sand. “Nothing beats it!” said

Patrick Shi. Swimming, sunbath

ing, playing beach volleyball, See Santa Monica on p. 2

By YUMENG (VALERIA)WEI AND MINGXU (MATT) SUN

___________________

Friday afternoon on July

26, 2013, students of Lan-

guage Academy headed for

Santa Monica. We all felt

excited about going to Los

Angeles’ most famous beach

to enjoy the breathtaking

scenery and the shooting sea

breeze. Not to mention after a

month’s intensive courses and

hard work, the girls finally

had the chance to go shop-

ping—a great way to relieve

pressure.

Santa Monica Beach & Pier

Santa Monica has 5.6 km

of pristine sand beach and

enjoys on average 340 days of

sunshine a year. On that day, I

bet everyone who was there

knew the feeling of simply

sticking your feet in the warm

Hawaiian Luau Party and Group Picture ($5) Friday, August 2, 2013 at 12:00PM Today we will be having a Hawaiian luau in our very own JEF Courtyard. Become a hula or Tahitian dance master, compete with your Language Academy friends in the hula hoop and limbo contests, enjoy Hawaiian performances, and feast on some delicious Hawaiian food! We will take a group picture after lunch.

Closing Ceremony Friday, August 9, 2013 at 9:00AM at the Radisson Grand Ballroom Come celebrate the end of Summer B session with the USC Language Academy! The closing ceremony is a chance for you to be recognized for all of your hard work this semester. Students will receive grade reports and certificates of completion. Breakfast will be provided. We hope to see you there!

Santa Monica for Fun and Leisure

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Program

Notices

2

Cemetery

Viewing

3

Watch Movies

for Free

3

Diving into

Mexican Food

4

Chinese

Festivals

5

Skid Row in

Los Angeles

6

The Face of

Ramadan

7

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

The Academy News A U G U S T 2 , 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E 5 6 , I S S U E 5

Check out The Academy News online: www.usc.edu/langacad.Go to “Student Information” and then click on “The Academy News.”

The USC Film School offers free movies. See p. 3 for more details.

What is a ukulele? Jingyi shares her love of this instru-ment on p. 4.

Students enjoyed the beach and had many stores to choose from in Santa Monica.

Be a PAL-Peer Academy Leader for Fall 2013 Orientation

Tuesday, September 10 - Friday, September 13, 2013

Former and current students are welcome to join us

during Fall Orientation to help out Language Academy as PALs. You'll get to help new students get to

testing, answer questions, eat lunch with them, and help them with email, USCard and many other things. Email Silvia at merlos@usc.edu if you are interested

in helping during Orientation for Fall 2013!

Reminder for Continuing Students All students who are continuing their studies to Fall 2013 semester must pay their tuition and service fees by Wednesday, August 7, 2013. Our online payment system will not be available until mid-September. Please see Pamela in JEF 201 to pay your fees. If you are a Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) sponsored student, please make sure the void date on your financial guarantee letter states December 13th or later. Language Academy needs a copy of this letter, so please email Pam your most recent financial guarantee letter by August 7th.

Santa Monica continued from p. 1

surfing and biking, the list of pleasures

around the Santa Monica beach can go

on and on. Especially sunbathing, no

place is better than Santa Monica for

soaking up the California sun. You could

see lots of people basking and relaxing in

the sunshine everywhere on the beach.

The Santa Monica Pier is a place be-

loved by film producers. Some students

recognized the Pier from the movie

Forrest Gump, it is where Gump ended

his across-the-country run. In fact, there

is a Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Res-

taurant on the pier inspired by the plot of

Forrest Gump, owned by the company

that produced the film.

3rd

Street Promenade

While the men lingered around the

beach, most of the women went directly

to the famous Santa Monica 3rd Street

Promenade for shopping. 3rd Street offers

a wide range of selections from luxury

brands like Louis Vuitton to mass brands

like Forever 21. Its diversity allows stu-

dents to find trendy items at a reasonable

price. The women were thrilled to try out

the latest design of the season, and most

of them ended up with bags in their

hands. “Every time I tried to walk out of

the store, I found something that dragged

me back, and I couldn’t help trying them

on” said Jingyi Wang with a big smile on

her face.

Another attraction on the 3rd Street

Promenade was the talented street artists.

From animation dance to mimic art, their

performances contained every genre you

could think of and they were excellent at

what they were doing. Pedestrians stopped

to watch and applaud for them, and some-

times they even joined the performance.

Altogether they made the street lively..

The only regret of the Santa Monica

trip was that we only had limited time to

explore everything and we wish we could

have stayed longer. But at the same time it

gave us a reason to revisit this amazing

place, an ideal destination for fun and lei-

sure.

