by Phoebe Zhang
Which team sport is the fastest as
well as the most exciting one in the
world? Bingo, hockey is. Because a
hockey game has speed, skills and
dashes, thousands of people are fasci-
nated by it.
Last Thursday, February 16, the
Language Academy organized an ex-
citing trip for students to watch the
hockey game of the Los Angeles
Kings vs. the Phoenix Coyotes at the
Staples Center.
It was the first time for most of us to
watch a hockey game. When we ar-
rived there, we had more than one and
a half hours to have dinner and enjoy
the night view around there.
At 7:30 pm, the game started on
time. When I entered the court, a stream
of cold air blew on me, just like I had
stepped into winter. Coincidentally at
that time, I met an acquaintance. I
See Hockey on p. 3
Disneyland Saturday, February 25th 9:00am—Midnight Come with the USC Language Academy to the happiest place on earth! This is the trip you've been waiting for, so don't miss out! There will be a $40 cash payment for this ac-tivity, and you must take the provided trans-portation to attend. Students may only sign up for themselves - one ticket per student. Please bring your USC ID for identification when you sign up. The last day to sign up for this activity is Wednesday, February 22nd.
USC Basketball Game Thursday, March 1st 6:30pm—10:00pm Ready to Fight On for USC? Come cheer the Men of Troy on at the Galen Center for one of the last basketball games of the regular season! See the Trojans beat the Washing-ton Huskies for FREE! Just sign up on Tues-day, February 21st after class. To get in to the game for free, you MUST bring your USC ID card. Remember to wear cardinal & gold!
Exciting Hockey in Staples Center
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
Language
Labs
2
Announce-
ments
3
Kuwaiti
Independence
4
Spring
Getaway
5
Ronaldo,
soccer star
5
Whitney
Houston
6
Events
Calendar
8
UP C O M I N G AC T I V I T I E S
The Academy News F E B R U A R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 2 V O L U M E 5 3 , I S S U E 6 Leap Year adds
an extra day.
Find out why on
p. 4.
Adele is the big
winner at the
Grammies, p. 6.
What do you
know about the
Academy
Awards? Take
the quiz on p. 7.
Language Academy students outside the Staples Center
P A G E 2
Tuesday, February 28th
Time Location Description Facilitator Levels
12:00—1:00 VKC 101 IELTS Test Preparation James Hutzell All Levels (Recommended
for 3-6)
12:00—1:00 VKC 111 Building English Skills
Diana Hiciu Levels Beginner, 1 & 2
12:00—1:00 VKC 160 Writing Skills
Jimenah Espinoza Levels 3, 4, 5, & 6
12:00—1:00 VKC 209 American Culture Natalie Reyes Levels 1, 2, 3, & 4
11:00—12:00
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 1 Bella Narvaez Level 1
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 2 Justin Chang Level 2
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 3 Micala Mendoza Level 3
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5, 6 & 7 Dorothy Chang Levels 5, 6 & 7
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 4
Jemal Williams Level 4
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 2 Hannah Yoo Level 2 12:00—1:00
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 3 Jemal Williams Level 3
Thursday, March 1st
Time Location Description Facilitator Levels
11:00—12:00
THH 113 Statement of Purpose Prep Heather Robertson
Levels 3, 4, 5, & 6
12:00—1:00 VKC 111 Building English Skills
Diana Hiciu Levels Beginner, 1 & 2
12:00—1:00 VKC 101 GRE/GMAT Test Prep
James Hutzell All Levels (Recommended
for 3-6)
12:00—1:00 VKC 209 Life Skills Natalie Reyes Levels 1, 2, 3, & 4
11:00—12:00
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 1 Bella Narvaez Level 1
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 2 Jemal Williams Level 2
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 3 Micala Mendoza Level 3
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 4 Dorothy Chang Level 4
12:00—1:00 JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5, 6 & 7 Hannah Yoo Levels 5, 6 & 7
JEF Courtyard Conversation Level 4 Jemal Williams Level 3
Please remember to sign up for Language Labs starting TODAY at NOON until MONDAY at 8:00am. If you have questions or problems signing up, please email Sky at
P A G E 3
Hockey Continued from p. 1
asked her if she liked
hockey. She told me that
the only reason she came
here was to watch the
players fight. I was so
confused.
