Finding Myself through Language Barrier

picture this for a moment

you’re 16 years old and you don’t speak

hebrew

you find yourself in a school in israel

the best one you can probably get

where everything is in hebrew all your

classes

maths sciences social studies everything

you’ve taken some classes in basic

hebrew before

but you are nowhere near being fluent or

functional in the language

however you are placed in a class with

israeli children

who speak nothing but hebrew the

teachers

speak nothing but hebrew the homeworks

the assignments the worksheets

are whole in hebrew even during class

breaks

everyone speaks hebrew except from you

[Music]

how will you understand the word around

you and now will it understand you

hello my name is donna schpak i’m 18

years old

and this was my life three years ago

when i could barely speak

and understand english and i’m here

to show you how i regained some

confidence in myself

and realized that getting and accepting

help

is important before joining my school in

luxembourg

i used to be a very confident girl a

girl who used to talk

non-stop very active in class not afraid

to share my opinions regardless of what

others might think

i had control over my life my thoughts

and the way i used to express myself

but it all disappeared three years ago

when my family and i moved to luxembourg

and all of a sudden i found myself

outside of my comfort zone

you have to understand school was never

a source of stress for

me up until 10th grade

there i am in this international school

where everything is in english

all your classes everything

imagine the situation how frustrating it

was for me

i would spend my day at school go back

home realizing

that i understood nothing or close to

nothing

the teacher would talk explain the

material to the students

and i would try so hard to understand

but i simply couldn’t a reading task in

biology

which required one hour meant at eight

hours for me

if i was lucky one hour in social

studies

meant four hours for me if not more

i felt like i was not done anymore like

i was becoming the worst version of

myself

and as the days went by i lost more and

more confidence

in myself talked less and less and cried

more and more

i went back home and spent most of my

time crying

for not being able to understand any of

my classmates

or what i was studying in class

will you be shocked if i’ll tell you

that in some classes i didn’t even know

what the topic of the course was

i was familiar with changing school as i

did previously in israel

but this was a completely different

experience for me

as in those school already on my first

day

i managed to make new friends as i was

able to show them

and let them know the real me without

any fears

and special effort it was so natural for

me

but here it was all different

not only the language was different the

mentality was

suddenly i didn’t know how to socialize

anymore

i thought that something was wrong with

me and all i wanted

was to go back home to israel where i

felt belong

[Music]

i was jealous when i saw people talking

laughing hanging out together

while i was embarrassed of the level of

my english

i couldn’t even understand their jokes

[Music]

i still remember the first time i got

invited to a party

how excited i was for the first time

i went back home smiling instead of a

crying

this was a crucial moment for me as i

learned to appreciate the present

and the little things in life i’ve

always appreciated teachers

and their importance but i’ve never

realized

the importance of an english as a

digital language teacher

and how important it is for teachers to

accompany

such students like me i met my el

teacher

and spent a lot of time with her she was

more than a teacher for me

she was a mentor a shoulder to lean on

she told me that she had to learn

english just like me

which made us connect even more she

understood what i was going

through first year went by and i managed

to pull through with the help of my el

teacher

which brought a piece of the real donna

back

[Music]

i started to be a bit more confident and

hopeful that things

were going to get better 10th grade was

tough

due to the level of my english however

12th grade

and 11th grade were even tougher yes

i gained some confidence but i still had

some moments of weakness and struggle

nevertheless i knew that i was smart

and i just needed to be kind to myself

and accompany myself

and not be hard on myself this often

happens

when we’re put in an unfamiliar

situation as

things we’re constantly trying to figure

out where we fit in

we’re very unkind to ourselves very

judgmental

and when we put in an unfamiliar

environment

we tend to lose focus in ourselves

for me i was not able to see that i was

finally able to hold the conversation in

english

[Music]

my yale teacher told me that i should be

proud of myself for doing so

and i finally was

[Music]

i’ve realized and looked at the progress

that i’ve made

small or big those i could see those

others could see

and cheered myself up i truly believe

that there is a reason for

everything we go through in life even if

at the moment you feel like nothing good

will come out of the situation

start by setting yourself goals identify

what brings you happiness

for me the goal was to never give up

i got to learn a new language i made new

friends

traveled so experienced new cultures

that i need

couldn’t know about being in israel

i got to see a christmas tree for the

first time in my life

because in israel we don’t celebrate

those holidays

i go to see the beautiful snow failing

from the sky

everything that seems so normal for most

of the people here

for me was very exciting

as a jewish israeli girl i was afraid

that no one was gonna

going to accept me because they might

think that i’m different

which turned out to be baseless fears

[Music]

if people fear or reject you because

these kind of things

then you certainly don’t miss this kind

of people in your life

while writing this speech i’ve realized

that i should not be

quiet any longer i should speak up to

myself

let more people hear my voice stop being

so shy for having a different background

culture or a broken english

[Music]

if people want to be surrounded by me

they will

i want all of you out there to

understand whatever challenge you are

facing right now

know that it’s temporary

i know that as teens we feel like it’s

the end of the world

but it’s not yes

as a new student in a new school in a

new environment with a new language

you have to work harder than anyone else

in order to achieve

half of their grades but it doesn’t mean

that you’re not good enough or you are

uneducated

it is all due to a language barrier

no one is better than you because they

get better grades than you or they speak

the language better than you

if anything you’re gaining another

language

[Music]

if you’re in a situation where you feel

like you don’t fit in it doesn’t mean

that something is wrong with you

if you’re mocked by your classmates it

doesn’t mean that something is wrong

with you

you are not the problem other people are

because they have to put you down in

order to feel good about themselves

don’t repeat my mistakes and compare

yourself to others

be proud of your own achievements we’re

all humans

be folk only compare yourself to the

person you were

a month two months six months and a year

ago

and then to yourself up and be proud of

the journey that you’ve made

i know that at times it could be very

discouraging and

damage your self-esteem and

self-confidence

i’ve had many moments of weakness and

when i fell

down sometimes i even skipped school

but then i looked up looked at the

progress that i’ve made

and i cheered myself up today

i’m a senior who’s going to receive a

bilingual diploma

i can promise you without hesitation

coming here

in this new country in this new school

was the best experience of my life

and i would not want it to be any longer

because i’m resilient

stronger than i was i’ve learned

to accept my own flows today

i know that any failure setback or

struggle

is a preparation for the amazing person

you’re going to be

i am a winner and so are you it takes

bravery and courage to help

to ask for help but you are capable of

doing so

and feeling better and adjusting to

change

you only have to celebrate any tiny

victory

today i can say proudly that the

confident

and real donna is back thank you

you