The Academy News V O L U M E
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Pass On the Trojan Spirit! Check out The Academy News online: www.usc.edu/ langacad.Go to “Student Information” and then click on “The Academy News.”
See the End-ofTerm Survey Results on p. 5!
Outlet Shopping can save you money. See p. 9
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Oral Skills Photos
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Hawai’ian Luau Dancing
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Keep Fighting On!
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Chinese Valentine Day
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TAN Quiz for Summer A
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Parting Advice For Students
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Cooking Chinese Spareribs
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Aloha, Hawaii Luau! By JINGYI WANG
Have you ever thought about how the grasses in Jefferson Courtyard can turn into white sands and the paths become flows of sea water? Last Friday, a Hawaiian Luau of the Language Academy teachers, staffs and students in Jefferson Courtyard turned the scenario into reality. Decorated with colorful ribbons and posters presenting the Hawaiian scenery, the Jefferson Courtyard was turned into a lovely Hawaiian island. To match the atmosphere, girls wore colorful dresses and Hawaiian leis, while boys put on unique Hawaiian straw hats. Hawaiian elements were hidden everywhere, even the drinking straws were tied with colorful flowers. Bathing in the warm sunshine and sitting See Luau on p. 3
Language Academy students at Friday’s Hawai’ian Luau
Editor’s Reflection By VALERIA YUMENG WEI
With only a few days left in the academic of Summer B session, and the last issue of The Academy News published and delivered, I want to share a few thoughts on my time writing for and working as the editor of TAN. Being elected as the editor was not something that I planned at the beginning of the session, but it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. Every Wednesday when I
brainstormed with my amazing TAN team for ideas and topics, every weekend when I sat in front of my computer and wrote a piece for the next issue and every time when I saw someone reading the newly released TAN, I could always feel an inexpressible sense of fulfillment and pride. These short six weeks taught me how to be a good reporter and how to be a good leader. I hope my performance did not let you down. As the last piece I will likely ever write for the Academy News, I want to leave whoever stumbles across this with some words and advice. To students who are about to finish their See Reflection on p. 2
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guage Academy and do your best to keep in touch with as many people as Continued from p. 1 possible. You never know who is going to have a crucial influence on your future study and career. journey here, make sure you bring home all your best Language Academy Most important of all, keep in memories and share them with your mind you were chosen from thousands friends and family. of excellent applications, so please alTo those who continue their stud- ways be proud of yourselves and be ies, either in USC or in other colleges, I confident in dealing with whatever comes in the future. wish you good luck in the world beyond. Take advantage of the language Finally, I want to say thank you. abilities, cultural understandings and Thanks to Sonja for giving me the presocial skills you have learned at Lancious and honorable opportunity to be
Reflection
the editor of TAN; thanks to everyone in the Journalism class, especially my assistant editor Leo Wu, for your great articles and constant support; thanks to every TAN reader for making this entire experience so rewarding. Celebrate what you have accomplished so far and fight on for your future. Goodbye everyone and I wish you all the best!
Upper Left: Oral Skills 603 with Helen Choi; Top: Oral Skills 601 with Priscilla Caraveo; Left: Oral Skills 102 with Jennifer Parker; Lower left: Priscilla Caraveo teaching hula moves; Below: Oral Skills 403 with James Hutzell
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was energetic and enthusiastic. All in red, Yessenia danced like a flame that Continued from p. 1 heated you up and attracted you to dance along. Indeed, many students on white canvas to enjoy the picnic, “I were attracted by the sexy and forceful feel I am melting on a beach of white dance. They put on hula skirts and folsands. It’s great,” said Jing Xu excitlowed Yessenia to learn every step and edly. “After a whole week’s stressful every twists of body. Although the stustudy, it’s really pleasing to enjoy the dents began as starters, a few minutes food and sunshine here,” William Chen later everyone was able to perform a added. more or less Tahitian dance. After everyone finished their food, After the dancing, students comthe Hula dance began at 1:05 p.m. Peopeted to play hula hoops. Even though ple gathered in a corner, where the perthe light and narrow hula hoop is really former, barefooted, danced to the rohard to play, every contestant tried his/ mantic Hawaiian music. Her gentle her best effort to keep the hula hoop movements reminded us of the soft and song “Hukilau” accompanied by circling around the body. Nearly every slow flows of sea water. Her big smile Heather with the ukulele, a guitar-like Hawaiian stringed instrument. Sonja’s student took part in the limbo contest Mareen’s friend raised money for the Japanese was like the crescent moon. Her perrelief by giving haircutsinto and donating songeffort brought everyone a black-and “how low you can go.” They converted formance enticed every audience to their bodies to pass through a pole. products at his hair salon. -white film, in which the hero and have a try. As the pole became lower and heroine hold each others’ arms and When the audience was invited to lower, fewer and fewer people were enjoy a slow and affectionate dance. learn the Hula dance from her, both successful in squeezing through. In the students and teachers flooded onto the The sound of the ukulele was light and end, a cute Chinese girl won the first soft, perfectly depicting the lazy time stage. Suddenly, the romantic Hula prize. dance became hilarious. The new learn- on a Hawaiian island. All the teachers, staffs and students Unlike Sonja’s romantic song and ers’ stiff and funny movements made had great fun at the Friday afternoon Heather’s soft music, the Tahitian us laugh and cheer again and again. HawaiianLuau. dance presented by Yessenia Munoz Followed was Sonja’s beautiful
Hawaiian Luau
Upper Left: Oral Skills 101 with Katie Guevara; Upper Right: Oral Skills 203 with Delia Racines; Above: Oral Skills 201 with Heather Robertson.
