The Academy News -- April 6, 2012

FENGYI (PHOEBE) ZHANG

Last Friday, March 30, the

Language Academy held an

activity to visit Griffith Obser-

vatory，which is a well-known

icon of Los Angeles. Griffith

Observatory is a beloved civic

gathering place for public as-

tronomy and one of most popu-

lar attractions in southern Cali-

fornia.

The Observatory is located

on the southern slope of Mount

Hollywood in Griffith Park. For

inspiring everyone to observe

and understand the universe,

Griffith Observatory provides many scien-

tific instruments, pictures, videos, models

and many artificial sky shows.

When we just arrived there, we had a

panoramic view of the beautiful City of

Angels. The buildings of downtown Holly-

wood and others I couldn’t recognize, but I

was still so excited because I had never

seen the city that I am living in like this.

See Griffith Observatory on p. 3

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament Friday, April 6th 4:30pm - 9:00pm Meet Jeminah in the JEF courtyard at 4:30pm. A four-course feast awaits you in Buena Park, CA, where you’ll see knights jousting, fighting with swords and com-peting on horses. You’ll be back at USC around 9pm.

Venice Beach Friday, April 13th—FREE 12:30-5 pm Need to buy some last minute gifts for friends? Want to spend some time playing at the beach? Come with the USC Language Academy to Venice Beach for our LAST activity of the semester! We’ll walk on the boardwalk, sightsee, play on the beach, and shop for fun things. Sign up Monday in the JEF Courtyard at NOON. This activity is FREE!

The Universe in Our Hearts

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Language

Labs

2

Announce-

ments

3

Interview

with Deb

4

Cesar

Chavez

6

Bolt 6

Hair Care

Treatments

7

Campus

Calendar

8

UP C O M I N G AC T I V I T I E S

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

Meet Deb Detzel, the

Academic Director of

Language Academy,

p.4

Cesar Chavez organ-

ized farm workers

and is a hero to

many, p. 6

Yvoon tells us how to

care for our har, p. 7

How well do you

know American cities.

Take the quiz on p. 8

P A G E 2

P A G E 2

Tuesday, April 10th

Time Location Description Facilitator Levels

12:00—1:00 VKC 101 IELTS Test Preparation James Hutzell All Levels

12:00—1:00 VKC 160 Writing Skills Jimenah Espinoza Levels 3, 4, 5, & 6

12:00—1:00 VKC 111 Life Skills Jemal Williams Levels 1, 2, 3, & 4

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 Level 4 Dorothy Chang Level 4

12:00—1:00 JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5, 6 & 7 Hannah Yoo Levels 5, 6, & 7

Please remember to sign up for Language Labs start-

ing TODAY at NOON until MONDAY, April 2nd at

8:00am. If you have questions or problems signing up,

please email Sky at [email protected].

Thursday, April 12th

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 101 GRE/GMAT Test Prep James Hutzell All Levels

12:00—1:00 VKC 111 Life Skills Jemal Williams Levels 1, 2, 3, & 4

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 Level 4 Dorothy Chang Level 4

12:00—1:00 JEF Courtyard Conversation Levels 5, 6 & 7 Hannah Yoo Levels 5, 6, & 7

For this week, Life Skills AND American Culture will be on Tuesday and Thursday. Each lab will have the same topic on Thursday as on Tuesday, so everyone can get a chance to attend. Check out Jemal

in Life Skills and Natalie in American Culture!

P A G E 3

Griffith Observatory Continued from p. 1

After visiting Griffith Observa-

tory, I felt that human beings are so

tiny compared to the enormous uni-

verse. The happiness, sadness and

suffering of human beings become

meaningless in front of the timeless

universe. However, the spirit of ex-

ploring an unknown world and the

imagination in the human heart are

endless.

When you look up at the sky,

every star is telling you an age-old

story. You can imagine that our life

is so short, so it’s very important to

make our life meaningful and make

every minute count .

“This is a really nice place. Not

only can I have entertainment with

my friends but also I can learn some-

thing. It is a good memory for me

when I recall the life in LA,” Aselya

Aliyeva said.

Here is the address of Griffith

Observatory: 2800 East Observatory

Road, Los Angeles, CA 90027. I

recommend this wonderful place to

students who haven’t been there be-

fore.

