Upload
jessica-stern
View
221
Download
1
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
In this week's issue: A student's encounter with a phone scammer, a celebration for singles, the meaning of Eid Al-Adha & much more!
Citation preview
BY SHARON JUNG
On Friday Nov. 4, the
Language Academy stu-
dents visited the Natural
History Museum in Los
Angeles. It is located at 900
Exposition Boulevard. It
took just 10 minutes on foot
from the JEF Courtyard to
get there.
Even though the mu-
seum is very close to USC,
only around 10 people went
there because of the rain.
Adults have to pay $9, sen-
iors and students with ID
have to pay $6.50, but ad-
mission to the museum is
FREE to USC students. If
you have a USC ID, you
can enter anytime daily
from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm.
Long Beach Aquarium Friday, November 11th 1:00pm—6:00pm The USC Language Academy is go-ing to the Long Beach Aquarium! Come touch sea jellies, sharks, and watch the seals play! This amazing place has lots of fun things to do and see, including a new Arctic fox! Meet in the JEF Courtyard at 1:00pm!
Thanksgiving Luncheon Friday, November 18th 12:30pm—5:00pm Get ready for some turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie! We’re taking the USC Language Academy to Thanks-giving lunch at the famous Queen Mary! There will be a $15 payment for this activity, which includes lunch and transportation. Please sign up by Monday, November 14th.
A Visit to the Natural History Museum
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
Language
Labs
2
Announce-
ments
3
Interview
with Damesh
4
Eid Al Adha
in Mecca
5
Griffith
Observatory
6
Theater
Review
7
Campus
Calendar
8
UP C O M I N G AC T I V I T I E S
The Academy News V O L U M E 5 2 , I S S U E 1 0 Have you ever
had a phone
call claiming
you won a lot of
money? Read
Damesh’s cau-
tionary tale on
p. 4.
Celebrating
getting mar-
ried? No! Let’s
celebrate being
single. See Mo-
cha’s story on p.
5.
There are three levels.
First, if you want to see
animals, go to Level One.
There are Age of Mam-
mals, African Mammals,
and the Insect Zoo, which
has strange and mind
boggling bugs. Also, you
can see more than 2,000
gems and minerals, and
collections. Though gems
were just stones thousands
of years ago, now they are
precious. Do you know
how to make gold? You
can learn it there.
See Natural History
Museum on p.7
N O V E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 1
Thursday, November 17th
Time Location Description Facilitator Levels
11:00—12:00 KAP 113 IELTS Test Preparation James Hutzell All Levels (Recommended
for 3-6)
11:00—12:00 SOS B38 Building English Skills
Diana Hiciu Levels Beginner, 1 & 2
11:00—12:00
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 1 & 2 Jackie Kim Levels 1 & 2
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 3 Annie Lin Level 3
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 4 Diana Echeverria Level 4
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 5 Matt Shin Level 5
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 6 & 7
Isabelle Feldhaus Level 6 & 7
12:30—1:30 JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 3 & 4 Matt Shin Levels 3 & 4
Conversation Practice—Practice speaking English by level with REAL USC STUDENTS. This is an interactive discussion in which you will
participate in group discussions about several interesting topics. This is your opportunity to practice speaking and to ask questions. Sign up early if you would like to attend Conversation Practice since they fill up quickly!
IELTS Test Preparation—In this lab, you will have the opportunity to learn tips and tricks on how to ace the IELTS test.
Writing Skills——In this lab, you will have the opportunity to work on improving your writing skills. You’ll get tips and tricks that will make you a
better English writer. BOTH Writing Skills labs will cover the same topic on Tuesday. Please only sign up for one section of Writing Skills.
Building English Skills: Levels 1-2—Do you want to pronounce words better when you read aloud in class? Do you want to have beautiful handwriting? Do you want to improve your spelling and basic grammar? This lab will focus on handwriting, spelling, reading aloud and sentence
grammar. It is strongly recommended for students in Beginning Level to Level 2.
