The Academy News - Spring 2013 Final Issue

First Day of Classes Thursday, May 23 Come to the Jefferson Courtyard at 8:30 a.m. to pick up your new schedules and go to your first class. Classes will start at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.

Be a PAL: Continuing and Returning Students can volunteer to help new stu-dents with Orientation, May 21-22. Please see Pam You can help the new students by answering their questions and guiding them around campus. Email Pam at Email Pam at [email protected] next Friday, April 19th at 12pm in JEF Courtyard.

Trojan Spirit Spring 2013

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Announcements 2

Another Side of

Saudi Arabic

3

LAX Shuttle

Service

4

Survey Results:

Superlatives

5

Profile:

Paul Dykman

6

End of Session

Quiz

7

More Photos of

Oral Skills

8

Program Notes

The Academy News M A Y 3 , 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E 5 6 , I S S U E 1 4

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

Language Academy students on the steps of Doheny Library, Friday, April 26.

P A G E 2

Be a PAL—Peer Academy Leader

Former and current students are wel-

come to join us during Orientation to

help out the USC Language Academy

staff as PALs. You’ll get to help the

new students get to testing, answer

questions, eat lunch with them, and

help them with email, USCard and

many other things. Email Pam at

[email protected] if you are inter-

ested in helping out during Orientation

on May 21 and 22.

Housing Information

Sunday, May 5, is the LAST day to move out of Parkside Apartments.

You must move out by 5:00 PM. If you are not continuing to live in USC housing this fall semester, you MUST move out of your

apartment. Remember to have your RA check your room for cleanliness and damages, remove all of your belongings, and return your keys to

the customer service front desk before you leave.

Keep in Touch! Follow us on Twitter AND Facebook!

Go to www.usc.edu/langacad, scroll down

to the bottom, and click “Follow” for Twitter and become a fan of the USC Language Academy group on Facebook. You’ll receive up-to-the-minute updates on what’s happen-ing at the Language Academy, as well as news from around Los Angeles!

For students who will leave the USC Language Academy, make sure to join our Facebook USC Lan-guage Academy Alumni Group for networking, events, and more!!

Summer A 2013 classes begin on

Thursday, May 23 Come to the

JEF courtyard to pick up your

schedules at 8:30am.

Right: Grammar 502 with Todd Kolberg

A small studio, furnished (bed,

desk, chair, closet, stove, refrig-

erator, microwave, air condi-

tioner and internet), laundry

room and gated parking are also

available., almost 5 minutes

walking to USC (gate #6 on

Vermont), DPS always at each

end of the street, move in May

5th. Go to http://

losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/

P A G E 3

Mareen’s friend raised money for the Japanese relief effort by giving haircuts and donating

products at his hair salon.

Another Side of

Saudi Arabia

By AWS ALMUSALLAM

Saudi Arabia is a special

country that has many different

cultures. Those cultures not only

differentiate from region to region

but also might differentiate from

family to family.

There are many different ways

to get married there. One way was

mentioned in The Academy News

last week by Xiaowen Liang in her

article, “Getting Married in Saudi

Arabia.” That way which comes

through families who are supposed

to choose a girl for their son is

common around the world. An-

other kind can come directly from

individuals to choose their own

partners.

Women have taken important

roles that have never been there

before in our community in the

last few years. They have entered

many organizations, have gotten

significant jobs, and have been

paid as much as men who are in

the same positions.

Since male and female are

now able to interact with each

other, the new generation might

meet and deal daily with many

people from the other gender.

Therefore, that gives them the op-

portunity to pick their own part-

ners by themselves.

My friend Abdulrahaman, a

doctor, and his colleague Fatimah,

both live in Saudi Arabia. They

fell in love with each other and

decided to get married. With the

approval of their families, they got

married, and they are very happy

with their two children Sara and

Khalid.

Abdulrahman said, “I am so

happy in my life since I got mar-

ried to the woman I love, and

nothing will prevent us from

spending the rest of our lives to-

gether.”

Upper Left: Oral Skills 102 with Delia Racines; Upper Right: Oral Skills 303 with Barbara Holmes; Lower Left: Oral Skills 502 with Nate

Brown; Lower Right: Oral Skills 404 with James Hutzell.

P A G E 4

Bovard Auditorium is the

venue for many concerts dur-

ing the academic year.

Going to LAX? Airport Shuttles are worth the price.

_____________

BY SUNHO AN

How was the summer session B

for you? Was it hard? Was it busy? The summer session B finished this week. You were able to make many friends from different countries and make precious memories. It is the time to say good bye to each other. Some people are leaving USC Lan-

guage Academy, some people will stay here.

Are you planning to leave here? When you leave LA, if someone gives you a ride, it will be very good and convenient. But if not, you should take a bus or taxi. However, using buses is not good for moving your big suitcases, and it is too ex-pensive to go to the airport by taxi.