Special Language Labs Next Week: Guest Speaker from USC Occupational Therapy Sign up for these great language labs by going to:

http://www.usc.edu/dept/education/langacad/current_students.htm#LanguageLabs

Quit Smoking: Do you want to quit smoking? Ahra Roha will help you analyze why you smoke, teach you

ways to quit smoking and identify activities you can do instead of smoking on Tuesday, April 10th from 11-

12pm in JEF 124

Managing Your Time Effectively: Do you want to learn how to schedule your time better, so you can ac-

complish more throughout the day? Ahra will teach you how to prioritize your daily tasks and teach you dif-

ferent organization techniques on Tuesday, April 10th from 12-1pm in JEF 124

Managing Your Stress: Do you want to manage your stress, so you can do your best during finals in the

next couple of weeks? Ahra will help you identify what stresses you out and teach you some great relaxa-

tion techniques on Thursday, April 12th from 11-12pm in JEF 124

Do you want to live in USC Housing this

summer A session? If your answer is

YES, please fill out the green “I Want to

Live in USC Housing” form by next

Wednesday, April 11th 5pm. You can get

this form from Pam in JEF 201.

Staying for Summer A session?

If you are planning to continue your studies

at the Language Academy this summer A

session, please see Gil and pay your summer

A tuition fees by Wednesday, April 25th!

Language Academy students visited Griffith Observatory and hiked in the Hollywood Hills

P A G E 4

SARA AL SHAHRI

YARA HARI

Deborah Detzel is the Academic Di-

rector at the USC Language Academy.

She is from Pennsylvania and majored in

linguistics, and then she got a degree in

computer science.

Deb also did her Master’s in teaching.

She majored in linguistics because she

was always interested in languages and

other cultures. This interest began when

she was a child in elementary school.

She always loved to read about other

countries, their cultures, and the people.

Deb speaks several languages, includ-

ing Spanish, French, German, and Indo-

nesian. She also knows a little bit of

Vietnamese, Russian, and Arabic.

Those are some questions that we asked

Deborah to get to know her a little bet-

ter.

How long have you been in USC Lan-

guage Academy?

I just came here in the beginning of the

fall semester.

Why did you choose USC?

I had worked for 10 years at the Univer-

sity of Delaware, which is a large state

public university, and I worked in a big

language program. It was very interest-

ing and I learned a lot, but I wanted an

opportunity to see how language pro-

grams work on the West Coast, and to

have an opportunity to contribute to the

program here. I also like to take chal-

lenges to learn new things.

What are your interests? And hob-

bies?

I’m interested in people and I do a lot

of reading. I tend to read things about

other cultures and ways of thinking, and

I’ve always been interested in how the

human brain works. As far as active

hobbies, I’m a swimmer. I swim every

other day here at the university pool, and

on the days between I ride my bike and I

run.

What is your favorite movies/book/

city/food?

I never watch movies because it’s

against my religion. I was raised Men-

nonite which is similar to the Amish. I

didn’t grow up going to movies and I

have trouble sitting still. As far as favor-

ite books, I have so many I can’t name a

favorite. My favorite food is dark choco-

late.

What do you think about the Amish

home, life style? Do you think they

have to be more modern?

They are kind of in the middle in the

way they do business. So in my home, I

buy almost all of my fruits and vegeta-

bles from my Amish neighbors. The

furniture in my house is made by Amish

people. We do business all the time.

They’ve chosen to follow their religion,

and the United States was founded on

religious freedom, so I think the Amish

are doing the right thing. I think it is

important to have the freedom to stay

with your religion if that’s what you

want to do. I respect their ability to teach

their way of life to their children and to

continue it. And they seem to have a

very happy life.

Who influenced you or whom do you

admire?

My hero is Mother Teresa because

she lived a life of service to very poor

people that other people didn’t want to

work with. She was very giving and

very kind, and she put other people be-

fore herself. Therefore, I have always

been inspired by her life and works.

What are some obstacles that you

have overcome? What moment in

your life was a turning point?

I had a lot of obstacles and turning

points in my life, first of all, because I

came from Mennonite parents. They

didn’t want me to go to the university

because they wanted me to live a simple

life, to get married and have children,

and stay home and be a good wife and

mother. But I was always curious about

learning. I wanted to go to a university.

I got married when I was 17, and I went

to the university with my husband . Get-

ting married when you are 17 in the

United States is a turning point.