Tuesday, November 15th
Time Location Description Facilitator Levels
11:00—12:00 KAP 113 IELTS Test Preparation James Hutzell All Levels (Recommended
for 3-6)
11:00—12:00 SOS B45 Building English Skills
Diana Hiciu Levels Beginner, 1 & 2
11:00—12:00 JEF 124 Writing Skills
Nevena Fairclough
Levels 3, 4, 5, & 6
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 1 & 2 Jackie Kim Levels 1 & 2
11:00—12:00
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 3 Annie Lin Level 3
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 4 Diana Echeverria Level 4
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 5 Matt Shin Level 5
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 6 & 7
Isabelle Feldhaus Level 6 & 7
12:30—1:30 DRB 265 Writing Skills
Marisa Garcia-Crocker
Levels 3, 4, 5, & 6
P A G E 3
The USC Language Academy is happy to present our new World of Mouth Blog!
The blog features writing from USC Language Academy students, staff and faculty. You can find fun facts about the English language, tips on bet-ter ways to study, fun things to do in Los Angeles,
and much more! This blog is your chance to share your experi-
ence at the USC Language Academy or in Los An-geles, or just write something fun about yourself. Some of our featured bloggers are students Jeannine Jang and Camille Houphoet-Boigny and teacher Katie FitzSimons.
We’d love to hear from YOU and feature you on our blog. If you are interested, please contact Jessica Stern, our Marketing and Recruitment Specialist at
Students who post on our blog will be entered into the Closing Ceremony raffle for a fun USC prize!
To read our blog, go to www.uscrossier.org/langacad. Look around, leave a comment,
and share your favorite posts on Facebook or Twitter!
This Week at USC Language Academy is our NEW weekly email news-letter! Every Monday at 1:00pm, every student receives an email. This email includes reminders about activities, announcements, and infor-mation that is important to international students, including USC cam-pus events, immigration updates, and chances to win prizes!
We send out these emails so that we can communicate with every-one, but not everyone is receiving them. If you have not received this weekly email newsletter, please update your email address with us! Just send Sky an email at [email protected] and let her know that you have-n’t received the email newsletter and we’ll update your contact infor-mation. We want to hear from you, so make sure to read it each week and let us know what you would like to hear about.
z
P A G E 4
Camille Houphouet-Boigny
Damesh, a student from the Lan-
guage Academy, received a scam
call. In this interview, she will
share with us her thoughts.
Camille: Could you explain to me
exactly what happened to you last
week?
Damesh: Last Thursday afternoon,
someone called me from an un-
known number and asked “Is it
Damesh?” I said yes. This woman
with an Indian accent told me that
she was calling from the U.S. Gov-
ernment Grant Office or something, I
don’t remember exactly, and that I
won $2,700. I asked her why I won
this prize because I was a little con-
fused. She said that every year, the
U.S. government gives money to
some random group of people.
Camille: While you were talking to
her on the phone, did you believe it?
(She smiles before answering.)
Damesh: Yes, at first I believed be-
cause I had seen similar stories in
some movies! (laughing)
Camille: So she seemed serious?
Damesh: Yes, because she told me
that she would give me her ID num-
ber and my file ID number. She sug-
gested I go to the closest moneygram
on the same day; she said that
“Western Union” would be more
convenient. I told her that I didn’t
know where the closest one was. She
told me that it was at Ralph’s. She
told me that when I got there, I
should call her, and I should take an
ID with me (like a passport), and
also $200 just in case. She told me
that they would give me half of the
amount in cash and they would write
me a check for the other half.
Camille: But why did you end up
not going?
Damesh: I was at my place with my
friend Mika and even though I be-
lieved the woman, I thought that this
story was too good to be true. So I
decided to call Gil to ask him if it
was true. And Mika agreed with me.
He told me that for sure it wasn’t
true, it was a scam; someone was
trying to take money from me. When
we arrived there (with Mika), Gil
googled the phone number, and the
first thing we saw was a lot of com-
ments from people, maybe 500, who
had been trapped by this phone num-
ber and that it was a scam. A lot of
people had the same story as
me,apparently.
Camille:What did you think?
Damesh: I was a little surprised be-
cause in my country, these crazy sto-
ries don’t usually happen. There’s no
chance to win such money just be-
cause you are lucky!
Camille: And do you know how this
person knew your name?
Damesh: No, this is very strange,
actually. We were wondering how
they knew my information. But
maybe they just hacked my face-
book or email account. But every-
thing is normal on my accounts.