However, ten minutes
later, I thought I under-
stood what she meant. In a
hockey game, it is very
easy for players to have
physical contact with each
other. Every time a player
crashed his opponent into
the fence, all of the audi-
ence uttered a boo. It
seemed that they were
waiting for something ex-
tremely exciting. A
hockey game is always
full of action; players
fighting with each other is
not news any more. In the
North America Profes-
sional League, fighting is
very common. It seems
like a part of the game—it
is even defined as a tacti-
cal strategy. The final
score of the game was 0 to
1, and the Kings lost.
We were excited to be
there to have a relaxing
evening. Thanks, Lan-
guage Academy, for giv-
ing us an opportunity to
watch the wonderful
game, especially since we
just spent $5 for a $73
ticket. This was a memo-
rable event of this spring.
DO YOU LIKE TO PLAY SOCCER?
Howard Wen is organizing a soccer
team and would like to hear from you.
Please email Howard at
and let him know if you are interested.
Check out the Language
Academy Blog
Student stories and lots of other
information are available on our
Blog—World of Mouth!
Here is the link: http://www.uscrossier.org/langacad/
Current stories
Why I Chose USC by Lexie Wei
How to tip in America by Sky Smith
Go to the Current Student page of the
Language Academy website and click
on ‘blog.’ You can also contribute to
the blog. Ask Jessica how you can
send a story at [email protected]
MIDTERM EXAMS
Midterms are just around the corner.
Your teachers will be announcing mid-
terms this coming week.
Let’s hit the books!
Pick-up
basketball?
Intramural sports
are open to eve-
rybody. Sign up
at http://
sait.usc.edu/
Recsports/sports/
intramurals
P A G E 4
BY YARA HADI
February 25 and 26 are the
two most important holidays
in Kuwait. They mark Ku-
wait’s national and liberation
days. These two days are tre-
mendously significant to us
because we celebrate Kuwait
being an independent country
and we celebrate the day Ku-
wait got liberated from the
Iraqi invasion.
Before becoming an inde-
pendent country, Kuwait be-
longed to the British. On
January 23, 1899, Kuwait
became an independent coun-
try under British protection.
After having some govern-
ment changes, Sheikh Abdul-
lah Al-Sabah realized that
Kuwait no longer needed to
be under the British protec-
tion. Sheikh Abdullah died on
February 25. In his honor, in
the year 1961 February 25
was designated as Kuwait’s
national day.
On August 2 1990, Kuwait
was attacked and invaded by
the Iraqi forces. This war was
known as the Gulf War.
About 1,000 citizens died
fighting for their country and
about 300,000 left the coun-
try.
Iraqi forces burned about
five to six million barrels of
oil in a single day. Then the
United States came along to
help Kuwait. The United
States and Kuwaiti forces
tried to free Kuwait on the
same day as the national day,
but they couldn’t. They freed
Kuwait on February 26, 1991,
which is still a blessing.
February 26 is a really
important day for me because
my dad was actually a pris-
oner of war because he was in
the Kuwait’s military air
force, and my uncle, who was
living in the States, joined the
U.S. Army to help free Ku-
wait. On this day, I thank God
for keeping my family mem-
bers healthy and alive. Every
year, on February 26t we
honor the martyrs who fought
for their country and we
honor the prisoners of war
who passed away.
Many citizens in Kuwait
celebrate these days in differ-
ent ways. My family members
gather in my grandmother’s
house, and we celebrate by
having some food, and shar-
ing some stories from the
past. Then we all go out by
car, and wave the Kuwaiti
flag.
