F2F Class Notes (Tony)

Vocabulary

In person

I will have an interview (In person)

I will have an online interview

I will have a phone interview

up in the air – undecided

eg: It’s still up in the air if I will get my masters or not.

juggle – 1. to throw a few things in the air and keep catching and throwing them 2. to do many different and challenging things at the same time.

eg: Do you think it will be hard to juggle, being a dad, studying for your masters and working full time?

eg: Its hard for me to juggle studying math, English and writing.(at the same time)

meantime – the time in between things

eg: I definitely wanna get my masters, but in the meantime I will work.

prepositions – small words that help the meaning of the sentence, by telling the direction, location, position, time, etc..     At, On, In, During, From, Under…

eg: Can you give me a preposition to use with that new word?

Phrasal Verb – Usually a verb with a preposition, that has a new/special meaning.  Can be understood through the context.

eg: Heat up,  is a phrasal verb that means, make something hot

In China, we have 6 major/national holidays every year. They are Lunar New Year, Qing Ming also called Tomb Sweeping Holiday which is normally in April where we honor/mourn our ancestors, Labor Day, Duan Wu Festival which is Dragon Boat Festival where we eat zongzi and we usually watch the dragon boat races/competitions, this month we will have Mid Autumn Festival, and the first of October is National Day.
In China, people like holidays because we can travel, go back home and celebrate with our family. Each holiday has its own cultural meaning. People always organize some traditional activities and make some special foods around that time of year, which are a few preserved traditions from history. However, in recent years, people in China also like western holidays, like Christmas and Valentine’s day. I think one reason is that Christmas is linked with new year‘s, so it’s a long time for people to celebrate and enjoy the festival. I think Chinese people like traveling, shopping and meeting friends during holidays. Many foreign friends call the first week in October Golden Week. Actually, our country wants to promote economic growth during holidays, so the government defines this week as Golden Week for traveling. However, I think on Chinese holidays there are too many people in the city, on the streets and at tourist spots. So I don’t like traveling on holidays, I enjoy the free time spent with my family. Among these holidays, I think I love Lunar New Year the most, because it’s the most important holiday in China. Most people will go back home to celebrate this festival with their family, but I’ve missed out on this for the last 10 years because I was working in the army. Each Lunar New Year, I stayed in the army and guarded our country. However, I feel so happy now, because I can celebrate every holiday with my family in the future.