In this Immigrant Experience interview, we’ll hear the story of Marcelo Silveira, who moved from Brazil to the U.S. for work.
In this interview Marcelo openly talks about his experience as an immigrant and the rough start he had when he first moved to the U.S.
He talks about the loss of identity as an immigrant and the need to reinvent himself.
He also talks about what it was like to be facing small incidents of discrimination, that affected his self-worth and confidence.
But most importantly he will tell us about overcoming all obstacles and reinventing himself in this new country. Marcelo is an inspiration and an active member in our community, and I’m proud to call him our student.
A podcast lover? Listen to this episode on the podcast instead!
Marcelo’s journey:
– Intro
– Meet Marcelo
– Life in Brazil vs life in the USA
– Things you need to know before moving to another country
– Building a career abroad
– Finding your new identity in a new country
– New goals
If you like this episode, you’d love to meet Rita: she moved to the USA at the age of 45 and never regretted it. Watch the interview with her here.
Would you like to share your English story as an immigrant?
Click here to get in touch with us
Every immigrant has a story. A story about their journey, their identity, their accomplishments and struggles, and of course, the place of English in it. Many of my students are immigrants, I was an immigrant myself. There are commonalities, for sure, but each story is unique, a story worth telling and listening to.
If you’d like to share your English story as an immigrant, we’d be happy to hear it (click here). During the next few months I’ll share some of your stories, answer questions you might have, and host immigrants, as well as people whose work involves English and the immigrant experience.
5 Responses
Dear Hadar,
Unfortunately I could’t attempt your Bootcamp lessons directly and I did everything (with a homework too) until the lesson number 8 watching all the records….but now it isn’t possible!!!
Please, make me finish this great experience with you….
Hi Hadar,
I am Pedro Gouveia, a Brazilian living in Australia – a non-native English speaker. I have been following your YouTube channel for almost to 2years now and wanted to express my appreciation for your fantastic work. I don’t often share my opinions or write testimonials but this episode from Marcelo really resonates within me – I could see my own story have been telling by another person. Not only he is Brazilian but also because the challenges he faced are somewhat familiar with mine here in Australia. The struggles are real and the path to fluency is not straight and commonly full of obstacles. When you live in an English-speaking country you have to overcome your limiting beliefs, lack of confidence, and sometimes external prejudice (I would say that here in Australia, this is a minor thing though). In my opinion, the real battle is you against your impostor/weaker version. Hard work will eventually pay off, but you got to bounce back constantly because you regularly face numerous setbacks, particularly when speaking English. One difference that I noticed in your videos/approach (maybe is embedded in your programs) is the fact that you try to address the person weaknesses – from a mindset perspective. You encourage, motivate, and inspire hundreds (better say thousands) of foreign people that everyday deal with this immense challenge of living abroad. I am still far from the level of English that I aspire to reach but can see the improvement overtime. Sometimes it is frustrating and exhausting, however the process is gradual, steady, and worthwhile. This new series is so special and ‘real’. We absolutely need of this sort of content on the internet. Keep up the excellent work and wishing you even more success. Cheers, Pedro Gouveia
I appreciate you for preparing significant program my glad is endless to hear that amazing experience of marcalo,this conversation can help us to improve my listining skill when i do journey to different nations. I would love to say keep it up by this opportunity.
Hadar, Marcelo, thank you for that interview. It’s a first interview I saw in a long time. And i totally enjoyed it. Immigration is a real challenge, and I admire Marcelo, he overcome so many difficulties to reach his goal. I definitly would like to have more of those qualities that helped Marcelo to do that. And i’m grateful you share the experience, so we could be prepared and won’t do the mistakes you’ve done.
I wonder how you connect with your family these days and what obstacles you’re facing now. I hope there will be a part two^)
Have a fantastic day!
Hi hadar !
Thank you for introducing the interesting and fascinating interview with Marcello. I guess, each of us are exposed to some kind of “immigrant experiences” when undertake to go working in a foreign country where people’s native language is different. Each of the cases may be different. My case, for instance was not a run-of-the-mill one. I was invited by one of the USA’s most prestigious University by one of the best department to install a new technique and conduct some biomedical studies. Actually, I was the only person who knew this method. Nevertheless, I could not avoid many not benign, dilettante criticism involving me in many futile, and tiring arguing. The simple reason was of course, the simple prejudice that in the USA every person is much smarter then people from other nations. Laszlo