Moving to a Different Country
by Sophia from Seattle

Sophia moved to America from Germany in 5th grade.

Moving to a different country is always difficult. Often kids don’t know the language very well and the culture is always different. Even simple things like national sports aren’t always known by people from different countries.

When I first moved to America in 5th grade, I didn’t know anything about baseball, football, basketball, or hockey. I didn’t know the rules and I had never watched a football game. There are a lot of phrases in American English relating to sports that were unknown to me. For example, I didn’t know what “three strikes and you’re out” meant, so when I was told that this was a rule in school, I thought if I did something wrong I would be hit three times and then thrown out of school!

When kids move to a different country, there will always be things that they miss about their old home. The food is often different and hard to get used to, and they miss all their old friends. It’s not always easy to make new friends, especially if they don’t speak the language very well. They can seem very shy at first. You might think they can’t speak the language and so you don’t bother to talk to them, but often they are just afraid to say something wrong, so they keep quiet. If you know people who have just moved from another country, be extra friendly. They may start opening up to you, and you can learn a lot from people who have lived in a different place.