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

jessica.stern@usc.edu.

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 schuyles@usc.edu 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:

tala.bashe@gmail.com

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 slove-lac@usc.edu.

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!