The Academy News - June 7, 2013
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Transcript of The Academy News - June 7, 2013
first experience. Some were
screaming out of surprise,
others were taking picture. See Magic Saturday on p. 4
By FITSUM FANTA
Magic Mountain was a
thrilling place for Sumer Ses-
sion A students last weekend.
Students from all levels in the
USC Language Academy
enjoyed last Saturday with
plenty of magical activities at
Six Flag Magic Mountain
amusement park. It was a
great opportunity for them to
widen their friendships and
exchange experiences.
Students gathered at Jef-
ferson Court Yard and left for
Magic Mountain at 10 a.m. in
two buses. The ride there was
the start of something
wonderful. Everyone was
having a fun time on the
bus—introducing one another,
talking, laughing, picture tak-
ing and exchanging phone
numbers.
It was hilarious looking at
students’ reactions on their
arrival at the Magic Moun-
tain. For many of the students
the amusement park was their
Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball TOMORROW!!! Friday, June 7th 5:15 PM—11:00 PM, JEF courtyard ($10) Take me out to the ballgame! Watch the sunset over the downtown skyline as you enjoy all-you-can-eat Dodger Dogs (food included in ticket price) at the Friday night game. We will meet at JEF Courtyard at 5:15 PM for check-in.; buses will leave promptly at 5:30PM, so don't be late! There are still tickets available. To sign up, see Silvia in JEF 200B.
Language Academy Soccer Game Friday, June 14, 2013 1:00pm-4:00pm Brittingham Field (FREE!) Show off your soccer skills and get to know your fellow students at the first ever Lan-guage Academy soccer game! If you don’t want to play, come support your friends and enjoy watching the game! Sign up to-day at noon in JEF Courtyard and let us know if you will be playing.
Magic Saturday
I N S I D E
T H I S I S S U E :
Language
Labs
2
Yelp.com for
local food
4
College Exams
in China
5
Tips for GRE
Vocabulary
5
Pictures of the
Week
6
N E X T W E E K ’ S A C T I V I T I E S
The Academy News J U N E 7 , 2 0 1 2 V O L U M E 5 6 , I S S U E 3
Yelp can help, p. 4.
Where is the best
pineapple cake? See
Wayne’s article on p. 4
for a story about
Taiwan’s special des-
sert.
Chinese students face
tough college entrance
exams that determine
their future. See Pipi’s
story on p. 5
Read Assyl’s story
about cracking the
GRE vocabulary
challenge on p. 5
Language Academy students visited Six Fags Magic Mountain, which has some of the scariest roller coasters in the country.
Tuesday, June 11th
Time Location Description Facilitator
12:30-1:30pm
GFS 104
Reading Power (Levels 1, 2 & 3)
Nevena Fairclough Faculty
12:30-1:30pm
GFS 204
IELTS Prep Lab (Levels 2 & 3)
James Hutzell Faculty
12:30pm-1:30pm
GFS 205
Statement of Purpose (Levels 4, 5 & 6)
Marisa Garcia-Crocker Faculty
12:30pm-1:30pm
GFS 210 Grammar Q & A
Delia Racines Faculty
12:30pm-1:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 1
Demetri USC Student
12:30pm-1:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 2 Kathleen
USC Student
12:30pm-1:30pm
JEF Courtyard
Conversation Level 3 Jay
USC Student
12:30pm-1:30pm
JEF Courtyard
Conversation Level 4 Liza
USC Student
12:30pm-1:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5 & 6 Lucy
USC Student
1:30pm-2:30pm
GFS 111 Reading Power (Levels 1, 2 &3) Nevena Fairclough
Faculty
1:30pm-2:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 1 Liza
USC Student
1:30pm-2:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 2 Jay
USC Student
1:30pm-2:30pm
JEF Courtyard
Conversation Level 3 Rachel
USC Student
1:30pm-2:30pm
JEF Courtyard
Conversation Level 4 Demetri
USC Student
1:30pm-2:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5 & 6 Kathleen
USC Student
Reading Power: Levels 1-3—Do you want to become a better, faster reader? Attend this lab to get tips and tricks on how to improve your reading skills. IELTS Preparation: Test
Overview—In this lab, you’ll have the opportunity to learn tips and tricks on how to ace the IELTS test. This week we’ll discuss the overview of the test. Conversation Practice—Practice
speaking English by level with 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.
