FENGYI (PHOEBE) ZHANG

In many movies and fairy tales, the Middle

Ages are full of mystery. Kings, princesses,

princes and knights are the symbols of the Mid-

dle Ages. Last Friday, the Language Academy

offered us a wonderful trip to appreciate the

charm of the Middle Ages. We went to the Me-

dieval Times Dinner and Tournament—a place

where we can see what the Middle Ages people

saw andeat what they ate.

The Medieval Times Dinner and Tourna-

ment is located in Buena Park, California. Dur-

ing the time we were on the bus to Medieval

Times, all we could see were modern buildings.

Suddenly, a beautiful castle caught our eyes

immediately—that was our destination. The

beautiful Middle Age style reminded me of

many movies and fairy tales. After stepping into

the castle, I saw many people dressed up as me-

dieval people. Men wore armor with swords,

axes, maces and spears in their hands. Women

wore long and heavy layered skirts.

All the visitors were divided into six

groups: red, yellow, green, blue, black & white,

red & yellow. Our dining room was located in a

big arena, and we ate our dinner and watched

the Middle Ages knights fight at the same time.

We were divided into six groups because there

were six handsome knights with six different

colors of tabards.

All the plates, bowls and cups were made

of rough metal and the dishes were huge, espe-

cially the oven-roasted Chicken. See Medieval Times on p. 3

Group Picture Friday, April 20, 2012 at 12pm Doheny Library Front Steps Walk with your Oral Skills teacher after class to Doheny Library and let’s take a picture together at the front steps! If you want to share your end-of-the-semester reflections, please see Jessica after the photo shoot and we’ll videotape you. You might find your-self in our Closing Ceremony video!

Closing Ceremony Friday, April 27, 2012 Come celebrate the end of the semes-ter in style at the Radisson Grand Ball-room. We’ll serve brunch, play games and watch a video for the end of the semester Closing Ceremony! Certificates of completion will be given out on this day. Make sure to bring your camera to take pictures with all of your friends and teachers!

Dream Back to the Middle Ages

I NS I D E T H I S

I S S UE :

Language

Labs

2

Announce-

ments

3

Hiking for

Fun

4

Cities and

Nicknames

5

Campus

Calendar

6

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

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

See the schedule of

activities from now to

the end of t he term on

p. 3

Try hiking for fun and

great exercise. See p. 4.

Do you know the nick-

names of important

American cities? Find

out on p. 5 Language Academy students as medieval kings.

P A G E 2

P A G E 2

Tuesday, April 17th

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 209 American Culture Jemal WIlliams 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

starting TODAY at NOON until MONDAY, April 16th at

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

please email Pamela at pyamamot@usc.edu

Thursday, April 19th

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 209 American Culture Jemal Williams 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

P A G E 3

Medieval Times Continued from p. 1

Because of no forks and knives, I had

to eat with my hands. I ripped the meat

and swallowed it just like the wild Mid-

dle Ages people. The show was also

amazing; six knights fought each other

for glory and the winner would lead

their soldiers to defeat the aggressor.

The sparks were flying when their

swords clashed together, and the loud

sound was everywhere in the arena

when spears hit shields. I felt that I had

traveled through time to the Middle

Ages.

Here is the address for you if you

missed this activity. 7662 Beach Boule-

vard, Buena Park, CA.

Language Academy students step back in time.

Last two weeks of Spring 2012

Calendar of Events Checklist

You only have two more weeks until the end of the semester. Seize every

opportunity to improve your English and make the most of your time here!

To view an online version of this calendar, go to www.usc.edu/langacad/calendar.

Remember to check off the items you’ll need to finish up the semester!

* Means Mandatory Event

DATE EVENT

April 13 Venice Beach Activity from 12:30-5pm

(If it rains, Indoor Mini Golf @ Howard Hughes Promenade)

April 19 *Deadline to fill out and return yellow ENROLLMENT STATUS UPDATE FORM to

your Oral Skills teacher

April 20 *Attend GROUP PICTURE DAY

12:00pm – in front of Doheny Library

April 21-22 LA Times Festival of Books – Meet your favorite authors and attend this festival if

you love to read!

April 23 or 25

*Evaluate your teachers and the Language Academy program. This is your time to offer suggestions to make the Language Academy better!

April 20-25 *Study for and take Final Exams

April 25

Last Day to pay for Summer A Session fees if you are staying at the Language Academy

See Gil Cho in JEF 204

April 27

*Attend Closing Ceremony 9:00am – Radisson Grand Ballroom

Last Day to receive an early payment discount for summer A session

April 29 *Move-out of Parkside Apartments

if you are NOT staying at the Language Academy for summer A session 2012

P A G E 4

SISI LIN

YVOON WEI

Spring is

coming, and the

weather is getting warm. Putting off

the thick and heavy coat, we have

taken on vivid and colorful clothes

and pans. Don’t waste the fantastic

weather staying at home. Go out to

enjoy the sunshine and embrace the

nature. If you don’t have any specific

plan, hiking is a good choice!

There are many hiking places in

Los Angeles, varying different diffi-

culty levels. Hikers can choose the

right place based on their own physi-

cal ability. We tried two hiking

places in the past weeks, and we are

willing to share our experience with

others.

The first place we went hiking

was the Griffith Park Trail, which is

famous for the views of Griffith Ob-

servatory, the Hollywood sign and

the LA Basin. It is around two miles.

The start of the Griffith Park Trails is

near Los Feliz Boulevard. There are

lots of free parking spacesnear 2333

Fern Dell Dr, Los Angeles, CA

90068. You can park the car there

and start hiking.

