My adult immigrant students of English as a second language recently told me about their first impressions of New York. Trees, clean air, canned food, shopping carts, fall leaves, low buildings, tall buildings, a lot of activity, and much, much more.
Why are all of the trees without leaves in March? (from Mexico)
When I went to the shop for food, it all looked very nice. When I got home, I opened the can. Then, I had to throw it away. The food inside the can was terrible. Shopping for food was very confusing. (from Myanmar)
When I came to this city, it was a lovely fall day. The sun was shining, the weather was warm. I looked out the window of the car from the airport and almost all the leaves were changing color. They were red, green, yellow, purple, and so on. Everywhere it looked like a huge, beautiful pictures. (from China)
Why were all of the buildings and houses so low as I left the airport? (from China)
When I saw many people from other countries and I heard different languages, I was surprised by the diversity. I went with my cousin to Times Square and I felt confused because everyone was doing different things. (from Peru)
I felt chilly because the weather was cooler than in my country in September. In November it snowed. It was the first time I saw snow in my life and it was very interesting. (from Hong Kong)
In my first week, I felt so happy because it was like a vacation. My sister and I visited many places. But then, my sister went back to work and I stayed home alone. Even though I talked with friends on-line, I was still sad. (from China)
Everything to me was new.
When I arrived in New York, the first stop was Flushing. When I got to Main Street, Flushing, I was shocked. I though is this New York? Is this America? No, I thought. It seemed that I had gone back to China. I even thought I had gone back to my hometown. Almost everyone I saw had an Asian face. I heard nearly everybody spoke Chinese. And there were lots of stores, restaurants, and banks with Chinese names. (from China)
When I went for a walk near my living place, I saw that nearly everyone had a little cart. I thought this was strange at first, but later I found out that people went to the supermarket to buy food and vegetables only once or twice a week. They bought so many things for the week, so they used a small cart to carry the many things. It was strange for me because we went to the supermarket every day to buy fresh foods instead of frozen foods. Now I do the same things as the other people do on the street: pushing a small cart to carry things. (from China)
I came to New York with my family. We met my sister-in-law at the airport. On the way from the airport I saw many tall buildings, a lot of gorgeous signboards, and subways. (from China)
I smelled the fresh air. I liked the green trees. (from China)
My first day in this country I was very excited because it was the first time that I traveled abroad. (from Peru)