Being on the highway is
the best way to celebrate this
day because you get to see all
the lights and flags on the
buildings, and we also see all
the citizens just having a great
time. The feeling I get when I
am out there is the best feel-
ing because I can see all the
smiles and happiness in the all
citizens’ faces and how proud
they are to be part of our
country. I am really blessed
for my family to be together
and very proud to be a Ku-
waiti.
SISI LIN
Leap Year
When you ask people how many
days are there in one year, most peo-
ple will say 365 days. That is true
under most circumstances, but not
this year.
When you check the calendar
for February, have you noticed that
we have 29 days in this February?
Don’t think there is something
wrong with the calendar. We DO
have a day more than in other years.
We call 2012 a leap year.
An extra day is added to Febru-
ary so that the calendar year will
keep balance with the seasonal year.
Thus, we have 366 days in a leap
year.
Leap year comes every four
years. For example, 2012 is a leap
year, and 2016 will be the next leap
year. However, the exception comes
in 100 years. Years that can evenly
be divisible by both 100 and 400 are
leap years (Royal Observatory,
2002). For example, 2100 can be
evenly divisible by 100, but not 400,
so it is not a leap year. 2400 can be
evenly divisible by both 100 and
400, so it is a leap year.
Leap years bring problems for
those who were born on the leap day.
Some people may count their birth-
day a day off, and consider March 1
as the birthday. Some people may
only celebrate the birthday every
four years and make it a big event.
References
Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
(2002). Retrieved http://
www.rmg.co.uk/explore/
astronomy-and-time/time-facts/
faqs/which-years-are-leap-years.
Kuwait’s National and Liberation Day
Leap Year Traditions
Did you know that women can pro-
pose mar-
riage in Leap
Year?
Kuwaitis celebrated their Independence Day on February 25 and 26.
P A G E 5
BY HAOYANG (HOWARD) WEN
Many reasons may make people like soccer. For my generation born in the 80s’, Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima (Ronaldo) is always the best reason to love soc-cer. He is widely consid-ered by experts and fans as one of the greatest soccer players of all time.
Ronaldo was born in the slums in Rio de Ja-neiro September 22, 1976. Just like most Bra-zilian children, playing soccer was the only way Ronaldo could make a living. His life experience made him train harder
than other players. In his career, he won al-most every award that a
professional soccer player could win, and he is now the record holder of World Cup total score by making 15 goals. The most important awards he won were the FIFA World Cup two times (1994, 2002), and FIFA World Player of the Year three times (1996, 1997, 2002).
God gives him almost everything a soccer player needs. He can run 10’35 in 100-meter dash, and his legs are so fast that he can break any defense in seconds.
However, the only thing God takes away from him is time. In his 18-year-career life, Ronaldo was injured more than 30 times, and he had to stop playing for more than two years. His efforts made him overcome every in-jury, and his talent and per-spiration made him become the greatest soccer player in many peo-ple’s mind.
Finally, I want to men-tion his other talent. He can speak five dif-ferent lan-guages very well. He
speaks Portuguese, Eng-lish, Spanish, Dutch and Italian because he has played in those five countries. Now, we are in the U.S., why don’t we improve our English by doing sports with native speakers? We can do it!
Famous Athletes Series: The Best Striker Ever
Spring Get Away!
By Sara AlShehri
Get ready, everyone; spring va-
cation is on the way! Nothing will
make the spring vacation more in-
teresting, exciting, and fun than
skiing in the mountains. In Big
Bear Lake, you can enjoy and ex-
perience Mother Nature, the fresh
snow, the breathtaking view on the
lakE and more!
Big Bear Lake is located in the
Southern California
Mountains, in San Ber-
nardino County. It is
around one hundred
miles from Los Ange-
les, about two hours
drive. There are two ski
areas in Big Bear; one is
Snow Summit and the
other is Bear Mountain.
You can do all
kinds of snow sports
such as skiing, snow-
boarding, and sledding.
