Hey, welcome to the InFluency Podcast. I’m Hadar, and this is episode number 182. Today we are going to talk about the immigrant experience.

Hey everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in for another episode of the InFluency Podcast – because you’re in fluency always in fluency. And you also influence people with your fluency. Just a quick reminder of why I named the podcast this name. And obviously, you already know this. So, it’s just me stalling a little bit before we begin. Anyway.

Today I am going to do something a little different as you’ll see. Because I’m not going to be teaching anything, but I’m going to be inviting you to join me on this new project that we’re taking for 2022. When I’m recording this podcast, it’s the end of 2021. And I am planning on doing a short review of the things that I’ve learned this year, so stay tuned.

But in the meantime, I want to talk to you about what we’re planning for 2022. Because as you know, we try to keep it interesting for us and for you. And one of the things that I’ve noticed, and I do talk about it in the episode itself, but in this intro I just want to tell you why we’re doing this. One of the things we noticed is that when people immigrate or relocate or even travel for, you know, more than two weeks somewhere, there are things that come up in that entire experience that impact their communication in English.

And oftentimes, it’s perceived as if the problem is with English. But we forget that it’s the entire experience that affects our ability to communicate confidently. Whether it’s in a different country than the country that we grew up in, or even, you know, at work, if you’re totally immersed in a new culture or a language that is not your native language. You know, you will experience that.

And we wanted to dive deeper into that conversation. We want to talk to people who have experienced that, with immigrants, with experts, and that is the plan for 2022. And in this episode, I’m pretty much inviting you to join me on that journey and share your story. If you were an immigrant, if you are an immigrant, if you’re planning on immigrating, I want to hear your story.

So, this is an invite for you to share your story with us. Let’s listen to today’s episode. Thank you so much for being here. And just a quick reminder that if you like the podcast, I would so appreciate it if you could rate and review it on whatever platform you’re using: Spotify, iTunes. I know there are more platforms, but these are the top two. And that’s it. Because that would help the podcast reach more people. Thanks in advance.

All right. So let’s listen to today’s episode.

Hey everyone, it’s Hadar. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we’re going to do something slightly different. Because today I want to share with you, what is the project that we are going to focus on in 2022 to help you speak English with clarity, confidence, and freedom. And this project is going to deal with immigrant experience.

Let me explain. Over the years, I’ve worked with thousands of students from around the world, and usually people have different needs for why they want to improve their English, whether it’s for personal reasons or just for fun, or because they have to work in English and they want to improve. Maybe it’s for school. And sometimes it’s needed for survival, especially in the case of immigrants who have immigrated to an English-speaking country.

Now, over the past few months, I’ve noticed that in my signature program, New Sound, there were a lot of students who have immigrated to an English-speaking country. Now, all of those students had, of course, different stories, but they also shared a lot of similarities in their experience in the new place that they have moved into – new, sometimes not so new place – but also similar challenges in their English communication.

And this is what we realized: that English is never just detached from your entire experience as an individual and a human in this world. And when we understand those connections, it’s much easier to solve a lot of the challenges that we experience in different aspects in our lives and, in this in this case, in English communication.

So, what I want to do in the Immigrant Experience project, is to go a little deeper and try to understand that experience. Because at the end of the day, you know, each immigrant has a story to tell. Whether it’s about what they had to leave behind, what it took for them to get to the new place, the challenges that they’re facing, their bravery stories, and so much more.

And what I’ve come to learn is that those experience impact immediately on the person’s ability to communicate in English or the person’s beliefs about their capabilities in communicating in English. And I think that we need to open up that discussion and try to understand that a bit more.

Now, the way we’re going to do this is throughout the year, we are going to share stories of immigrants that will talk about their challenges and how they were able to overcome those challenges. We will bring guest experts to help you understand how to deal with microaggressions and micro inequalities – things that immigrants often experience when they move into a new place. That need to belong, how to be a powerful communicator, how to get a better job or to interview better, and so many other things.

And to do that, I actually need your help. If you’re an immigrant or maybe you’re thinking of immigrating to a new place, I want to hear your story. I want to hear, what are your obstacles? What are your challenges? What are your success stories? Because, first, I would love to give you the stage to share that on this platform, whether it’s on my YouTube channel or the InFluency Podcast, the InFluency community, or on Instagram at @hadar.accentsway. But also, I want to see if you have any questions for me, or share with me what you think we should talk about within this discussion #The Immigrant Experience.

Now, if you’re not an immigrant or you’re not thinking of immigrating and you just want to improve your English for work or fun, do not worry. We are definitely going to continue talking about learning strategies, and effective practice, and mindset, and pronunciation, of course. But we definitely wanted to add that element and start that conversation about the immigrant experience.

So, I’m really looking forward to this. I can’t wait to hear what you think. Thank you so much for being here. And I will see you next week in the next video. Bye.