Students took advantage of many sales.

P A G E 2

P A G E 3

By XI (SILVIA) KANG

Are you still considering

what to do in your spare

time without a car? Are you

worrying about spending too

much money on watching

movies? If the answers are

yes, then you should know

that as an USC student you

have the option to watch

movie for free on campus.

This activity is con-

ducted by USC School of

Cinematic Arts. Every week

there are four movies avail-

able for students to choose

from. It is very convenient to

make a reservation. First, go

to the Website of USC

School of Cinematic Arts

and then search for

“Events”. The names and

descriptions of the movies

for the following two weeks

will be presented on that

website. If you are interested

in any of them, click on the

title of the movie, you can

find more information about

it, such as the director of the

film as well as the prizes it

was awarded before. You

can watch the trailer before

making a choice.

Once you have made up

your mind, you just need to

click on the “Make Reserva-

tions” button and fill out a

form with your information.

A confirmation e-mail will be

sent to your e-mail address

automatically. USC ID or a

hardcopy of confirmation e-

mail is required for entering

the theatre. You will never

regret going there. Sometimes

you even have a chance to

talk to the director after

watching the film.

“I have made reserva-

tions for the movie ‘The

Spectacular Now’ and

‘Lovelace’. It is a great way

for us to enrich our extracur-

ricular activities,” said Lin-

gyuan Meng, a Chinese stu-

dent said. “I first knew about

this activity from the microb-

log, and I found it very attrac-

tive to me.”

Although it is not hard at

all to make a reservation, due

to the fact of limited seating,

it is advisable to check the

website frequently and re-

serve a movie in advance.

Turn on your computer, grasp

the opportunity and watch

movie for free.

Tips: Website: http://cinema.usc.edu/

events/index.cfm

Theatre Address: The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108, George Lucas Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex, 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007 See the list of upcoming movies at the Ray Stark Family Theater on p. 8

Cemetery Screening

By ZHANERKE SHULENBAYEVA

_________________________

One of the good ways to practice

your English is to watch movies. It

helps to improve your listening skills

and increase your vocabulary, espe-

cially by learning the idioms and ex-

pressions that Americans use in their

daily lives. Also watching movies is a

pleasant way to spend time with

friends. I’m a very curious person,

therefore I like extraordinary activi-

ties. Since I live in Los Angeles I have

been looking for interesting places to

visit and activities to do. One of my

recent discoveries is to watch the

movie in the cemetery. Exactly, ceme-

tery is the place where people are bur-

ied after they die.

Cemetery Screening is a beloved

Hollywood activity for people who

like to follow every new cultural trend.

It is especially popular during the

summer time. “Cinespia” is the or-

ganization that sets

the outside screening

around Los Angeles.

The most favorite

place is the Holly-

wood Forever Ceme-

tery where you can

watch classic films

like “Cabaret” or

“La Dolce Vita.”

Besides, this ceme-

tery is famous be-

cause it is the final

place for a lot of

movie stars and ce-

lebrities.

When watching

the movies in a ceme-

tery, people are prepared: they bring

blanks and pillows, bottles of wine and

picnic baskets. The price is not that

expensive and actually cheaper than

tickets in the Regal Theater.

So, if you are looking for some-

thing extraordinary that could help you

to gain more “likes” on Instagram or

Facebook, you should try to watch open

air screening in the cemetery.

You can find all information about

tickets, calendar of the screening mov-

ies and directions of how to get there on

the website www.cinespia.org

The Hollywood Forever Cemetery has open –air movie screenings in summer.

Watch a Movie for Free!

P A G E 4

By SCARLETT CHEN ____________________

If taco, enchilada and burrito sound like a foreign language, this proba-bly means that you have not really gotten to know Mexican food.

Mexican cuisine is one of the worldwide famous cuisines, which was influenced by European ingredi-ents, especially from Spain. During the colonial era, the Spanish tried to impose their ways of cooking into making Mexican food. This results in the diverse flavors in Mexican food nowadays.

The taco is one of the traditional Mexican dishes, which has a round-shaped wrap and is folded with vari-

ous fillings. The wrap is either made of corn or wheat and is called tor-tilla. The fillings usually combines one kind of meat, vegetables and cheese. People can choose from beef, pork, chicken, seafood or they can go vegetarian style.

Similar to the taco, the enchilada is also a type of wrap. But the wrap is made from corn. That also ex-plains why it is always good to eat enchilada when it is freshly served because the longer it stays, the less crispy the corn wrap will be. The fillings usually include shrimp, fish, meat, cheese, beans and vegeta-bles.

