tan march 8, 2013
DESCRIPTION
In this issue of TAN you will find one student's thoughts on the Musem of Contemporary Art, pictures from last week's activity, and more!TRANSCRIPT
By XIAOWEN LIANG
If you are
interested in art,
I think the
Museum of
Contemporary
Art (MOCA) is
your best choice.
MOCA, which was founded in
1979, is the only contemporary
art museum in Los Angeles.
There are different kinds of
exhibitions; you can see many
famous artists’ works in MOCA.
When walking towards their
creation, people may sense dif-
ferent expressions: a space may
make you feel like it is a shelter
for the soul, the center where
brainstorming is happening, or a
space which sits right in the
middle of the world of reality
and hyper-reality.
Contact with artists and appre-
ciation of their works may
change the viewer’s perspective
of the world, or may broaden
the audience’s vision.
Today the museum is housed
in three facilities: MOCA Grand
Avenue; The Geffen Contempo-
rary at MOCA (formerly the
Temporary Contemporary) in
Little Tokyo, and MOCA Pacific
Design Center in West Holly-
wood.
Current Exhibitions:
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel
Collection: Fifty works for fifty
states at MOCA
02.20.13-03.11.13 Please see MOCA on p. 3 for more
information about current exhibits.
Movie in Hollywood Friday, March 8, 2013 from 2:30-9:00pm (meet at JEF at 3:30pm) Please note that the meeting time has changed due to the movie showtime. Come with Language Academy staff to the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame for a movie, sight-seeing and a great time. We will be watching OZ the Great and Powerful at the El Capitan Theatre.
Shopping at the Citadel Friday, March 15, 2013 from 1:30-6:00pm (meet at JEF at 1:30pm) Only in Los Angeles can you drive to an Assyrian palace to buy blue jeans and leather goods! Citadel Outlets, Los Angeles' only outlet center, has the distinct honor to be located behind an Assyrian Castle wall. It has over 115 stores and restaurants. Sign-up for this activity on Friday from 12:00-1:00pm.
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
I N S I D E
T H I S I S S U E :
Language
Labs M/W
2
Language
Labs T/Th
3
Kobe
Bryant
4
Motivating
Employees
5
Reading
Speed
5
Oral Skills
Students
6
This Week’s
Photos
6
UP C O M I N G AC T I V I T I E S
The Academy News M A R C H 8 , 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E 5 6 , I S S U E 7 Check out The
Academy News online at
www.usc.edu/
langacad.Go to
“Student Infor-
mation” and
then click on
“The Academy
News.”
The Museum of Contemporary Art is nationally recognized for its permanent col-
lection of paintings, drawing, and sculpture. It is a short walk from Union Station.
Friday’s activity
pictures on pp. 2 & 6
P A G E 2
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
(Levels 3-6): Learn how to do well on the IELTS exam. Writing an “A” Paper
(Levels 3-4): Make your writing more sophisticated by using research. Learn how to use research in your writing to effectively support your ideas.
Conversation Groups:
Practice speaking English by level with USC students. This is an interactive discussion in which you will participate in groups about several interesting topics. This is your opportunity to practice and to ask questions to native English speakers. To sign up, go to www.usc.edu/
langacad Click on “Student
Information” Click on “Current
Students” Click on
“Language Labs”
Monday, March 11
Time Location Description Facilitator
11-12pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 1 & 2
Rachel USC Student
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 3 & 4
TBD USC Student
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5 & 6
Blaire USC Student
12-1pm
GFS 229 IELTS Prep Lab (Levels 2 & 3)
James Hutzell Instructor
GFS 228 GRE/GMAT (Levels 4, 5 & 6)
Jeminah Espinoza Instructor
GFS113 Writing an “A” Paper (Levels 3 & 4)
Heather Robertson Instructor
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 1 & 2
Belen USC Student
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 3 & 4
Rachel USC Student
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5 & 6
Luke USC Student
Wednesday, March 13
Time Location Description Facilitator
11-12pm
KAP 166 Reading Power (Levels 1, 2 & 3)
Nevena Fairclough Instructor
12-1pm
GFS 228 Reading Power (Levels 1, 2 & 3)
Nevena Fairclough Instructor
GFS 229 IELTS Prep Lab (Levels 2 & 3)
James Hutzell Instructor
GFS 113 Statement of Purpose (Levels 4, 5 & 6)
Marisa Garcia-Crocker
Instructor
Weeks 7, 8, 9, 10
Levels 3 & 4 Writing an A Paper Make your writing more sophisticated by using research. Learn how to
use research in your writing to effectively support your ideas.
