Bobby was a boy who lived in a town called Boise. He went to school with his friends, who were just like Bobby. They dressed the same, talked the same, and all grew up in the same neighborhood as Bobby. He had lots of friends!

One day, Bobby’s mom came home and told Bobby they needed to talk.

“Bobby,” she said. “I have some great news, and some sad news. The great news is that we’re going to be going on an adventure! We’re going to be moving to the big city.”

Bobby was very excited! He thought this new adventure sounded fun.

“But what’s the sad news, mom?” Bobby asked.

“The big city is very far away, and we won’t see our friends here for a long while.” Mom replied. Bobby hadn’t thought about this. He would miss his friends very much. But, he thought, he’d get to meet lots of new friends!

The day of the big move came and went, and Bobby was surprised to find that they were living in an apartment, in a tall building in the city. In Boise, Bobby and his mom had lived in their own house. But the big city was different; most people here lived in big buildings.

The next week, Bobby was introduced to his class at school. When Bobby met his new classmates, he found they were very different than his friends from Boise. Some of them dressed in different clothes and spoke languages Bobby didn’t understand. Some of them were hard to understand because of these languages, too.

Bobby wasn’t sure what to think at first. Luckily, his teacher Dustin was easy to understand, and was very nice. When recess started, he went to talk to Dustin.

“Bobby, why aren’t you out playing with the other kids?” Dustin asked.

“They’re so different! At my last school, everyone was like me, and we’d play football at recess. Everyone here plays soccer, but I don’t know how to play.” Bobby replied.

“Go ask Tina or Miguel if they can help you. They’re very nice and helped the last new kid in school make friends. They’ll help you learn.” Dustin said.

Bobby was nervous, but he did as his teacher suggested, and went to talk to Tina.

“Hi Bobby!” Tina said when she saw Bobby coming to him. “Me and some other kids are going to play a game of football. Would you like to join us?”

“I love football!” Bobby replied. “But I thought you played soccer, not football.”

Tina looked puzzled for a moment, and then said “Oh! We call it football here. We call the football you play ‘American football’. Most people here don’t know American football.”

Bobby was very sad. He thought everyone knew football and didn’t understand why Tina was calling it American football.

Tina saw Bobby wasn’t happy, and said “Bobby, we can show you how to play. Ben moved here last year, and we taught him. Now he loves it!”

Ben heard his name and came over to meet Bobby. “Hi Bobby, I’m Ben. You can be on my team, and I’ll help you out.”

Bobby wasn’t sure, but decided it was better than sitting and watching everyone else having fun. To his surprise, he enjoyed playing and even scored a goal before the end of the game!

Afterwards, another boy, Carlos, came to congratulate Bobby.

“You did really good,” Carlos said. “My family is having a picnic this weekend. A bunch of my friends from school are coming to play football in the park, would you like to join us?”

“That sounds fun! Let me tell my mom and see if we can come.” Bobby replied.