Camille: What do you want to say
to our readers?
Damesh: That they should be care-
ful, and not believe everything
they hear. Because some people
believe and send money. This is
pretty sad, in fact.
Camille: And if someone like this
called you one more time, what
would you do?
Damesh: I would ask them for some
information, and to be more precise.
Like for instance, why me, how did
you get my phone number. But for
sure I won’t believe this anymore!
Camille: Do you have any thing else
you want to share with us?
Damesh: Well, that was a funny ex-
perience. But still I don’t understand
why the police don’t arrest them be-
cause apparently everyone knows
where their office is. Thanks to the
phone number the woman gave me, I
found out they are located in some
gallery in Washington DC
Camille: But don’t you think that
people who believe are little bit na-
ïve?
Damesh: Yes, it’s a little bit foolish,
but still, I think that most of the peo-
ple who believed them really needed
this money. And that’s what makes it
sad. But I would like to thank Gil for
everything! (She said this in a cheer-
ful way.)
Camille: yes, fortunately he was
here to help you.
Interview: Watch out for Scams Survival Skills
P A G E 5
By Aymen Sultan
“Thw Al-Hijja” is one
of the most important
months of the Muslim cal-
endar. The most important
things that occur on this
month are the Hajj pil-
grimage and “Eid Al-
Adha”. When asking
about the Hajj Pilgrimage,
you will know that it is
the fifth pillar of Islam,
and all Muslims must do
this duty once in their
lifetime. Hajj shows the
whole world how much
Muslims love their relig-
ion because the pilgrimage
lasts seven days of praying
and worshipping God un-
der the hot sun of Saudi
Arabia.
After Hajj comes “Eid
Al-Adha,” which occurs
on the tenth of “Thw Al-
Hijja”. All the Muslims
around the world cele-
brate this religious holiday
by the prayer of Eid, and
also by visiting all their
relatives. On this holiday,
Muslims sacrifice goats,
sheep, cows, or camels.
Muslims do these sacri-
fices as a symbol of Abra-
ham. Muslims believe that
Abraham was going to
sacrifice his son Ismail
because of God’s orders,
and Abraham listened to
God and tried to sacrifice
his son. Just as Abraham
was placing his knife at
Ismail’s throat, the angel
Jibril [Gabriel] suddenly
appeared and told Abra-
ham that God was pleased
with his sacrifice; a lamb
appeared to be sacrificed
in the place of Ismail.
Because of Abraham’s
incident, the tenth of
“Thw Al-Hijja” is a very
important holiday in the
Muslim religion. So all
that’s left to say is happy
“Eid Mubarak” to all the
Muslims around the
world.
Celebration of Eid Al-Adha
If You Are One,
Raise Your Hands
By Mocha Tang
What’s the next festival after
Halloween? The answer might be Thanksgiving Day for almost eve-ryone, while certain bachelors are more likely to provide another an-swer---One’s Day.
One’s Day, which originated in college in mainland China, is a kind of entertaining festival for bachelors to celebrate their single days. It has caught the attention of a growing number of people all around the world for the reason
that we have already entered into a singles period. According to a statistical survey, the marriage rate in England has declined to the lowest point in 150 years; one third of the citizens in France are spending time by themselves alone; Singles in Berlin have reached up to 54% of the popula-tion; and Korea has officially an-nounced that they are in a time dominated by single males and females (as cited in LiWei, 2010) Dancing? Singing? Eating? What are you willing to do to celebrate such a special holiday? The Chi-nese Student and Scholar’s Asso-ciation in USC will hold a party to provide single students who usu-ally put their entire energy into
getting good grades, a place to interact with each other, in order to say goodbye to their single days. If you are still not in a rela-tionship and feel sad about your-self, do not hesitate to join that party.
Thousands of Muslims walk around the Kaaba, the holy site in
Mecca. They must circle the Kaaba seven times during their hadj.
Griffith Observatory by Jeanine Jiang
P A G E 6
Bovard Auditorium is the
venue for many concerts dur-
ing the academic year.
By Cheng Zeng
The 11th Kollaboration Show was
held last night in the Nokia Theater,
in downtown Los Angeles. It is an
annual talent show and one of the big-
gest events in the Asian American
community. It was created by a group
of professional young Asian American
and Asian Canadian volunteers in
2006.