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. Statement of Purpose
Workshop (Levels 4-6): Learn how to write an amazing SOP for graduate school. GRE/GMAT Preparation
(Levels 4-6): Find out the best ways to succeed on the new exam IELTS Preparation
(Levels 3-6): Learn how to do well on the IELTS exam. Conversation Groups:
Practice speaking English by level with USC students. This is an interactive discussion in which you will participate in groups about several interesting topics. This is your opportunity to practice and to ask questions to native English speakers. To sign up for Language Labs, go to www.usc.edu/langacad Click on “Student
Information” Click on “Current
Students” Click on “Language
Labs”
Tuesday, March 12
Time Location Description Facilitator
11-12pm
MRF 206 IELTS Prep Lab (Levels 2 & 3)
James Hutzell Instructor
GFS 220 Statement of Purpose (Levels 4, 5 & 6)
Marisa Garcia-Crocker
Instructor
THH 205 GRE/GMAT (Levels 4, 5 & 6)
Jeminah Espinoza Instructor
GFS 212 Writing an “A” Paper (Levels 3 & 4)
Heather Robertson Instructor
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 1 & 2
Anastasia USC Student
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 3 & 4
Jackie USC Student
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5 & 6
Renee USC Student
12-1pm
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 1 & 2
Blaire USC Student
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 3 & 4
Renee USC Student
JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5 & 6
Anastasia USC Student
Thursday, March 14
Time Location Description Facilitator
11-12pm
THH 107 IELTS Prep Lab (Levels 2 & 3)
James Hutzell Instructor
Spring Forward! Daylight Savings Time 2013
Daylight Savings Times starts at 2AM on this Sunday, March 10th! Before you go to bed Saturday night or when you wake up Sunday morning, be sure to move your clock ahead one hour. If you don't you will be an hour late to everything on Sunday!! For example, 11pm will become 12pm. If you have a smart-phone, this will be done automatically!
P A G E 4
American Culture
Kobe Bryant: Black Mambo
Photo Album: Language Academy stu-dents had fun with bumper cars at last Friday’s activ-ity. See p. 6 for more pics.
By LORA SONBOL
Kobe Bryant is an American professional basketball player. He plays for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National basketball Association. His nickname is “Black Mamba”.
Kobe Bean Bryant was born on Aug 23, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the young-est of three children, and he is the only son. He speaks three languages: English, Italian, and Spanish.
In November 1999, when he was 21 years old, he met Vanessa Laine, who was 17 years old. She was working as a background dancer on the Tha Easeidaz music video. He was in the building working on his first musical album, which was never released.
They dated and became engaged six months later on May 2000. They married in April 2001. He has two daughters. He entered the NBA directly from high school. He has played
for the Lakers his entire career. He has won five NBA champion-ships. He enjoyed playing bas-ketball when he was in high school. He was the top basket-ball player in the country.
Kobe Bryant became the youngest player in the league to
reach 30,000 career points. He has been selected to start every all-star game. He has won the all-star MVP (Most valuable player) four times-2002, 200, 2009 and 2011-making him the most all-star MVP award in NBA history. Sporting news and TNT named him the top NBA player of the 2000s.
In 2006 Kobe scored a career high 81 points against Toronto Raptors, the second highest number of points scored in a game in NBA history.
In 2012, Kobe signed a two- year endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines. In 2012, he shot commercial for Turkish Airlines with FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi.
Reference Kobe Bryant. Wikipedia. Re-
trieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant
Kobe Bryant has won the All-Star Most Valuable Player award four times.
P A G E 5
By YOUSEF ALWASEIFER
During a one-year
internship program in a
financial institution, I
noticed that all employees
in my department had
switched their jobs at
least twice before settling
in that organization. I realized that their
previous companies were not able to mo-
tivate their employees. So, in order for
companies to avoid the negative results
of losing their valuable human assets, it
is important for them to care about this
concept and give it more attention.
Motivation could be defined as a psy-
chological state that exists whenever
internal and/or external forces stimulate,
direct, or maintain behaviors. Now in
order for managers to motivate their em-
ployees they could do the following:
Inspire employees through one-on-
one communication.
Set specific and challenging goals
that employees accept and will
strive to achieve, because goals
usually increase employees atten-
tion, energy, persistence, and crea-
tivity.
Provide employees with praise,
recognition, or rewards.