If you do not have skis, skates or
boards, you can easily get them by
renting them from rental shops in
town. Moreover, there are many
resorts and hotels around the lake,
so you can spend the whole break
there!
There are some things you
need to bring before going to the
Big Bear Lake. First, you need to
check the weather and see if there
is any construction on the road.
Second, if there is ice on the road,
it is important to install chains on
the tires to prevent them from slip-
ping. Finally, don’t forget to wear
snow jackets, boots, and gloves.
There is a chance of snow in
the Big Bear Lake until the end of
April, so this spring vacation may
be a great escape to experience this
amazing adventure.
P A G E 6
Obituary
ADELE SWEEPS GRAMMIES BY Vidayla (Lilly) Sabajan
Whitney Houston by Yvoon Wei
Whitney Elizabeth Houston
(August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American recording artist, actress, producer, and model. In 2009, the Guinness World Records cited her as the most-awarded fe-male act of all-time.
Houston was also one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums, singles and videos worldwide. She released seven studio albums and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certifi-cation.
Houston's crossover appeal on the popular music charts, as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for "How Will I Know", influenced several African-American female artists to follow in her footsteps.
Top Hit Singles:
1. "I Will Always Love You" – 1992 2. "Greatest Love Of All" – 1986 3. "How Will I Know" – 1985
4. "All the Man That I Need" – 1990 5. "I Wanna Dance With Some-body (Who Loves Me)" – 1987 6. "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" – 1988 7. "Didn't We Almost Have It All" – 1987 8. "Saving All My Love for You" – 1985 9. "I'm Your Baby Tonight" – 1990 10. "So Emotional" - 1987
In the early 1990's, Whitney
Houston branched out beyond mu-sic into acting. Her first role was co-starring with Kevin Costner in 1992's The Bodyguard. She recorded six songs for the soundtrack of the film, and one of these, a cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," became the biggest hit of her career and one of the biggest pop hits of all time staying at No.1 for 14 weeks.
I loved Whitney Houston's voice and I will never forget it ei-ther. If you are a singer and you love to do what you do, there is always someone greater than you, and you hold to that. You look up to that. You admire that. I didn't know Whitney Houston at all personally and never met her, but as much as many of her songs touched my heart, I felt like I knew her. I am very sad about losing her, but one day we are all going to leave this world. Ready or not we all have a price to pay. My heart goes out to the Whitney Houston family and friends. God Bless!
Adele Laurie Bleu Adkins was born 5 May 1988. She is better known as Adele. She is an English artist and songwriter.
In 2006, a good friend posted her demonstra-tion on MySpace, and after that, she received a contract from XL Re-cordings.
The next year she received the Brit Awards and won the BBC Sound of 2008. Her debut al-bum 19, came out in
2008 and was certified four times Platinum in UK.
Her career in the US grew while she was making the show Satur-day Night Live in 2008.
In 2009 Adele re-ceived the Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Pop Vo-cal Performance.
Adele released her second album 21, in 2011 . The album sold even more than her de-but 21 The album held
the top position longer than any other since 1993.
She won the Grammy
for Album of the Year 2011. She is the first artist to sell more than 3 See Adele on p. 7
Academy
Awards Quiz
This Sunday the Academy Awards
will be broadcast Sunday, February
26 at 4 p.m. on ABC, Channel 7.
The TAN Staff prepared a quiz to
test your knowledge of these awards.
1. Where is the Academy Awards held?
A. USC
B. Kodak Theatre C. Nokia Theater
D. Staples Center
2. What are the Academy Awards? A. The Grammies B. The Nobel Prize
C. The Oscars D. The Golden Globes
3. How many Academy Awards have
been held?
A. 83 B. 60 C. 55
D. 100
4. Who was the first African American to win an Academy Award for best actor?
A. Obama B. Denzel Washington C. Eddie Murphy
D. Sidney Poitier
5. Who won for best actress last year?
A. Natalie Portman B. Jennifer Aniston
C. Anne Hathaway D. Sandra Bullock
6. Which movie did NOT win best movie award?
A. Momma Mia B. Titanic C. Gone with the Wind
D. Slumdog Millionaire
7. Which movie won the most
awards?
A. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
B. The King’s Speech
C. Harry Potter: The Sor-cerer’s Stone
D. Avatar Send your answers to Yara, and you have a
chance to wina Starbuck’s coffee card. Her email is [email protected]
Welcome Velkommen
Bienvenue Bienvenidos
Benvenuti Bem-vindo 歡迎 환영
ようこそ
ยนิดต้ีอนรับ Қош келдіңіз!
Xush kelibsiz
مرحبا بكم
Добро пожаловать
Courtesy of Google Translate
P A G E 7
ADELE continued from p. 6
Happy Birthday!
February and March
Matthew Shin 29
Chen Shen March 1
Dohyung Kim 2
Hamad Nasser Alsajari 2
million copies. She had big hits with her two singles from 21, “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You”. With her third release from the album “Set Fire to the Rain,” she led the Billboard 200.
Adele was born in London, England, UK, to a single teen-age mother named Penny. Her father left when she was 3 years old . Adele has not for-given him.
The Spice Girls group was a major influence i. Adele and her mother lived in three different cities for better opportunities . Adele’s first record “Hometown Glory” was written when she was 16 years old.
Adele won several awards, such as 6 Grammy Awards, MOBO Awards, Urban Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Record of the Year, Best Female Vocal, Columbia Records. Adele has received 46 awards from 102 nomina-tions, so all the work and dedi-cation that she put into her ca-reer was worth it.
Entertainment
Imaginative and Sensitive
Compassionate and Kind
Selfless and Unworldly
Halle Berry
on the red
carpet at the
Academy
Awards last
February
2011.
Comedian Billy Crystal is this year’s host.
MUSIC
The Color of Sound
Friday, February 24
8:00pm
Alfred Newman Recital Hall
Free
Faculty pianist Kevin Fitz-Gerald,
joined by violinist Irina Tseitlin and
cellist Ronald Leonard, presents a
concert of Prokofiev and the music
and visual art of Michael Tseitlin.
Thornton Pop Fest
Sunday, February 26
12:00pm to 6:00pm
E.F. Hutton Park
Free
Don’t miss this outdoor festival fea-
turing original bands and songwrit-
ers from the USC Thornton Popular
Music Program.
ARTS
Celebration of the Arts
Saturday, March 3
12:00pm to 3:00pm
USC Fisher Museum of Art
Free
Join the Fisher Museum of Art for
an afternoon filled with music, live
entertainment and art-making activi-
ties, plus free food and refreshments.
USC Language
Academy
Rossier School of
Education
Phone: 213-740-0080
Fax: 213-740-0088
Web: www.usc.edu/
langacad
ATTENTION
LANGUAGE
ACADEMY
STUDENTS
Do you have a story to tell?
Do you have an inspiration?
The TAN Staff invites all
students to write stories for
the newsletter. Send your
stories to Editor Sisi Lin at
Assistant EditorYara Hadi at
and we’ll publish them!
Events Calendar: February 24-March 2
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 F E B R U A R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 2
FREE EVENTS Many events on campus are
free. Please go to the Arts and Events Calendar for more
details at http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/
calendar/32/feature/2819
Editor
Sisi Lin
Assistant Editor
Yara Hadi
Reporters
Sara Alshehri
Tzekwan (Catherine)Cheung
Lilly Sabajan
Yining (Yvoon) Wei
Haoyang (Howard) Wen
Fengyi (Phoebe) Zhang
Advisor
Sonja Lovelace
THE TAN STAFF
Ans
wers
to
President
s’ Q
uiz
of last
week’s T
AN
1.
B
2.
C
3.
B
4.
C
5.
B
6.
A
7.
B
8.
C
No
one s
ent
any
an-
swers
, so
we c
ann
ot
ann
ounc
e a
winne
r.
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