Statement of Purpose
Workshop (Levels 4-6): Learn how to write an amazing SOP for graduate school. Grammar Q & A—Are you
confused by the rules of English grammar? Come to the Grammar Question and Answer lab for help with your grammar questions!
**MANDATORY STAY/GO MEETINGS** IT IS TIME TO MAKE A DECISION ABOUT SUMMER B SESSION AT THE USC LANGUAGE ACADEMY. WILL YOU STAY OR WILL GO? YOU MUST ATTEND THIS MANDATORY MEETING!
You will choose which meeting is for your situation:
STAY: THURSDAY, JUNE 13: 12:30-1:15 P.M.
ROOM SGM 101
Stay at Language Academy Meeting: Attend this meeting if you plan to stay at Language Academy for Summer B, you will receive important information about dates, deadlines and the summer
calendar at that time.
GO: THURSDAY, JUNE 13: 1:30-2:15 P.M.
ROOM SGM 101
Leave Language Academy Meeting: Attend this meeting if you are done studying in America or if
you plan to transfer to a different school in the United States. You will receive important information about your visa status, about transferring and about important dates that will keep you in good status
with your student visa.
P A G E 3
Reading Power: Levels 1-3—Do you want to become a better, faster reader? Attend this lab to get tips and tricks on how to improve your reading skills. IELTS Preparation: Test
Overview—In this lab, you’ll have the opportunity to learn tips and tricks on how to ace the IELTS test. This week we’ll discuss the overview of the test. Conversation Practice—Practice
speaking English by level with 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.
Statement of Purpose
Workshop (Levels 4-6): Learn how to write an amazing SOP for graduate school. Grammar Q & A—Are you
confused by the rules of English grammar? Come to the Grammar Question and Answer lab for help with your grammar questions!
Thursday, June 13th
Time Location Description Facilitator
12:30-1:30pm
GFS 104 Reading Power (Levels 1, 2 & 3)
Diana Hiciu Faculty
12:30-1:30pm
GFS 204
IELTS Prep Lab (Levels 2 & 3)
James Hutzell Faculty
12:30pm-1:30pm
GFS 205
Statement of Purpose (Levels 4, 5 & 6)
Marisa Garcia-Crocker Faculty
12:30pm-1:30pm
GFS 210 Grammar Q & A
Delia Racines Faculty
12:30pm-1:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 1
Liza USC Student
12:30pm-1:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 2 Lucy
USC Student
12:30pm-1:30pm
JEF Courtyard
Conversation Level 3
Demetri USC Student
12:30pm-1:30pm
JEF Courtyard
Conversation Level 4 Kathleen
USC Student
12:30pm-1:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5 & 6 Rachel
USC Student
1:30pm-2:30pm
GFS 111 Reading Power (Levels 1, 2 & 3)
Diana Hiciu Faculty
1:30pm-2:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 1 Lucy
USC Student
1:30pm-2:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 2 Demetri
USC Student
1:30pm-2:30pm
JEF Courtyard
Conversation Level 3 Kathleen
USC Student
1:30pm-2:30pm
JEF Courtyard
Conversation Level 4 Liza
USC Student
1:30pm-2:30pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5 & 6 Jay
USC Student
**USC HOUSING STUDENTS ONLY**
IF YOU ARE LIVING IN TROY EAST APARTMENTS, YOU
MUST ATTEND A MANDATORY HOUSING STAY/GO MEETING!!
THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2013
2:45 PM
JEF 124
P A G E 4
Food for Thought
Yelp.com: Keys to Living in L.A. By ZHANERKE SHULENBAYEV
How do you know if a certain res-
taurant is good or not? Do you rely on
the logo of this place or on the smell of
food that attracts you? I would like to
introduce you an incredibly helpful
website YELP.COM.