Another main dish of Mexican food is the burrito. Unlike tacos and enchiladas, burritos are fully wrapped with rice, refried beans, meats, lettuce, cheese and sauces. There are a variety of sauces that people can choose from, such as

avocado-based sauce guacamole, tomato sauce and corn sauce. Peo-ple also put sour cream with their burritos to add more flavor.

Because of the large Hispanic population in California, there are several good Mexican restaurants within walking distance to USC. For example, Chichen Itza Restaurant on 3655 S Grand Ave; La Taquiza No. 2 on 3009 S Figueroa Street and Mercado La Paloma on 3655 South Grand Ave.

If you are looking for something fast, Chipotle is also a good place to check out. Similar to MacDonald’s, Chipotle is a Mexican fast-food fran-chise. The nearest Chipotle is on 3748 S Figueroa Street.

If you still have questions on how to order Mexican food, you can al-ways ask your waiter. They will be more than happy to answer any of your questions.

Diving into Mexican Food

Love at First Sight with Ukulele

By JINGYI WANG ____________________

I intended to buy a violin string for my younger cousin, but upon stepping into the music instrument store, I was instantly magnetized by a “toy”. It was a pear-like instrument, almost identical to guitar, but with a much smaller size. Reaching closer, I found that, unlike the six-stringed guitar, it only had four strings.

“You are today’s 25th

customer showing interest to Ukulele,” he said. I was too absorbed in staring at the baby guitar that I didn’t real-ize the store manager had already been standing be-hind me for a while.

The manager handed it

to me. It fitted perfectly in my arms. “Ukulele,” I murmured its name, like calling a nick-name of a newborn baby. It had a wooden body but weighted no more than 4 lb. While I plucked the strings, the ukulele gave out a light and bright sound.

Suddenly, I felt the urge to bring it home. But the colors and styles were too limited in the store, so I dashed home, totally forget-ting about my cousin’s violin string.

After a thorough sur-vey, I found out that the uku-lele is a Hawaiian instru-ment. It has four sizes, among which “the soprano” is the smallest, original and standard one.

It is only 53cm long---

perfectly matches girls. Most importantly, it is easy to play even for new learners. With-out a second thought, I booked a dark brown one online.

Having taught myself for several days, I can play

the lullaby “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” now. I’m still working on more songs. The ukulele has become my good friend which injects beauty and fun to my life.

The ukulele is a stringed instrument native to Hawai’i. It has four strings, unlike the guitar, which has six. The smaller version is most popular.

P A G E 5

By WEIWEK (VIVIAN) YU AND DAOJUN (LEO) WU

__________________________________

China , the world’s second larg-

est country by land area with diversi-

fied landscape, has 56 distinct ethnic

groups. The culture of the 56 ethnic

groups is diversified from costume and

language to social conventions. Be-

cause of those featured ethnic groups,

China is considered one of the most

ideal places for traveling and anthro-

pology research. We would like to

introduce two amazing ethnic festivals

to show you different aspects of China.

Having settled in the North

China’s Inner Mongolia, the Mongo-

lian Minority are the descendants of

Genghis Khan, one of the greatest

monarchs in world history, who estab-

lished the Mongol Empire, crossing

both Asia and Europe. They have al-

ways been considered a valiant nation-

ality on horseback for centuries. Their

traditional celebration, the Naadam

Grassland Festival, is the premier sum-

mer event.

The word "naadam" means

“entertainment” in the Mongol lan-

guage, and for Mongolian people the

entertainment is all about wrestling,

archery and horse racing. Mongolian

traditional wrestling is an untimed

competition. Wrestlers lose if they

touch the ground with any part of their

body. Winners of different levels are

named different titles, and if someone

wins the final championship for two

times, he is called the Titan.

Mongolian archery is unique for

having hundreds of targets on a huge

wall rather than only one. The winners

of the contest are granted the title of

“national marksman/woman.”

The most eye-catching game is

the horse racing. Unlike Western horse

racing which is made up of short

sprints, Mongolian horse racing as

featured in Naadam is a cross-country

event, with races 15–30 km long. In

order to relieve the burden of the

horses, the contestants simply wear

gorgeous hacking outfits and colorful

ribbons without saddles or boost, dis-

playing their extraordinary prowess.

Both the winning contestants and the

horses will be awarded. Besides the

three amazing games, Festival activi-

ties include traditional folk songs and

dancing, as well as fabulous exhibi-

tions.