Then, a year later, I had my first baby

so I was a really young mother. I had

four children by the time I was 24, but I

loved being a mother, I have now seven

children. Some people think seven chil-

dren is an obstacle because it’s a lot of

work and it takes a lot of effort and a lot

of money and all of that. But I think that

my children are really my treasure in

some ways. So they didn’t present an

obstacle to me; they just became a part

of my life.

One of my children was born with a

chronic fatal illness. The word “chronic”

means “all the time,” and “fatal” means

that it results in death. My fifth child

Ana was born with cystic fibrosis, and

that is a huge obstacle if you have a baby

and they tell you that your baby has this

disease.

They told me she wouldn’t live to be

past 11 years old, and I told them “No,

don’t say that.” A few years later, there

was some new medicine and they said

maybe 14. I refused to hear that. While

she was growing up, she had a lot of

trouble and surgeries. She just struggled

all the time. I realized during this time

that in some way her life depended on

Get to Know Deborah Detzel Personality Profile

P A G E 5 Deborah Detzel continued from p. 4

me.

Because I had to take care of her, I

taught her how to take care of herself. I

had to find the best doctors and best

medicine, like a mother does for her

child. But at the same time, I realized if

I only did that and something happened

to her, what would I do. I would not be

able to live anymore. This is why I got

my master’s degree. I thought that I

needed to have something where I put

my energy that’s not just her.

Then I began to develop my career

more because I thought that if my

daughter didn’t survive, I would be

broken hearted. I could run away to

my job and I wouldn’t think about it .

After I got my master’s degree, I

was teaching in Penn State University

and then the University of Delaware. It

was in line with my interests, so I took

my children including my daughter

who was sick with me to my different

places where I worked so my children

had different experiences.

My daughter is 25 years old now.

She is married, and she is still takes

care of her illness all the time. She had

very serious times in her life. Her life

is a gift like our lives. We don’t know

how long we will have. Even that ob-

stacle—I feel that it’s been very good

to me because I have her , because she

knows how to live well , and because I

have this good career.

Any obstacle— if we take it, we can

really change it to make our life bigger.

The more obstacles we experience , the

more we understand about life and

about people and about ourselves.

What do you want to achieve in the

future?

I always thought that I wanted to

learn to speak Spanish well, but now, I

really want to learn to speak Arabic.

I’m curious about and interested in

Arabic; I did a lot of work in countries

in the Middle East in teaching English

teachers.

I have worked in Morocco, Jordan,

and Egypt. I spent five years going

there every year for a part of the year

to these countries, but I have never

been in Saudi Arabia. I have always

wanted to be able to spend some time

teaching in Saudi Arabia. The Arabic

language is very hard but also very

rich. For me one of the most attractive

things about Arabic is the Arabic

speaking people I know. I have so

many dear friends that speak Arabic

and it’ll be great to communicate with

them.

Your dream job?

I don’t really have a dream job; in

my life I have had a lot of really inter-

esting jobs, all of them with people. I

worked for ten years with immigrants

and refugees. I thought that my biggest

dream job in my life would be to work

in refugee camps and be like Mother

Teresa. But because I have a lot of chil-

dren, I couldn’t take my children to go

live in refugee camps and work there.

But I worked in an immigrant refugee

program for ten years and that was a

great job and I loved it.

I taught English in prison for people

whose papers have expired but who

still stayed in the United States. I was

working in a prison during 9/11 when

the government was putting a lot of

people in prison because they were

suspicious of them. It was a terrible

injustice, but it was really good work.

Moreover, I have worked with inter-

national students for 15 years. I always

want to work with different languages.

I don’t like to have a job where I have

to sit on a chair so anything that in-

volves working with people but not

sitting at a desk would be my dream

job.

If you could change one thing in your

life, what would it be, why?

If I could change one thing, I

wouldn’t have chewed so much bubble

gum when I was a kid and a teenager.

Bubble gum is not really good for your

teeth.

I have seven children and seven

grandchildren, so I think I’m too old to

chew bubble gum. I wouldn’t chew so

much bubble gum and I wouldn’t like

bubble gum and candy so much.

What is your slogan in life, and could

you explain it please?

For a long time my slogan in life

was “Do it now!” and then Nike took it

and started using it, but it was mine for

20 years before Nike knew about it !

