Yu Ying Deng, a 15-year-old native of China, looked at her first plate of Thanksgiving turkey, dressing and cranberry sauce on Thursday and found something to be thankful for.

"It's nice," she said. "The food is good."

Yu Ying, who came from China seven months ago, enjoyed her first experience of America's November tradition during a special meal at Evans High School. She joined six classmates from an English to Speakers of Other Languages class with a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

"These kids not only are suddenly immersed in our language, but also in our culture," said Arnette Lowen, an Evans High ESOL teacher. "Learning our culture and why we do the things we do is as important as learning the language."

This is the first year Evans High has conducted an ESOL course and offered the luncheon for the course's students. Students are from China, Vietnam, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Hugo Diaz, a 15-year-old Mexican student in the class, came to the U.S. four years ago. He has celebrated Thanksgiving before and said he helped explain it to his classmates and offered a reason for his personal gratitude.

"It gets me out of a school day," he said.

Another Chinese student, 17-year-old Wei Chen, had a more serious reason to honor the Thanksgiving tradition.

"I'm free," he said.