The fifteenth day of the first

month of the Chinese Calendar is the

Lantern Festival. For Tujia ethnic

group, living in the mountain areas of

Guizhou province, they annually select

the bravest male adults in their village

to hold a traditional dragon lantern

carnival to celebrate the Lantern Festi-

val. Those selected males are required

to perform dragon dance through in-

cessant flames of firecrackers set off

by the residents.

Some people would argue that this

carnival is too barbarous and it might

cause serious injury to performers.

However, for the local people, they

believe that these intrepid performers

are their warriors leading them to

overcome difficulties, and they are

blessed by the ancestors and God. So

they never get hurt by the firecrackers.

In fact, the two festivals are only

the tip of the iceberg, just as we men-

tioned at the beginning, China has 56

distinct ethnic groups and most of

them own their unique cultures which

would greatly broaden your horizon

once you get to know them. If you

want to experience the colorful ethnic

cultures, we cordially invite and wel-

come you to China.

Colorful Ethnic Festivals in China

Above: Mongolian horse-racing in Naadam;

Right: The Chinese Lantern Festival held in

Guizhou Province

P A G E 6

By FITSUM FANTA

____________________

Early last Saturday

morning I found myself at a

hidden ‘gem’ of L.A– Skid

Row. Many tourist, new-

comers and even people

born and raised in Los An-

geles have no idea that there

is a whole city inside of Los

Angeles that contrasts their

glittery perception of L.A

life. Skid Row – a neighbor-

hood located in downtown

L.A is “home” to an esti-

mated 5,000 people of the

homeless population accord-

ing to L.A Almanac. And

while there are some that

have ignored the reality –

young adults in the group

like Faith, Hope, Love Pro-

ject spend every other Satur-

day morning bringing break-

fast, coffee, and a little en-

couragement to the most

vulnerable spirits. Faith, Hope, Love Pro-

ject started through a family

who wanted to serve and

decided to do that by serving

breakfast to the homeless on

Skid Row. Now, five years

later it has become a non-

profit that prepares meals on

Friday night and serves

breakfast on Saturday with

15-20 volunteers. Now they

also have three barbers who

volunteer to cut people’s

hair for free. One volunteer

barber reflected on his moti-

vation to serve, “Just be-

cause they are homeless

doesn’t mean they don’t

need to feel and look good

about themselves…many of

them are trying to get jobs

and can’t afford to get their

hair cut anyway.”

Using their own clippers

charged in their vehicle

chargers, the barber’s set up

chairs in the middle of the

street and serve a line of men

and women looking for a

haircut and encouragement.

Most of the homeless have

set-up tents, cardboard boxes,

and other temporary housing,

but are required to leave dur-

ing the day according to L.A

regulations of public spaces.

There are 10 plus social

service organizations, includ-

ing the well know The Mis-

sion – a place with over 500

beds, hospital services, and

programs to help the home-

less people.

It is not the smell, the

despair, the homeless, or the

line as long as a block wait-

ing for food and services that

moves you on Skid Row – it

is the willingness of 20-25

year-old students to wake up

at

6 am and serve breakfast, and

cut hair, and just talk to their

fellow man.

“You come here to inspire

or give back and you realize

you’re getting a lot more

from them,” one volunteer

shared me, and I noticed oth-

ers agreeing with his senti-

ment too just from their pas-

sion. I also met another man

who had lived in L.A for 29

years and had never ventured

to see where and who lives

on the Skid Row.

“Just because you don’t

see it – doesn’t mean it does-

n’t exist I guess” was his

whispering reaction with a

nodding head. And now that

I’ve seen and can appreciate

not only what I have, but

what I can give back. You

can no longer say you do not

know about Skid Row –your

new L.A community.

The Hidden L.A.: Skid Row

Distributing food to the homeless on Saturday morning

Hair cutting on Skid Row

P A G E 7

By FAISAL ALMUTAIRI ________________________________ After a long day of work , everyone

expects to eat lunch. What would hap-pen if you missed lunch? That kind of hunger will give you a desperate feeling. What if you missed lunch and breakfast, and you never ate and drank until sun-set ? That experience is what "Ramadan" gives you. So , what is "Ramadan" and why do Muslims fast in this month?

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar because the Islamic calendar depends on the moon. In this particular month Muslims begin fasting when the moon tells them "Ramadan" is on, and it ends when the moon tells them as well . So , the question is .. how and where do we see it ? Sure it's not about looking at the sky out the win-dow trying to find it. This issue take place in people's mind, so they go out of

the city in the field as a group looking for the moon. Usually if this group sees the moon perfectly, they announce it in the court. Then from there the court will announce it to the whole country to depend on that officially .