Because I have so many kids, I would

say to my kids, “Can you get the table

ready for dinner?”or “Can you put

your books back and put them where

they belong?” and they would still be

sitting there. So I would say, “Guys, do

it now because if you do it now it’s

done.” But now I’m getting a little lazy.

Some things don’t really matter if I do

it now or later, so now I don’t have a

new motto but my old motto was do it

now. And I had it before Nike!

What do think about UCS Language

Academy students, and what is your

experience about teaching them so

far?

I think that Language Academy

students are amazing in how smart they

are. I can tell that they are really good

students in their own education system

in their country and that they come here

as really good students. So if you take

really good students and smart people

and put them into a good school, it is

really an amazing thing. I also feel like

they are not really students and there

isn’t a division between teachers and

students. For me, students are more

equal here than at any other schools I

have been in. This is one of the first

things I have noticed and I appreciate it

all the time.

Finally, my position is Academic

Director, and I really want to know that

the students who come here can reach

their goals. We are doing our best to

help the students achieve their goals

and we are helping to support people to

move forward in very best way that we

can. I am open to any suggestions. I

would like to know what is working

and what is not, people’s ideas ,and

what we can do to continually improve.

I think it’s important for the Language

Academy to continually improve what

we do so that we are sure that our stu-

dents all getting very best.

P A G E 6 Remembering Cesar Chavez by Lily Sabajan

Cesar Chavez’ birthday, March 31,

1927, has become Cesar Chavez Day, a

state holiday in three U.S. states.

Many parks, cultural centers, librar-

ies, schools and streets have been named

after him. This day is to serve as a trib-

ute to his hard work.

In California this day is celebrated as

a state holiday, intended to promote ser-

vice to the community in honor of Cesar

Chavez’s life and work.

Many, but not all state government

offices and community colleges and

libraries are closed. Many public schools

in the state are closed too. Texas also

recognizes the day; it’s optional in Ari-

zona and Colorado.

Chavez e was an American Mexican

farm worker like his parents. He was a

labor leader, and civil rights activ-

ist ,who, with Dolores Huerta, co-

founded the National Farm Worker As-

sociation. This organization later became

the United Farm Workers (UFW). He

became the best known Latino Civil

Rights Activist, with a public relations

approach to unionism. He also used

nonviolence tactics. This dedication to

his work earned him numerous friends

and supporters, including Robert Ken-

nedy and Jesse Jackson.

Cesar Chavez dedicated his life to

improving treatment, better pay, good

living conditions and immigration infor-

mation to the farm workers in the fields.

He also brought the national awareness

to the dangers of pesticides to the work-

ers health.

In the 1970s, this movement forced

growers to recognize the UFW as a bar-

gaining agent for 50,000 field workers in

California and Florida. Cesar Chavez

and his union won several victories for

the workers and their families when

many growers signed contracts with the

union, but he continued to fight for farm

workers.

Cesar Chavez died on April 23,1993,

in San Luis, Arizona. His widow Helen

Chavez donated his black jacket to the

National Museum of America History.

After his death, he became a major his-

torical icon for the Latino community.

Many workers and Hispanics created the

slogan “SI SE PUEDE,” which is Span-

ish for “YES,IT IS POSSIBLE” or

“YES, IT CAN BE DONE.”

All the work he did for the farms

made a lot of improvements for labor

unions. Cesar Chavez helped the His-

panic community and all the people

who work very hard in this country to

have respect and dignity.

Haoyang Wen (Howard)

Jamaican Lightning

What can you do in 9.58 seconds? Maybe you can only cross a road; maybe you can only lace up one of your shoes; maybe you can only take a bite of your hamburger.

However, this man, can accomplish a great-est achievement in 9.58 seconds. He comes from Jamaica.

This Jamaican is the fastest human on land. He is the best sprinter now, a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is also

the world re-cord and Olympic re-cord holder in the 100 me-ters, the 200 meters and the 4×100 meters relay with his team-mates.

His name is Usain Bolt , just like his last name “Bolt” which means light-ning. People call him “Lightning Bolt”.

This young man has never admitted defeat in his 26-year-old life time. Poverty didn’t stop him from pursuing his dream. When he was in juvenile

sports school, Bolt’s height was already over 1.9 meters. Several years later, his height was 1.96 meters. His coach and many experts said that he was too tall

to be a sprinter because tall people have less co-ordination, and it is very hard to run faster. See Bolt on p. 7 for the rest of the story and Bolt’s statistics.