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Left: Oral Skills 202 with Michael Cannon; Below: Oral Skills 502 with Nate Brown; Bottom: Oral Skills 505 with Sandy King.
laziness, procrastination and so on. The spirit of Fight On is invaluable. I don’t think Language Academy is only about improving your language. It also offers many chances for students to experience life in Los Angeles. Various opportunities are being offered every weekend in school by participating in outdoor activities, exploring the Los Angeles area, and interacting with other students from different backgrounds and culture. Thus, building up friendship and understanding what the real world is. After this final week, some of us will continue our studies at USC; some of us is their first time to come to U.S. for will go to different states in pursuing our most students in Language Academy. So goals; and some of us will fly back to our we have to deal with housing, culture own countries. I believe that everyone shock and tons of homework at the same will achieve his or her dream, and this is time. We have to search and read a lot of not the end but just materials before we start doing homebeginning. We are work every time. It is a challenge for all members of the everyone, but we all made it. And now Trojan family. Bewe finally understand why Gilbert defore we say farewell scribed this program as very intensive in to each other, let’s the Opening Ceremony. proudly say it again, However, this intensive program Trojans! Fight On! also makes us understand what is the spirit of ‘Fight On!’ and how to conquer
Keep Fighting On! By DAOJUN (LEO) WU
This is the last week for most of the students in Summer B program. After we finish this week, we will go to different places and continue our journey in different fields. During the six intensive weeks, I believe that every student has gained something from this program, and it is not only about writing skills, grammar or speaking ability but also friendship, fun and the spirit of Fight On! If you ask me what is the most impressive thing about Language Academy, I think it’s the countless homework. This
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Language Academy Superlatives Many thanks to the Language Academy students who participated in the end-ofterm survey. Here are the results. Are any of your friends mentioned here?
Funniest Student
If you could take something home from L.A
Mingxu (Matt) Sun
Trojan souvenirs
Friendliest Student
Which Part of USC Campus do you like the most?
Ahmed Alshamranj
libraries
Most Diligent Student
Other than language, what else have you learned at Language Academy?
Yumeng (Valeria) Wei
SURVEY RESULTS Most Popular Teacher Pamela Luciid-Minet Michael Cannon Most Fashionable Student
Favorite Activity Santa Monica Trip Kayaking
friendship What did you like best about The Academy News? pictures
Coca Xie
Left: Oral Skills 602 with Todd Kolberg; Bottom Left: Tahitian dancer Yessenia Munoz teaching students how to dance; Bottom Right; Oral Skills 501 with Steve MacIsaac
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Chinese Valentine’s Day By YUAN FENG
In China, Double Seventh Festival is what Valentine’s Day to the western countries. Double Seventh Festival is also called “Qi Xi” or “Qi Qiao” in Chinese. The festival falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar every year, and for this year it is on August 13 of the solar calendar. The festival originated from the legend, which is a classic love story between the Weaving Girl, a fairy, and the Cowherd, a human being. They fell in love with each other and got married, but they didn’t have a happy ending. They were forced to separate and were blocked by the Milky Way because a fairy and a human being cannot Fall in love, or even get married. However, based on compassion for them, flocks of magpies flew to form a bridge with their bodies over the Milky Way every year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month to allow them to meet each other. The story is one of the famous folktales of ancient China. The legend not only tells us a romantic story, but it also reflects Chinese’ understanding of astrology. In the tale, the Weaver Girl Star refer to the Vega, which is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra; the Cowherd Star refer to the Altair, which is the brightest star in constellation Aquila. They are facing each other across the Milky Way. Each year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, Chinese girls generally will look up into night sky and look for
Right: Oral Skills 401 with Paul Dykman. Bottom Left: Oral Skills 303 with Barbara Holmes; Bottom Right: Hawaiian hula gestures in ‘Paradise.’