Here is the information for alter-native transportation to go to the airport. It is the airport shuttle. Air-port shuttle companies provide shuttle service for a reasonable price, and they will help you to carry all of your stuff to the front of

the airport. If you are interested in this shuttle

bus, you can call or check some internet website. Checking internet websites is easier and more conven-ient to make reservations. Their website will suggest a form to fill out your flight information. After you complete the form, they will show to you the proper time to pick you up. Also, you can choose the shuttle that you want.

The regular shuttle price is less than $20. For example, Prime Time Shuttle provides a regular shuttle for only $15 from USC campus or near to LAX airport.

Upper Left: Oral Skills 503 with Paul

Dykman; Upper Right: Oral Skills

401 with Priscilla Taylor; Above: Oral

Skills 403 with Jeminah Jones; Right:

Oral Skills 301 with Sonja Lovelace

P A G E 5

Language Academy

Superlatives

Many thanks to the Language Academy students who par-ticipated in the end-of-term survey. Here are the results. Are any of your friends men-tioned here?

SURVEY RESULTS

Funniest Teacher Todd and Michael

Most fashionable Student

Victor and Serena

Most beautiful/handsome Student

Sandy, Aws, and Thamer

Funniest Student Dalal Alkhodairi

Moody

If you could bring some-thing from your country?

Arabic coffee My family

My dog My bank Cheese

My horse

If you could take some-thing home from L.A

The weather A beautiful girl

The beach Santa Monica

Language Academy stuff Hospital and doctor

Favorite Activity Disneyland

Basketball game

How many friends did you

make this term?

Fewer than 10 28%

11-20 38%

More than 20 34%

What would you do

differently? Make more friends

Study harder

What did you like best

about The Academy News? Valentine’s Day

Arabic restaurant Dubai

NBA Game Activity News

Top Left: Oral Skills 203 with Ixchell Reyes; Top Right: Oral Skills 302 with Marilyn Gomez; Lower Left: Oral Skills Beginning with Katie

Guevara; Loower Right: Grammar 501 with Heather Robertson.

P A G E 6

Personality Profile: Paul Dykman

By ALIBEK BISSEMBAYEV

Editor’s Note: Alibek interviewed Lan-

guage Academy instructor Paul Dykman

about his background and his work.

Could you please tell us about yourself?

Where were you born and raised?

I was born in the LA area, actually

Lakewood , which is right to next to

Long Beach, so I grew up in Southern

California. I only lived in a couple of

places outside for a short time. I went to

UC Santa Barbara, which is a couple of

hours north, and I also lived in Portland,

Oregon for a couple of years, and Swe-

den for a year.

What made you chose to be teacher?

Well actually that kind reminds me

of the Sweden thing. Actually it is kind

of interesting, I always told myself that I

never wanted to be a teacher because my

mother is a high school English teacher,

and I was never interested in teaching

children just because of the authority

aspect,—you have to discipline every-

body.

Later, another thing is, when I stud-

ied language it was Spanish in a high

school, and I hated studying it because I

always thought that I wasn’t very good

at learning languages. Then I went to

Sweden for a year abroad, and I took

intensive language courses in Swedish

for the entire year, and we just had one

teacher for all the skills. Her name was

Annika.

I think she was an inspiration be-

cause she was just a very good teacher.

She was very patient and understanding,

and this made me realize what a lan-

guage teacher should do. Honestly my

high school Spanish teacher wasn’t very

good. (smiling)

Who is your moral inspirational model,

maybe famous or a relative?(mother or

father) ?

I think, as far as a personal

[inspiration], my parents are inspira-

tional for me. They work very hard, and

they never give up. Actually my father

just retired. He is 79 years old. If he

can work really hard, I can do it.

Could you please tell us about the best

part of your work?

I think interacting with students is

the best. It is almost like traveling all

over the world except you don’t have to

go anywhere. The cultural aspect is

really interesting. You know, when I

became an English teacher, I had the

option, of course, of going to another

country or staying in the U.S. I think

staying in the U.S. is little bit more inter-

esting because then you get mixed with

all different countries. You know some-

thing? If I had gone to Korea or Japan

or Thailand or Kazakhstan, I wouldn’t

have all students from only one place

and I really like the exchange of a cul-

tures between the students.

Where do you see yourself in the next

five years from now?

Here. (laughing) So far, I really like

it. I plan to just become more involved

with administration, but still teaching.

What do you think of today’s students

personalities? Are they smart enough to

study and consume more things than

decades before?

Hard to say for everybody because

everybody is different, but the difference

is technology. One thing I worry about,

I first say that students these days have

many more opportunities. They have

more opportunities to study than never

before, especially internationally.

I am sure in Kazakhstan or any

other country, if you go back for 20 – 30

years a lot of students didn’t have oppor-

tunities to go to the university. Now a

large number go to university, and the

system now is much more open. If you

decide to go to certain university, let us

say you don’t get accepted, you can go

into another university. If you didn’t do

well in a high school, you can go to the

community college, and you can get

good grades and transfer. Things are

much more open.