Bolt Continued from p. 6

However, Bolt firmly believes that he can overcome all the de-fects of nature by his industrious training. No one is a born cham-pion, and no one is a born loser, but Bolt’s story tells us that a champion is made of determina-tion .

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

I am a girl with healthy

and strong hair which is

long, thick, and a little

curly. After doing perma-

nents and dying many times,

I noticed that my hair has

become drier and more brit-

tle than before, especially

after I arrived in LA, which

is much drier than Shanghai.

I have fought off the dry-

ness and brittleness of my

hair for a long time, since I

was a high school student.

Based on my several years’

experience, I want to share

my hair care products with

you.

1. Kerastase Nutritive Se-

rum Oléo-Relax

This is the best hair prod-

uct I have ever used. I love

it so much. It touches like

oil but not as oily as normal

oil.

When you apply it to

your hair, your hair will be

smooth and not frizzy any

more. In fall and winter

when it is windy, the dry-

ness of my hair will become

worse and frizzier when the

wind blows. I always use a

small portion of this product

and apply it on my frizzy

hair. 125ml-$39.00

2. TRESemme' Heat De-

fence Styling Spray

This product is recom-

mended by my friend. I

bought it just last week and

have used it twice. I think it

is a good product because it

is pretty cheap. It is a spray

you can apply it before us-

ing your hair-dryer or

straighteners to protect your

hair from damage. I always

use ceramic irons to make

my hairstyles, and I have

never found a product which

can effectively prevent my

hair from heat damage. I

hope it will work wonder-

fully on my hair. 300 ml-

$8.35

3. Organic Root Stimulator

Hair Mayonnaise

This hair mask looks like

real mayonnaise and smells

like delicious food. I love

the flavor of this mask. It

makes my hair smooth and

smells good when I am

sleeping. The mask contains

whole egg protein, nettle,

safflower oil, soybeans and

amino acids which can pro-

vide your hair lots of protein

in order to make it stronger.

Another reason I like it is it

Is

cheap price. 16oz-$7.99

4. Frederic Fekkai Protein

Rx Anti-Breakage Treat-

ment Mask

This mask is pretty famous

and relatively expensive. I

think it works nice on your

hair. It provides lots of pro-

tein for your damaged hair.

It smells like milk and the

fragrance is so cute that

makes me can’t help using

it. However, the price is ex-

pensive and the portion is

small compared to other

products. If you think it is

affordable to you and I

strongly recommend this

product to you. 5.5 oz-

$30.00

Hair Care Recommendations by Yvoon Wei

BOLT’S STATISTICS

HAPPY EASTER

Christians all over the world will celebrate the

Easter Holiday on Sunday, April 8.

Do you know the nicknames of

American cities? Take this quiz and

see what you know.

Send your answers in to

[email protected] and you

have a chance to win a coffee card.

1. The Big Apple

A. San Francisco

B. Seattle

C. New York City

2. The Big Easy

A. New Orleans

B. Chicago

C. Philadelphia

3. The Windy City

A. Boston

B. Chicago

C. Baltimore

4. The Motor City

A. St. Louis

B. Miami

C. Detroit

5. Sin City

A. Las Vegas

B. Cincinnati

C. Washington D. C.

6. The Big Pineapple

A. Miami

B. Honolulu

C. San Diego

7. The Magic City

A. Denver

B. Miami

C. Portland

8. The Coffee Capital

A. Seattle

B. Phoenix

C. Kansas City

9. Beantown

A. San Antonio

B. Memphis

C. Boston

We have a winner! Last week’s winner was Shu

(Rancho) Zhou. Enjoy your

coffee card!

USC Language

Academy

Rossier School of

Education

Phone: 213-740-0080

Fax: 213-740-0088

Web: www.usc.edu/langacad

American Cities Quiz

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 A P R I L 6 , 2 0 1 2

Editor

Sisi Lin

Assistant Editor

Yara Hadi

Reporters

Sara Alshehri

Lilly Sabajan

Yining (Yvoon) Wei

Haoyang (Howard) Wen

Fengyi (Phoebe) Zhang

Advisor

Sonja Lovelace

THE TAN STAFF