these two stars. Meanwhile, these girls also pray for a happy marriage. For this year’s Double Seventh Festival, if you plan to have a wonderful time with your boy/girl friend, there is another gift that can make your day more romantic. The sky gazers’ most favorite meteor shower, the peak of the “Perseid” activity will occur during the night of August 12, 2013, which is August 13 in China. This coincidence only happens every nineteen years, so if you plan to have a special time with your lovers, don’t miss the most speculator meteor shower on that night.
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THE LANGUAGE ACADEMY QUIZ 1. What is the climate of L.A.? a. Mediterranean b. Semi-arid c. Desert d. Tropical 2. How many libraries are there at USC? a. 12 b. 15 c. 23 d. 31 3. Which prominent person is NOT a USC alumnus? a. George Lucas b. Stephen Spielberg c. Will Ferrell d. Neil Armstrong
4. When was Language Academy founded? a. 1980 b. 1989 c. 1993 d. 2001 5. How many gates are there at USC? a. 6 b. 8 c. 10 d. 12 6. Who is the current president of USC? a. Michael Jackson b. Stephen Sample c. Steven Lamy d. C. L. Max Nikias
7. How many international students are regularly enrolled at USC? a. 3,459 b. 4,467 c. 5,814 d. 7,889 8. How many schools are there at USC? a. 10 b. 14 c. 19 d. 23
Give you answer card to a TAN staffer for a chance to win a prize!
Upper Left: Oral Skills 301 with Sonja Lovelace; Upper Right: Oral Skills 504 with John Esposito
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Graduation Season—Parting Advice for You Words from Teachers and Students Teachers: “To those whom much is given, much is expected.”—John. F. Kennedy Follow your passion. It will lead you to your purpose. Work hard. Play hard. Enjoy. Every. Minute—Ms. Racines Enjoy process of learning. Getting to the end result is what is important— Instructor Sandra King Keep in touch with your teachers! We like to hear what wonderful things you're doing with your talents— Ixchell This is a unique experience in your lives. Enjoy every day!!—John. Esposito Students: Sumer always means you are busy keepin g up with extra activities and simply enjoy the season. Like this summer, it i s my growth, friendship and happine ss. —Rainbow This summer I learned various cultures in Language Academy since it gives me
the opportunity to make a lot of Here I meet my future classmates who ar e really friendly people. Here I get so friends from different cultures!— me caring girls who I will cherish for Peiyang Shi ever in my whole life. Here I find ma ny responsible teachers! Thank you I like all the girls in Language Academy. Language Academy for letting me Because every girl in Summer B is feel I am totally ready for the greater so cute,beautiful and funny. Also all challenges in graduate school. — the boys in Summer B are so cool, some of them becomes my buddies. Xiyuan Guan —Leo It’s a fascinating experience getting to kn ow so many excellent people and ma I just want to say three words to USC king lots of new friends in Language Language Academy: I love you—Dan Li Academy. Most of us will spend the next Thanks for Language Academy and the 2 years together so wish everyone a s teachers, I got to meet lots of peouccessful future. —LunTian ple—Cynthia Kayaking is awesome, though no one had I love all you guys—Matthew found jellfish that day, LOL, maybe never existed? USC rocks! Trojans Gil sent me more emails than my mom fight on!—Zijun Lu did. Sometimes, they were too long, so I just disregarded them. Maybe, Language Academy is just like my home that’s why he called me ‘bad girl’ in in this foreign country. It is my the email. Anyway, thank u, Gil! pleasure to have a warm big family! Without you, I might have already I will never forget the experience been deported! —Jingyi Wang here—Taoran Zhou USC language academy gives every student a diverse experience of life!!!— Raua-BanecKadincova
Oral Skills 503 with Pamela Minot-Lucid
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Outlet Shopping By MEIYI (CANDICE ) YU