We were freshmen when we first

went hiking, so we didn’t prepare

enough before we went. We didn’t

track the route and get some advice

from other hikers. There was actu-

ally a regular route for hikers, which

was safe and easy for walking. How-

ever, we followed two adventurers to

go to a path, which was very cliffy

and dangerous. The two adventurers

went so fast, and we could catch up

with them. We were in a panic at

first because our no one was there,

and our cellphones had no service.

The good thing was we had 10 peo-

ple in our hiking team, and we fi-

nally figured out the way. Some of

us had been to the Griffith Observa-

tory and seen the Hollywood sign

many times. However, we were ex-

cited and proud when we arrived at

the Griffith Observatory that time; it

was the first time that we had gone

there on foot, and we overcame

many difficulties in the process.

We went to Eaton Canyon last

week. It is a nature area park and a

nature center located in Pasadena. It

was the second hiking for us, and we

did more research this time. We

found the hiking trails on their web-

site (http://www.ecnca.org/), and we

were familiar with the trails before

we came. In addition, since the

weather was very hot last Saturday,

we took some pills and brought more

water and sunscreen lotion with us to

avoid sunstroke. Although the Eaton

Canyon trails are four miles, longer

than the Griffith Park Trails, the

route is safer and flat. We found it

easy for hiking. The surprising thing

for the Eaton Canyon trails is when

you reach the top, you will find a

nice waterfall.

Based on our two hiking experi-

ence, it is essential to do enough re-

search about the trails and the

weather before you go hiking. Avoid

rain, windy, and stormy days for hik-

ing. It is always a good idea to go

with some people. Not only to make

your trip interesting, but more im-

portantly, to make yourself safe, as

hiking is an activity that has poten-

tial danger. We believe you will

benefit from hiking. Enjoy it and

fight on!

Hiking for Fun and Exercise Life in L.A.

P A G E 5 Cities and Their Nicknames by Sara Al Shehri

Have you ever wondered way

many people call New York City as

the Big Apple, or San Francisco as

the Fog City, or why they call Min-

neapolis and St Paul the Twin Cit-

ies?

Many cities and states in the

United States have special nick-

names. Each nickname was given to

the cities either from a famous

story, a famous person who decided

to give this certain nickname, or a

special thing that is very popular in

this city.

One of the famous nicknames is

the Big Apple. The story of New

York City being called this nick-

name started in the early 1920s,

when the word "apple" was used to

refer to the most important races

that were around the city. Apple

referred to the prizes that being

awarded for these races.

The first use of "Big Apple" to

refer to New York City appeared

when a writer for the New York

Morning Telegraph, John Fitzger-

ald, referred to New York City's

races as "Around the Big Apple."

Later, some New York City's

jazz musicians began to refer to

New York City as the "Big Apple."

After that there were many people

who referred to New

York City as the Big

Apple. In fact, a fa-

mous saying in show

business was "There

are many apples on

the tree, but only

one Big Apple."

Another one is

"Gateway to the

West," which refers

to St. Louis City in

Missouri. The rea-

son for this nick-

name is because a

long time ago, most

Americans were liv-

ing in the east. Al-

though it was very

dangerous to travel to the west, a

group of pioneers, started a trip to

the west. The Arch represents the

gateway to the West, and St. Louis

was the first city in their journey.

Many nicknames refer to cities

because of the famous thing or

product the cities have. For exam-

ple: Boston named as Beantown

because one of the favorite dishes

that Bostonians like is baked beans.

Moreover, Detroit is named the

Motor City because long ago, De-

troit was recognized as the historic

heart of the American automotive

industry .The first line at Henry

Ford's automobile factory was in

Detroit. Finally, as the famous say-

ing “Detroit is the motor city and

that’s what we do. “

The Gateway to the West –St. Louis City

MUSIC

Classical Guitar Department

Spring Recital

Saturday, April 14, 2012 : 2:00pm

University Park Campus

Alfred Newman Recital Hall

Free, RSVP

Thornton School guitar students

present the semester’s work in en-

semble and solo performances.

SPECIAL EVENT

Los Angeles Times

Festival of Books

A delight for book lovers — one of

Southern California’s most cher-

ished and engaging weekend cele-

brations returns to USC.

This year’s Los Angeles Times Fes-

tival of Books at USC is pleased to

present the special dedication of

U.S. stamps that honor American

poets (arranged by U.S. Postal Ser-

vice selection committee member

and USC faculty member Dana

Gioia); a “name the dino” contest for

neighborhood elementary schools; a

new and gently-used book drive

especially benefiting students in the

USC Family of Schools in South

Los Angeles Planning to attend?

Visit festivalofbooks2012.usc.edu

for news, event schedules, direc-

tions, and

information

on parking

and public

transit.

Saturday,

April 21, 10

a.m.-6 p.m.

Sunday,

April 22, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

USC Language

Academy

Rossier School of

Education

Phone: 213-740-0080

Fax: 213-740-0088

Web: www.usc.edu/langacad

Campus Calendar: April 13-22

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 6 A P R I L 1 3 , 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

THE TAN STAFF

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

Upcoming stories

Howard Wen discusses Mike Tyson’s boxing career and his controversial legacy. Yara Hadi has a ‘phobia’ quiz for a chance to win a coffee car! Personality Profile of Rancho! Look for the End-of-Term Sur-vey next week. Who is the fun-niest person at Language Acad-emy? Who is the most fashion-able? Cast your votes for the final issue of The Academy News

Oral Skills Class Pictures Make sure to take a picture of your Oral Skills

class and send it by Friday, April 20 to slovelac@usc.edu