, and because I was the youngest, it was customary to go first.

i have decided to get into this university – weird
i have decided to apply to this university – normal

She told me that she knew what really happened in the house / She told me that she knew what it was that was haunting the house / she knew what was haunting the house

take a step (to go in a direction) / take the first step (babies)
eg. I’m trying to take a step in a positive direction
eg2. When did she take her first steps?

I heard a story which told of a man from Australia…

arrive at / get to / go to

came – pronounce the “a” fully