Yelp.com is the web resource that
collects reviews from different people
all over the world. This network has
been operating since 2005 and has
gained more than 100 million reviews
(Yelp website). People just sign in and
leave a review about the quality of ser-
vice in different places like restaurants,
barbershops, hotels or body shops for
automobiles.
Additionally in these reviews they
not only rate the certain place, but also
give to other users tips. The interface
of the website is friendly for new users
and easy to adapt. It is Google that
gives you people’s opinions about the
service at places that you are interested
in.
Also there is an application for
iPhones and Androids that is free to
install. For example, one way to make
friends at Language Academy is to in-
vite them to have a lunch during the
break between classes. The only thing
you have to do is to download the appli-
cation on your smartphone or open the
website YELP.COM and type “lunch”
and press the button “search”. You will
get the number of restaurants where
people usually go around the campus
for a lunch.
Moreover, you can filter your search
and modify it to show only cheap places
and not far than 1 mile walking. So, if
The website yelp.com can give you reliable recommendations about places to eat near cam-
pus. as well as other services.
Magic Saturday Continued from p. 1
Many students flocked to the different
types of rollercoasters with excite-
ment and some in fear. Seeing the
emotional reactions of many students
in lines for riding was entertaining.
Some were nervous and changed their
decisions seeing the scariness and
other people’s screams. Others with
courage enjoyed the thrill and tried
many of the coasters.
Aziz Alghadi and Osama Zarei,
Saudi Arabian students, expressed
their excitement at Magic Mountain.
They said, “We had great times, and
rode four roller coasters! Wow we
enjoyed them but some are . . . wowo .
. . breathtaking and shaking!!”
By WAYNE (CHIA-WEI) CHANG
Minhsiung, in the south of Taiwan,
is famous for its pineapple plantations.
The farmers of this region have planted
over 1,800 of pineapples. Most of the
farmers in Minhsiung plant pineapples.
However, the traditional pineapple
product is limited by the weather and
selling price.
The pineapple farmers also face the
problem of excessive production, and
the price is falling down. Therefore,
the Minhsiung Farmers' Association
has developed a new product to solve
the problem: local pineapple cake.
Pineapple cake, the famous Taiwan-
ese dessert, had been chosen as the best
local product by official tourist affairs.
The pineapple cake in the market was
usually not
made from pine-
apple, but made
from melon. The
melon was
sweeter than the
pineapple and
without acid.
Minhsiung Farmers’ Association
decided to make the real pineapple
cake. They transformed the factory and
imported the cake machine from Japan.
Over a few months, they set up the
brand called “Pineapple Hill” and
opened the only store beside the fac-
tory. Pineapple Hill is only selling the
pineapple cake made on the same day.
Fruit experts choose the pineapples
used in making cake, which should be
sweeter over 10 degrees. It can only
make 4 cakes for 1 pineapple.
Pineapple Hill attracts huge visitors
on the weekend. Every visitor going to
the store can have the opportunity to
enjoy the local pineapple cake for free.
Some of the reviews say that the cake
of Pineapple Hill is not too sweet; it
combines with pineapple’s natural acid
and smell. It is absolutely changing the
image of what pineapple cake tasted
like before. If visitors come to Taiwan,
they should try the best pineapple cake
in the world.
More information:
旺萊山Pineapple Hill
No.1, Chencuoliao, Minxiong Town-
ship, Chiayi County 621, Taiwan
(R.O.C.)
Pineapple Miracle: Pineapple Hill in Taiwan
P A G E 5
By YAN PI
June 6-7—These are two
days in the year that seem noth-ing special but not for Chinese people. All of the students in high school who want to get into college or university need to take the entrance examination. Most people have had the ex-perience taking the exam in China, and they probably have lots of profound memories, which they cannot ever forget We called it “College Entrance Examination Complex”, the same as the SAT in the US.