As a result , Muslims start fasting from sun rises till sunset. By fasting I mean they can't drink , eat or use any physical needs unless they can't handle fasting because they are weak, sick, or traveling. In those cases, they don't have to fast if they can’t. Fasting is a practice to the soul and keeps in mind what poor people feel. What makes it even better is facing what we are afraid of and it reminds us that at any time it's possible to lose what you have every day .

However , Ramadan always has its special nights . A lot of Muslim families act different in this month. All the fam-ily gather around at a specific time in a big dining room waiting for the call

(A'dan) to start eating. A lot of Muslims consider that Ramadan is a special event. In this month a lot of changes happen in Muslim society such as the food and lifestyle. Beside that , a lot of TV'stations start to provide special broadcasting with a different style of programs .

Finally, Ramadan has always been such a big event for all Muslims in the world . Even though it is hard to keep ourselves away from food, we can't ig-nore that feeling of happiness when we start to eat at the evening. It's enjoyable when we share the feeling of hunger and when we gather around and start eating at the same time.

Sharing is the first thing we learn in this month . So , we are happy to invite our non-Muslims friends to try fasting one day , and add it to new-experience list. It's sure worth it : ) .

The Beautiful Face of Hunger

A Brief Story Beyond Gone with the Wind

By SHANGYI (CYNTHIA) CHENG

________________

As a representative of the American Civil War story, Gone with the Wind de-scribes the changes in life and psychol-ogy on Southern plantations. How the characters have been created is greatly associated with the author’s own per-sonal background.

The premier feminist ideology exer-cised a great influence on Mitchell Mar-garet, the author of the novel. In her family, her mother advocated gender equality as a suffragette (a woman in support of extending the right to vote, especially for women). Mitchell at-tended Smith College, which was the leader in women’s higher education and aimed to cultivate female elites.

As the main female character, Scarlett O’Hara demonstrates outstanding brav-ery and shrewdness even better than men. In the times when the two gen-

ders are not treated equally, Gone with the Wind was regarded as a novel with early feminist consciousness.

Gone with the Wind has been trans-lated into 27 foreign languages, breaking the sales records with 50,000 copies in a day and 1.5 million in a year after its first publication, and the book was praised as

an American epic. Despite its popularity among critics

and readers, the academy displayed an indifferent or even negative review of it. There were mainly two reasons. First of all, the nostalgia for dated Southern tra-ditions indicated in the novel was against the prevailing attitudes in Amer-ica that Southern slavery had to be abol-ished.

Some scholars held the view that the book demonstrates a racist and pa-ternalistic treatment towards African-American slaves while idealizing South-ern plantations. The writer put more emphasis on the destruction brought to the South by the war instead of its right-fulness.

Secondly, Scarlett O’Hara in the novel was depicted as a complicated and rebellious woman: strong, zealous and brave and yet with selfishness and cru-elty. She is no ideal lady like Jane in Jane Eyre or Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice. Some major critics argued that the domi-nation of female characters affected the novel’s academic values.

Movies for Free From p. 4

See these movies on campus. Go

to the USC ‘Events’ website and

reserve your ticket.

Upcoming Events:

PRINCE AVALANCHE: July 29, 2013, 7:00 P.M.

SPARK: A BURNING MAN STORY: July 30, 2013, 7:00 P.M.

THE SPECTACULAR NOW: July 31, 2013, 6:00 P.M.

TERRAFERMA: August 1, 2013, 7:00 P.M.

SHORT TERM 12: August 5, 2013, 7:00 P.M. CIRCLE THE WAGEN: Au-gust 6, 2013, 7:00 P.M.

LOVELACE: August 7, 2013, 7:00 P.M.

2 GUNS: August 8, 2013, 7:00 P.M.

AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS: August 12, 2013, 7:00 P.M.

AUSTENLAND: August 13, 2013, 7:00 P.M.

THE PATIENCE STONE: Au-gust 14, 2013, 7:00 P.M. Go to the Arts and Events Calen-dar for details at http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/32/

USC Language

Academy

Rossier School of

Education

Phone: 213-740-0080

Fax: 213-740-0088

Web: www.usc.edu/langacad

Campus Events and Weekly Pics

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 A U G U S T 2 , 2 0 1 3

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

PAYMENTS FOR FALL

All students who are continuing their studies to

Fall 2013 semester must pay their tuition and ser-

vice fees by Wednesday, August 7, 2013. Our

online payment system will not be available until

mid-September. Please see Pamela in JEF 201 to

pay your fees.

If you are a Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission

(SACM) sponsored student, please make sure the

void date on your financial guarantee letter states

December 13th or later. Language Academy needs

a copy of this letter. Please email Pam your most

recent financial guarantee letter by August 7th.

Students feel the breeze in Santa Monica