10/16 Supplemental English Boot Camp! (英文魔鬼訓練營)

[Kat C]

Dear friends,

Upon Kooper's invitation (thank you, Kooper! ), I'm offering another English boot camp (and turning it into an early Halloween party! ) Hope it's something you'd like to check out.

Time: Sunday, Oct. 16, 2 pm – 5 pm
Place: 夢駝鈴咖啡 (汀州路三段108號). Second floor booth (Japanese-style, shoes off). One drink minimum.



We'll play games, practice (really hard, it's a boot camp! ), and work on some tricky but must-know English expressions.


Please prepare:

(1) Draw (your own; don't print off the internet! ) on A4 paper, each on one sheet: 3 simple and clear pictures / depictions of "animal idiom" for our guessing game. (Like this example below. What's the idiom, and how do you use it?)



(2) You may know all of these "science words," but can you describe or define them—precisely? (Try first and look up later. Please don't look up their Chinese translation—I know, the temptation may be killing you! Use an English-English dictionary or look them up online in English.)

infection
cell
gene
climate
atmosphere
ecosystem
electricity
evolution
galaxy
gravity
immune system
inertia
infection
infrared radiation
meteor
mineral
molecule
organ
oxidation
photosynthesis
respiration
satellite
species
thermometer
vertebrate
greenhouse effect
zoology
algorithm


(3) Bring one costume item to dress up for Halloween! It can be as small as a button. Anything!



(4) Bring some candies and one "white elephant" gift—something you have that's perfectly fine but you don't need and yet can't bring yourself to throw away. Please don't buy anything new. Please don't bring anything too big or expensive. Please don't wrap it with gift wrap. Just put it in a used bag or wrap it with scrap paper. (Using or Burning Holiday Gift Wrap Is Not Environmentally Friendly, Washington Post)

Any gift from others that you never use? Anything you've bought then regret it? Need to cut your clutter? This is your perfect opportunity!



So there you have it. Let's practice some more English, and have fun while at it. Thanks and hope to see you then!

Kat

[tashi]

Tashi + 1~~~

[Rock]

The list of the words of science is great. We need those words, especially when we are so familiar with their Chinese counterparts.

[Kooper]

Please count Kooper and Gloria in.

[Kooper]

Does the example of drawing refer to cash cow? I know in business world cash cow means the department or product lines of a company that generate steady profits and bring in cash continuously. These money are often used to support development of new products or explore of new markets. Not sure if this has been considered an idiom or is till a business jargon.

[Laura]

Christina and I are going to join.

Hopefully my drawing is not ugly !

[Kooper]

No worries Laura. Mine will definitely be the worst!

[Kat C]

Kooper,

Yes, the idiom for the picture is "cash cow." It's an old idiom from the farming days. Of course it’s also used in the business world.

Kat

[Kooper]

As usual, we enjoyed a great afternoon. It's informative, helpful and a lot of fun. Many thanks to Kat!

My favorite part of the boot camp is guessing animal idioms from everybody's drawings! We drew; we guess; we explained their meaning and tried to make sentences with them. This left me with deep first impressions - a nice start to acquire these expressions.

In the activity on body idiom, I learned the idiom of my team (be in over one's head) but didn't know other groups. I wonder what are the other three idioms?

[Sabrina Sung]

The science words is my favor part(base on my poor memory, I write down the examples of these interesting words)
algorithm :Google has very strong search engineering algorithm
zoology : The zoology studies animals' behavior; for an example, Gloria's behavior; oh, no, the gorillas' behavior
satellite : The moon is the satellite of the Earth.
galaxy : Galaxies are clustered with numbers stars.
atmosphere :Thanks Kat, we had a joyful atmosphere party last afternoon.
gravity : Newton's apple explains the gravity.

[Kooper]

Words and expressions mentioned in the boot camp:

to grab the tiger by its tail / grab the bull by its horn -> it's a life or death, make-or-break situation
to tackle the problem head on
Who is going to put the bell on the cat? Who is going to bell the cat -> to be the first one to tackle down the issue, usually to sacrifice themselves
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He is in the doghouse -> used mainly to refer to conflicts between a couple [ with limited usage scenario]
birds and bees = euphemism of sex -> used always about sex education to kids [ with limited usage scenario] Ex: Tell kids about birds and bees.
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be like a fish out of water = be in a situation where you are not familiar or comfortable with
fox in the henhouse
to take a cat nap = take a short nap
be dog-tired = very tired
to chicken out = to decide not to do something because you are afraid
to get cold feets -> change one's mind and run away
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to put one's best foot forward
to be in over one's head

near-sighted <-> far-sighted
short-sighted <-> have long-term vision
have good/poor eyesight

My fingers are nimble.
My hair is easy to maintain.
I wear contacts = I wear contact lens
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to skirt around an issue or a topic
cannot do something to save your life = be very bad at doing something
Do you get the gravity of the situation? = the seriousness or importance of the situation
be bitten by the bug = get hooked on something = found one's passion or interests
to do blocks 玩積木
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to knock on wood: to ward off bad luck
A: I'm sure my next novel is going to publish.
B: Knock on wood.
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I don't want to jinx it = I don't want to say it to bring back luck.
A: It looks like it's going to be sunny tomorrow
B: Don't jinx it