Growing up knowing a different language from everyone else, and having to learn a whole new way to communicate at such a young age was quite tricky for me. But luckily, I was able to learn English so I could share with my peers but I didn’t forget my native tongue so I could still communicate with my family at home.
Now, I know what you may be thinking, “Wow growing up knowing a second language must have been so much fun”. While that statement is not entirely wrong, growing up with other classmates, and knowing that I could speak a different language was kind of annoying at times. Having constant requests to say something in Macedonian when I was young was irritating to me because I always thought to myself, “I worked so hard to learn English to communicate with my peers and all they want to hear is Macedonian.” It wasn’t until I was old enough to understand that knowing a second language and having a different background, that I felt proud every time someone asked me to share my language with them.
Understanding the process and effort it takes to learn English has helped me empathize with students who are experiencing the same thing. Because I know how it feels to be a student who cannot communicate with their peers, I can help my students get through it with a person in their corner. I had many people in my corner through the process of learning English: teachers, EAs, Family etc. The fact that I can be one person in that corner for a student makes me proud to have gone through being an ELL student.