01: New to America

Activity 1. Look at the photo and read the text below

Ayako was new to America. She came to America speaking only her native language. She brought her eight-year-old daughter, Keiko, with her. She was all she had in the world.

They found an apartment in Manhattan. They were there for only a month when a neighbor’s dog jumped over the fence. The dog ran toward Ayako’s daughter. Ayako came just in time and faced the dog; her daughter was behind her. The dog ran away when Ayako started to scream. She was going to punch it in the nose. The dog turned around.

Shaking, Ayako took her daughter upstairs. They stayed in the apartment all weekend. Then Ayako found another apartment, close to the school that her daughterwas going to attend.

She and her daughter strolled around Central Park every morning. One day her daughter began coughing badly. She had an asthma attack. All the walking was making her asthma worse.

Ayako knew that she had to buy a car. So she called up the Honda dealer. She talked to a salesman who spoke her language. She told him that she wanted to buy a new car if he could come over to pick her up. The salesman said he would be right over.

Activity 2. True or False: State whether these sentences are correct, and if not, rephrase the sentence to make it true.

1. Ayako was new to America but she could already speak English well.

2. Keiko was her only family and they traveled to America together.

3. All the walking helped Keiko recover from asthma.

4. Ayako got in touch with a salesman who barely spoke her language.

5. The Honda dealer promised to come first thing in the morning.

Activity 3. Discussion.

1. Re-tell the story in your own words.

2. Have you ever thought of living in another country?

3. Why is it valuable to learn English?