Born in the USA

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Before reading

Was anyone in your family or any of your friends born in another country?

Born in the USA

Twelve-year old Ajay Patel is a British boy who finds out that he was born in New York City and not in London as he always thought.

“I’m American?!” Ajay shrieked. “You were born in America,” Mrs Patel sighed, as though it was obvious. “Why didn’t you mention this before?” Ajay asked, hardly able to believe his ears. “You never asked,” Ajay’s mother shrugged. “Oh, I’m sorry, is there anything else I forgot to ask?” Ajay said in astonishment. “I’m not the King of Bulgaria, am I? I don’t happen to be the Archduke of Narnia, perhaps?” “Don’t be silly,” Ajay’s mum said tersely. (...) “I thought I was born in Wembley,” Ajay sighed. Ajay’s mum shook her head. “You definitely have an American passport, though the furthest we’ve been since you were born is Dorset, so we’ve never had to use it.” (...) But Ajay was already busy imagining it. His eyes were lit up like a couple of windows on a skyscraper. “Me, an American! I knew I was different. It’s probably why I’ve never fitted in at school, why I have always loved milkshakes and fries, why I say elevator instead of lift, and why I walk on the wrong side of the pavement, or as we call it, sidewalk. And don’t forget the American jeans.” “You don’t have American genes: you have Indian genes,” Ajay’s mum sighed. “No, jeans as in trousers – I love an American jean.” (...)

shrieked hylte obvious selvfølgelig mention nevne shrugged trakk på skuldrene astonishment forbløffelse tersely kort fitted in passet inn genes gener

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!

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keep fit holde seg i form

managed klarte

sewing kit sysaker

wasted no time kastet ikke bort tiden The next day Ajay was up early, out on his morning jog. Americans love people who keep fit. Ajay had even managed to find a tracksuit in the colours of the American flag – well, he’d found a red, white and blue one, and with the help of his mum’s sewing kit added a few stars. Ajay had wasted no time practising being American. He figured it was more than just enjoying a hot dog once in a while, and driving on the wrong side of the road. Americans were different – they were

confident and happy. Everything an English person wasn’t. Ajay had been practising his smile while out on his run and had told everyone he’d met at the park that morning to ’have a nice day’ with varying degrees of success. (...)

“Howdy y’all!” Ajay called out as he walked into his kitchen. “Oh no, I was afraid of this,” Ajay’s mum sighed. “I’d like some eggs, please, sunny side up, over easy on the side, please, have a nice day, thank you,” said Ajay, nodding. “What does sunny upside down on the side mean? I’m making breakfast not having a game of twister.” “OK, I’ll just have some eggs and pancakes with maple syrup and some coffee.” Ajay grinned. “Oh, and some OJ on the side ... that means orange juice.” “Stop saying ’on the side’! If breakfast got any more on the side it would be in the garden.

“Morning, son.” Ajay’s dad came bounding into the kitchen and slapped a load of papers and magazines down on the table. “Morning, sir,” Ajay said. “Americans sometimes say ’sir’ when they talk to their dads. I don’t know why.” “I see Hank Jones is in the news again,” Ajay’s dad said, flicking through one of the newspapers. “He’s blaming climate change on polar bears’ farts.” “We don’t have any pancakes or maple syrup. The best I can do is Birdseye potato waffles and golden syrup – presumably a sick bowl too, on the side of course,” Ajay’s mum smiled. Ajay took one sip of coffee and spat it out everywhere. “What’s this?” he said looking horrified. “It’s coffee.” “Wait, is this what coffee really tastes like?” Ajay asked, flabbergasted. “Yes.” “Being American is going to be much harder than I thought,” Ajay sighed.

confident selvsikre sunny side up stekt på den ene siden on the side ved siden av maple syrup lønnesirup bounding sprettende slapped klasket, smelte flicking through bla gjennom blaming skylder på polar bears isbjørner fart promp sick bowl oppkastbøtte horrified forferdet sip liten slurk

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Excerpt from The Accidental President by Tom McLaughlin flabbergasted forbløffet, paff

After reading

a Why has Ajay’s mum never told him where he was born?Vurderingseksemplar b Which American words does Ajay use for “lift”, “pavement” and “trousers”? c What does Ajay do to show how American he is?

Talk about it!

a Make a list of typical American food. b Which American food items do you like? How often do you eat them? I like ... because ...

I don’t like ... because ... c Why do you think American food is so popular? I think American food is popular because ...