With the cool mission and tagline
“Empowerment through Entertain-
ment,” the Kollaboration Show has
become the most influential Asian
American talent show which provides
Asian American youths a platform to
show their talents and communicate
with each other. It currently
hosts talent shows and is tour-
ing around ten major cities
throughout the U.S. and Can-
ada.
The Los Angeles show
last night was the final com-
petition which was, in other
words, an absolute must-see.
It featured the nation’s top
Asian American talents and
celebrity judges. And the
whole venue was flooded
with hot Asian girls and guys,
so it was also a great chance
to meet new people while enjoying
the show. If you are interested, please
look up the FAQ page: http://
www.kollaboration.org/news/
upcoming/item/114-kollaboration-11-
faq
Griffith Observatory is one of the
must-sees of Los Angeles. It is lo-
cated on Mount Hollywood in Grif-
fith Park. The architecture itself is
such a beauty, with white walls and
grand domes.
It is a place for education. Exhib-
its about every single aspect of the
sky can be found there, from planets
to telescopes. The fun part of the edu-
cation is the multiple interactive
equipment there. In one display, you
can find out how much you weigh on
different planets. Try yourself on Pluto definitely, where you will never
worry about a diet.
Also, it is a place for dating at
night. The sunset is dramatically col-
orful on the top of a hill: Orange,
pink, blue, grey and white play around
in the sky, changing every minute.
This would be a perfect moment to
take a picture with the famous Holly-
wood sign. When the darkness comes,
and the city of angels starts to light
up, the view looks like jewels scat-
tered on black velvet. The lights shed
on the outside of the observa-
tory add some romantic feeling
to the scene. The steps outside
the café will lead you to a bal-
cony where you can look over
the whole city with sparkling
dots and lines against dark
blue, which looks so much like
the “Will you marry me?”
scene in a Hollywood movie.
Try to go there once late in
the afternoon, even if you are
alone. You will definitely en-
joy the beautiful night. The easiest
way is to take 754 from USC to Grif-
fith Observatory, but you will need to
walk about half an hour. The observa-
tory is closed on Mondays and Tues-
days. The admission is free, but if you
want to enjoy the shows there, tickets
for students cost $5. There are also
special events held by the observatory,
like a public star party, so be sure to
check their website before you sched-
ule a visit.
Life in L. A.
Kollaboration Show @L.A Live
P A G E 7
Bovard Auditorium is the
venue for many concerts dur-
ing the academic year.
The Natural History
Museum from p. 1
Second, I recommend that you go
to Dinosaur Hall. It is the highlight of
Level Two. You can get very close to
real dinosaur fossils and can take a
picture with a dinosaur. There are the
Visible Vault and
Hall of Birds
which have more
than 600 bird spe-
cies. They look
like real birds. At
times, I thought
they were real.
Finally, Level
G has California
History Hall, where you can see Cali-
fornia’s colorful artifact, NHM Grill,
which has a full-service restaurant, and
the Times Mirror Room, which is the
perfect space for birthday parties and
conferences.
Therese from the Language Acad-
emy said, “I think the exhibitions with
the dinosaurs and the gems were inter-
esting. Especially the gems were beau-
tiful. And it was very educational.”
I recommend that you go to the
Natural History Museum. It will give
you a good experience.
Theater Review
Life is Just A
Bowl of
Cherries By CASSIE WU
This is probably the
very play that we need most
at the moment. Presented
by the USC School of
Theatre from Nov 3 to 6 at
Bing Theatre, the play The
American Clock: A Vaude-
ville vividly depicts the
Great Depression during the
1930s in America.
The storyline follows
the life of the Baum family,
who suffer a dramatic fall
in the crash of Wall Street,
going bankrupt overnight.
The family is forced out of
their original lavish home
and end up in poor living
quarters in Brooklyn.
As the Baum’s twelve-
year-old son goes out of the
house to see how others
survived, various aspects
of the Long National
Nightmare unfolds: sto-
ries of people from dif-
ferent walks of life, busi-
nessmen, farmers, col-
lege students, singers etc.
The whole play fully in-
terprets the American
idiom “Life is just a bowl
of cherries,” a bitter-
sweet expression of just
the opposite condition.