Sometimes I worry about technol-

ogy. I am guilty of this too because I am

addicted to my phone, and social media

and things like that, but you know it is

hard that the students have a little bit

more difficulties with paying attention in

class, and people are reading less. That’s

just my observation, but on the other

hand, maybe they are reading more be-

cause of access to the technology. So,

overall I am really excited about the

future.

I heard that you like to travel. Where

have you been for the last five years?

In the last five years I’ve been to

one place—I went to Thailand. My wife

is from Thailand. Of course I have been

to Sweden, many countries in Europe,

and I went to Guatemala a few years ago

to study Spanish. I really do lots of trav-

eling. It can be stressful sometimes. As

you know, you are kind of like a fish out

of water, but overall I really do like it.

What are your three favorite places that

you like to go most often locally?

See Paul Dykman on p. 6

Paul Dykman has been teaching at Language Academy since Fall 2012. He was previously

at UCLA’s Intensive English Program.

P A G E 7

THE LANGUAGE ACADEMY QUIZ 1. What was the USC mascot

before Traveler the horse?

a. a cat

b. a parrot

c. a dog

d. a bear

2. How many students are

enrolled at USC?

a. 20,000

b. 25,000

c. 35,000

d. 40,000

3. When was USC first

established？

a. 1870

b. 1880

c. 1890

d. 1898

4. How many libraries are

there at USC?

a. 8

b. 16

c. 20

d. 23

5. Which famous person went

to USC?

a. Barak Obama

b. Neil Armstrong

c. Jennifer Lopez

d. Angelina Jolie

6. How many flags are there at

VKC?

a. 17

b. 77

c. 107

d. 137

7. What can’t we find at the

bookstore?

a. earrings

b. bananas

c. phone cases

d. toothbrushes

8. Who is the president of

USC?

a. C. L. Max Nikias

b. Ernest J. Wilson III

c. Steven Sample

d. Jerome Houphouet-Boigny

Give you answer card to a TAN

staffer and you might win a prize!

Paul Dykman Continued from p. 6

I like to go to Downtown LA, I think it

is a really exciting place, sort of chang-

ing. I like to go there and

see what’s happening. I like to go to

museums, any sort of art museum. I love

bookstores, and they are sort of dying.

As you know, we are switching to

electronic books, and things like that.

It is harder and harder to find a really

good one. If I find a good one, I like to

go and hang around, and look at the

books.

So your hobby is reading. Could you

please recommend your favorite three

books that you like to share with us?

Sure, one is J.D. Salinger “Raise

High The Roof Beam, Carpenters,” and

it’s just kind of a funny story and also

dark. Another book that I like, you

probably don’t know, but one of my

hobbies is reading comic books. So, I do

read a lot of graphic novels, one of my

favorites is “The Watchmen,” and it is a

great graphic novel about politics and

power and things like that. Another

book is short stories by Raymond

Carver “Will You Please Be Quiet,

Please?”

What is your favorite holiday and why

do you like it?

I think is Christmas is always a good

one. Also I am not a very really reli-

gious person. It is really tied to Ameri-

can culture, and it is a time of family.

All my family are from the Southern

California, and it is a time when we all

come together, and give gifts. Of course

I have some vacation at that time.

What advice you could give for LA stu-

dents to improve their English skills?

The one thing that I know, it is a

simple thing, and people will be skepti-

cal, but students that I see succeed are

ones who go outside of the program and

make American friends and do cultural

things, and really put themselves out

there. It is kind of ironic a little bit be-

cause sometimes I get angry, when the

students stay out all night and go to

clubs and parties, but I hate to admit it

that a lot of times those students have

the best the English improvement be-

cause they are spending time with

American friends and really interacting

with the culture. You can stay home

with your grammar book and study all

you want, but your English really won’t

improve until you use it in a real setting

when interact with American culture.

Thank you very much for your interview

and have a fruitful work with LA stu-

dents in the future! We wish you suc-

cess and all the best !

USC Language Academy

Rossier School of Education

950 W. Jefferson Blvd., Suite 200

Los Angeles, CA 90089- 4

The Academy News is a weekly news-letter produced by students in the Journal-ism Elective of the USC Language Acad-emy. All students in the Language Acad-emy Program are encouraged to send

Check out The Academy News online at www.usc.edu/langacad.Go to

“Student Information” and then click

on “The Academy News.”

P A G E 8 M A Y 3 , 2 0 1 3

Phone: 213-740-0080

Fax: 213-740-0088

Web: www.usc.edu/langacad

Oral Skills 202 with Michael Cannon

The Academy News Staff took a field trip on Wednesday afternoon to the Los

Angeles County Fire Department Communications Command Center. Fire

Chief Steve Weston gave the students a tour of the dispatch control center

where all 911 calls come in. Students learned about the protocols of emer-

gency calls and the various communications networks of the LAFD.

The Academy News

Editor: Abdullah Bin Kolaib

Staff Reporters:

Yousef Alwaseifer

Alibek Bissembayev

Xiaowen (Sharon) Liang

Lora Sonbol

Above: Oral Skills 101 with Diana Hiciu; Above: Oral Skills 402 with Marisa Garcia-Crocker.

Have a wonderful summer break!