“College Entrance Examina-tion” is a Chinese national edu-cation examination. This sys-tem, which was established in 1952, has experienced several reforms. Nowadays, there are four subjects in this examina-tion: Chinese, mathematics,
English and comprehensive lib-eral arts or science. The oppor-tunity for students to be ac-cepted in the university of their choice almost depends exclu-sively on those final scores. So we say that the college entrance examination is the first signifi-cant change in our life.
In particular, there are sev-eral interesting things about the exam in China. For government policy, we have traffic control
around the schools—no one is allowed to do construction around the school and apart-ments without punishment pay-ment, etc.
For students and parents, they might stop everything else just to focus on the exam. Some of them have a special arrangement for meals and even rent a room in a hotel close to the school to avoid traf-fic jams. Many taxi drivers get a group in different cities to drive the student for free with exam admission.
“There is no integral life without college entrance exami-nations in China.” Someone said that. It seems too tough and kind of crazy. However, it is still valuable in our memory for-ever.
College Entrance Examination ‘Complex’ for Chinese
Chinese students cramming before the national College Entrance Exam. The results determine their future.
By ASSYL ZHAKUPOV
Are you studying for the GRE/ GMAT exams? Do you just want to enhance your vocabulary with some fancy words? All in all, you can just save some time browsing the dictionaries the next time you see unfamiliar words in your book, textbook or magazine. Here are some GRE words to look at: 1. Abstain /əbˈsteɪn/ verb (~ from something) to hold oneself back voluntarily, especially from something regarded as improper or unhealthy Origin: Late Middle English: from Old French abstenir, from Latin abstinere, from ab- 'from' + tenere 'hold'
Example: Ali intends to abstain from smoking too much of a Hoo-kah.
2. Connoisseur /ˌkɒnəˈsəː/ noun a person who is especially compe-tent to pass critical judgments in an art, particularly one of the fine arts, or in matters of taste
Origin:
Early 18th century: from obsolete French, from conoistre 'know'
Example: Mukhtar is a connoisseur of playing on the dombra (Kazakh national instrument).
3. Impugn /ɪmˈpjuːn/ verb (~ something or someone) To impugn means to call into ques-tion or attack as wrong. If your usu-ally grumpy brother is suddenly
nice and sweet, you'll impugn his motives if you're smart — he probably just wants something from you.
Origin:late Middle English (also in the sense 'assault, attack physi-cally'): from Latin impugnare 'assail', from in- 'towards' + pug-nare 'fight'
Example: John McCain attempted to impugn Barack Obama's patriot-ism 4. Mordant /ˈmôrdnt/ adjective If you like the “Adams Family” you probably have a taste for mordant entertainment. Mordant generally refers to a dark or biting artistic See GRE Vocabulary on p. 6
GRE Vocabulary: ‘Mordant’ Entertainment
USC Language
Academy
Rossier School of
Education
Phone: 213-740-0080
Fax: 213-740-0088
Web: www.usc.edu/
langacad
GRE Vocabulary Continued from p. 5 style, sense of humor, or psychological outlook. Origin:late 15th century: from French, present partici-ple of mordre 'to bite', from Latin mordere
Example: Mordant or dark sense of humor is not as popular as satire humor among Language academy faculty;) 5. Eerie /ˈi(ə)rē/ adjective If something is strange and frightening it is eerie. Origin: Middle English (originally northern English and Scots in the sense 'fearful'): probably from Old
English earg 'cowardly', of Germanic origin; related to German arg
Example: It was dark and eerie incised the haunted house. Good luck on the GRE!
Events and Pics of the Week
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 6 J U N E 7 , 2 0 1 2
The Academy News Summer A 2013 Staff
Editor: Pi Yan
Staff Reporters
Wayne Chang
Fitsum Fanta
Zhanerke Shulenbayeva
Yerkanat Zaitov
Assyl Zhakupov
Michael Cannon, Language Academy
instructor and renowed photographer, is
showing his latest work in San Pedro.
The show runs through August.
Above: The Journalism Class for Summer A