Standalone Language

Beaconhouse Clifton Campus – IB World School

Strand: Reading

Objective : Comprehension Skills

Task: Comprehension

Name:__________________________ PYP Year_____ Sec:_______Date:____________

New Home.
Sally did not even want to visit California, much less live there, but when your parents are medical research
scientists, they travel where the investigation takes them—and you go, too.

They had found a new house in California, but before they moved, Sally’s parents had to attend a conference in
Tokyo. They didn’t want Sally to miss school, so they had arranged for her to stay with her brother, Matt, in
Seattle until they returned.

“I don’t want to leave Chicago, where all my friends are,” thought Sally. None of her complaining mattered, and
off she went to California while her parents flew to their meeting in Tokyo.

“Sally,” said Matt one evening, “I’ve got an all-day movie shoot tomorrow. I may be late, so I asked Mrs.
Carpenter if you could stay next door until I get home.”

“Mrs. Carpenter works in the daytime! If she’s not home, I’m going to be alone at her house. Why can’t I just
stay here?”

“No good, kid—alone is not an option. The nanny that cares for the Carpenters’ baby will be there with you.”

Sally arrived at the Carpenters’ after school and was greeted by a young Asian girl not much older than she was.
Her name was Mei Li. She let Sally in but excused herself right away to comfort the crying baby.

Sally thought the baby would never stop, but somehow Mei Li managed to quiet him down. She returned to the
living room where Sally was and pulled out a box of embroidery. Sally pretended to be studying as Mei Li
stitched, but the silence between them felt awkward.

As Sally was searching for something to say, her companion spoke. “Do you like living here, Sally?”

“No,” replied Sally. I just want to go home.”

“Where is home?”

“Chicago. We just moved here. My parents are traveling, and I miss my friends and my old school.”

“I miss my friends, too. My home is in Vietnam. When I arrived here, I spent quite a while learning English and
looking for employment. Finally, after many interviews, the Carpenters offered me this job. Since baby Aydy
reminds me of my little nephew back home, when I care for him, I don’t feel quite so homesick.”

Sally thought about what Mei Li had said. Vietnam was thousands of miles away. Mei Li came from a culture
very different from the one she was immersed in now. She had left her home for a place where she had no
family or friends—not even a brother who cared enough never to leave her alone. Why didn’t she seem as upset
as Sally did?
 Standalone Language

Sally realized that they had a lot in common—they were both homesick, but they showed it in different ways.
Maybe if she stopped worrying about herself for a change, there might be something Sally could do to help
them both.

“Mei Li, your embroidery is beautiful. Is it hard to do? Can you teach me some of the stitches?”

The other girl smiled, and the room didn’t seem so cold anymore.

“Take a look at this,” she said at last. “This is the pattern that I learned from.”

Before long, neither girl was thinking about homesickness at all.

Questions:
1. What is Sally’s brother’s profession? How do you know? Cite evidence from the text.

2. Why did Sally want to stay at home that day instead of going to Mrs. Carpenter’s house?

3. Compare Sally’s attitude at the beginning of the story with her attitude at the end. How does she change?
What does she learn?

4. Explain the bold underlined sentence in the passage.

5. Write down the synonyms of 2 bold words in the text

2 words from the Synonyms (one word only)

passage 
1.

2.