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