One way to motivate employees is to
make their jobs meaningful and signifi-
cant to them by giving them some re-
sponsibilities or authority that will in-
crease their loyalty towards their organi-
zation. In addition, their job must not be
boring or have a regular routine because
after a while they may wish to find a
new job that has more interest for them.
Their job must also give them a
sense of personal development and con-
tinuous improvement. Managers should,
for example, offer seminars, courses,
business trips, or scholarships.
Moreover, employees must receive
feedback about their performance to
know whether they have performed
positively or negatively.
Finally, employees must feel that
they have been treated fairly. In other
words, an employee will check if his
performance matches his compensation
or not because if not, he may react nega-
tively by reducing his efforts, or finding
another job in a company that will treat
him in fair way.
In conclusion, when employees are
motivated, they will perform at their best,
be more loyal to their company, and be
more creative at work. This will lead to a
better company that has a good reputa-
tion, and higher profit.
Reference
Slocum, J.W. Jr., Jackson, S. E., and Hell-
riegel, D. (2008). Competency-Based
Management 11th ed. Mason, OH: Thom-
son.
By ALIBEK BISSEMBAYEV
I would like to describe some facts
about reading speed for us. I did some
research about how to increase our read-
ing skills as international students. Here
they are:
Do you know that when you are read-
ing, your eyes look at different letters
and convey a different image, but the
brain still combines them into one; that is
why it is important to concentrate on the
text.
Do you know that during traditional
reading, 1/6 of the time spent is lost due
to regressive eye movements; that is why
it is important to focus your eyes on the
main parts of the text;.
Do you know that the average person
reads less than one book per year; that is
why it’s important to read more and
memorize main ideas.
The human eye with average reading
skills makes 12-16 stops on a book line,
whereas with fast reading skills 4-2
stops. Keep practicing reading a lot.
Usually, the level of understanding in
the traditional reading is 60%, in rapid
reading 80%;
About 5% of all people read very
slowly, 180-220 words per minute, and
the someone with average reading skills,
make 12-16 stops on the book row, and
the one who is reading quickly makes 2-4
stops.
Historically, there were a lot of tal-
ented famous people who could read
very fast. For example: 1. Max Gorky’s
reading speed was 4,000 words a minute;
2.Napoleon read at a speed of a thousand
words a minute; 3. John F. Kennedy was
a proponent of speed reading and encour-
aged his staff to take lessons; 4.Thomas
Edison could simultaneously read 2-3
lines, memorizing the text of whole
pages due to maximum concentration; 5.
Balzac read a novel of two hundred
pages in half an hour.
In conclusion, as Abraham Lincoln
said, “A capacity and taste for reading
give access to whatever has already been
discovered by others.” We should de-
velop this technique to succeed at least
on TOEFL Reading Section and the
GRE/GMAT tests.
Interesting Facts About Reading
How to Motivate Employees
A General Description of Speed Reading
Words Per Minute
1. Poor —150 2. Average—300 3. Fast—600 4. Excellent—800
USC Language Academy
Rossier School of
Education
950 W. Jefferson Blvd.,
Phone: 213-740-0080
Fax: 213-740-0088
Web: www.usc.edu/langacad
The Week in Pictures
P A G E 6 M A R C H 8 , 2 0 1 3
The Academy News Spring 2013 Staff
Editor: Abdullah Bin Kolaib
Staff Reporters
Yousef Alwaseifer
Alibek Bissembayev
Xiaowen (Sharon) Liang
Lora Sonbol
Assel Tasbolatova
Top: Kuwaitis celebrated their Independence Day on February 25. Right: Language Academy students played golf and drove around a racetrack during Friday’s activity.
Beginning Level, Level 1 & 2
Oral Skills Students
Want to practice your English during Spring
Break? Want to practice your oral skills in an interview
setting?
English language teachers need your help!
The USC Language Center is looking for volunteers to do
up to two interviews on Thursday, March 21st and Fri-
day, March 22nd. The interviews will be about 10 min-
utes long, and it will help English language teachers
practice placing students into appropriate levels based
on speaking skills.
If you are interested, please contact the USC Language
Center at [email protected]. Let them know that you
are a Language Academy student, and let them know
which level you are in. You will receive a $25 USC
Bookstore Gift Card if you're selected to help out!
Thanks and have a great day!
PHOTO CONTEST
The Academy News is looking for your photos! Please send
your best picture to Editor Ab-dullah Bin Kulaid at [email protected]
and we’ll publish the winner in next week’s newsletter.