near Los Angeles notwithstanding, the Desert Hills Premium Outlets is always a With the Language Academy closing popular destination for outlets shopand the Fall Semester coming, we have ping. It is extraordinarily large, with a a few weeks to relax ourselves! For wide range of brands for all customers. most girls, shopping must be the No.1 No matter if you are shopping for highchoice to spend their own happy hours. end brands such as Bottega Veneta, And the huge sign of “SALE” is a tempta- Giorgio Armani, Prada and Salvatore tion that almost no girl can reject. Well, Ferragamo, or you are looking for some when these two combine together, it cool outfits in shops like Diesel or Mibecomes something women are all crazy chael Kors, Desert Hills Premium Outlets for – the Outlets! So, why not spare a will by no means disappoint you. Yet the day or two in this brief holiday to go Desert Hills Premium Outlets is considshopping at Outlets around LA? erably far away from USC. If drive, it The fact that there are many outlets might take you around two hours to get
there. You can also choose to go there by public transportation, there are several choices for you: by bus, by train or by shuttle. If you are going there by bus, you can take the No. 40 bus to Patsaouras Transit Plaza. After that, transfer the 91 Line Train to RiversideDowntown Metrolink Station. Then you should take the No. 1 bus to the Kmart. After arriving at Kmart, walk eastward for about 9 minutes you will see the Desert Hills Premium Outlets. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday before the Fall Semester!
A Quick Method for Cooking Chinese Spareribs By SHANGYI (CYNTHIA) CHENG
Chinese supermarket, butchers will help to cut spareribs into smaller pieces after you select the chunk you like. Thus, it is much easier for you to cook them back home. Also, to make a successful Chinese dish, you’d better pick up some indispensable ingredients such as oyster sauce, soy sauce and vinegar.
Chinese food, especially homemade cooking, is largely welcomed by international students in Language Academy. Since many students discuss about their “secret” recipes, here I would like to introduce a quick and easy method f cooking spareribs to you. Rub the Spareribs Rub the pieces of Sparerib thorBuy Spareribs from Chinese oughly with vinegar and salt. You Supermarket have to make sure that each inch of Before cooking the dish, the most the Spareribs contact with the inimportant step is to prepare the gredients before putting into the right materials and ingredients. In boiler.
Cook it! Put the spareribs into the boiler with oyster sauce, garlic, Chinese green onion, ginger, cooking wine, soy sauce, sugar and pepper, without any water, oil or salt. You can change the amount of each ingredient on your own preference. Boil it for about 30 minutes. During the period before it is totally done, you can relax yourself. This method is very apt for beginners. You can learn it in a minute and cook really delicious dish to treat your friends and families. Hope you all enjoy the dish!
Left: Students enjoyed typical Hawaiian food, including pineapple kabob; Right: Oral Skills 505 with Ixchell Reyes.
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USC Language Academy Rossier School of Education 950 W. Jefferson Blvd., Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90089- 4 Phone: 213-740-0080 Fax: 213-740-0088 Web: www.usc.edu/langacad Check out The Academy News online at www.usc.edu/langacad.Go to “Student Information” and then click on “The Academy News.”
The Academy News is a weekly newsletter produced by students in the Journalism Elective of the USC Language Academy. All students in the Language Academy Program are encouraged to send news stories and photos to Sonja Lovelace at slovelac@usc.edu.
THE ACADEMY NEWS STAFF Editor: Valeria Wei; Assistant Editor: Leo Wu ; Reporters: Faisal Almutairi, Zhiqi (Scarlett) Chen, Shangyi Cheng, Fitsum Fanta, Yuan Feng, Xi (Silvia) Feng, Ranran Li, Zijun (Mike) Lu, Peiyang Shi, Zhaka Shulenbayeva, Mingxu Sun, Lun (Allen) Tian, Jingyi Wang, Yumeng (Valeria) Wei, Daojun (Leo) Wu, Meiyi Yu, Weiwei (Vivian) Yu, Yerkanat Zaitov, Assyl Zhakupov, Yating (Evelyn) Zhao
Awards for Top Story Valeria Wei and Mingxu (Matt) Sun were awarded the top story of the term by the journalism class. Wei and Sun won for their August 2 article “Santa Monica for Fun and Leisure.” Jingyi Wang also won the Top Story Award for her August 2 article “Love at First Sight with Ukulele.” Congratulations!
Aloha! Have a Wonderful Break!
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