Although the major
theme is people’s suffer-
ing, both physically and
mentally, and the air of
anxiety and despair pre-
vails, positive human senti-
ments such as love and
hope, the genuine human
relationships between fami-
lies and friends sparkle here
and there.
The stage settings were
exquisitely designed, the
background, the furniture,
the costumes absorbingly
put people into the 1930s
America. The background
music in particular, blended
well into the play. The role
of the pianist at the right-
hand corner down stage was
quite subtle. Sometimes he
seemed to be as apathetic as
an observer, and sometimes
he acted as an inseparable
part of the plot.
The key factor that
grasped the audience’s
hearts, of course, was the
excellent and highly sophis-
ticated performance of the
student actors. Their
speeches, expressions,
and gestures were so
genuine to the original
and their singing talents
were amazing.
Drawing similarities
from the Great Depres-
sion portrayed in the play
and today’s financial cri-
sis we are trapped in, the
audience, no matter
whether students, faculty,
or parents, responded to
the characters in many
different ways. Tears,
laughs, and applause
broke out from time to time.
More importantly, the chal-
lenge is clearly laid out in
front of us: when we are
struggling through crisis,
facing difficulties and set-
backs every now and then,
we can remember the song
of the Great Depression:
“Life is just a bowl of cher-
ries… Laugh and love/Live
and laugh at it all!”
1 BDRM AND 1 BDRM IN A
2 BDRM AND 2 BDRM APART-
MENT, available for $950/
month. Cable, Internet , all
utilities included Address and contact:
LEASE
USC Language
Academy
Rossier School of
Education
Phone: 213-740-0080
Fax: 213-740-0088
Web: http://
www.usc.edu/dept/education/langacad/
CAMPUS CALENDAR: October November 12-18
The Academy News is a weekly newsletter pro-duced by students in the Journalism Elective of the USC Language Academy. All students in the Lan-guage Academy Program are encouraged to send news stories and photos to Sonja Lovelace at [email protected].
Check out The Academy News online at www.usc.edu/langacad.Go to “Student Informa-
tion” and then click on “The Academy News.”
P A G E 8 N O V E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 1
SPORTS
USC Basketball
Trojans vs. Cal State Northridge
Galen Center Friday,
Nov. 11 at 8 p.m.
Tickets available
online
General admission: $2.50-$15.
The USC men's basketball team will
open up its 2011-12 season by host-
ing CS Northridge at the Galen
Center on Friday, Nov. 11 at 8 p.m.
The game will be part of a double-
header as the USC women's team
begins the night with a game vs.
Fresno State at 5 p.m.
Trojan Football
USC vs.
Washington
Los Angeles
Coliseum
Nov. 12 at 12:45
p.m.
Tickets available online.
MUSIC
The Magic Flute
The singing actors of the USC
Thornton Opera program and musi-
cians of the USC Thornton Sym-
phony present Die Zauberflote, by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in a
sparkling production where nothing
is as it seems. Where evil and good
mingle. Where past and present
intertwine.
Thursday, November 17, 2011; Fri-
day, November 18, 2011; Saturday,
November 19, 2011; Sunday, No-
vember 20, 2011
Bing Theatre
SC students, staff and faculty with
valid ID, free. Seniors, alumni and
non-USC students, $12. General
public, $18.
Purchase tickets online: http://web-
app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/32/
event/894289
FREE EVENTS Enjoy free events on campus during the semester. Please go to the Arts
and Events Calendar for more details at http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/
calendar/32/feature/2819
THE TAN STAFF
Editor Ningqi (Jeannine) Jiang
Assistant Editor Camille Houphouet-Boigny
Reporters Youssef Abdat
Yuzhen (Michelle) Chen
So Hyun Jeong
Sya Ron (Sharon) Jung
Danting Li
Ayman Sultan
Qian (Mocha) Tang
Laixin (Lexie) Wei
Meng (Cassie) Wu
Cheng Zeng
Join us on Facebook and
Twitter! Keep in touch with the USC Language
Academy on our Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/USCLanguageAcademy
or on Twitter at twitter.com/USC_LangAcad
“Like” our page and get
updates on what’s happening at the Language Academy,
around USC, and Los Angeles. Get access to great deals, coupons,
tickets, and lots of fun things!