I am writing this because some of my friends have labelled me “a talkative and outspoken” lady quite recently. I guess people judged by what we have become or shortly achievements but personally I evaluate my image from what I have been through. So here is my story of building confidence due to foreign language learning to be exact.
I was so shy and anti-social person. To me, socializing was so frustrating at that moment like I wanted to vomit whenever I had to meet new faces and remember new names.
When I was a kindergarten student, I used to cry as my teacher called me to go to the whiteboard solving some problems on it. In my mind, the idea of going in front of the class and talking to my peers was not my cup of tea. It was a dreadful thing, to be honest.
My mother recognized well my lack of social skills. She consulted to some psychologist asking if my development was normal. She was advised that it is normal and advocated that she should give me more chances to interact with people or a community.
Moving to elementary school, I became more reluctant to socialize. I could not get along well with 40 classmates in one class. I was what-so-called sensitive at some point because my friends would often find me sobbing because of small reason like losing games. I was not bullied at all. Thankfully, I did not have to experience that.
On the contrary, my mom pushed me to go out of the box. She thought a medium to make her daughter braver. Guess what? She challenged me to perform an English drama. Oh, Mom! Come on! Were you serious? Well, I have been into English subject since I was in the 3rd grade. But public performance in front of our neighbours? The butterflies on my stomach were screaming badly.
The mechanism at that time was I would be accompanied by my younger sister who got the confidence and social skill earlier than me. She was nominated as the most outstanding student, was be the cheerleader girl in the drum band community, and followed many colouring competitions. What an achievement!
We had an English course teacher to translate our script. I with the help of my mom wrote the story. I was confident about that but I got my nerve when it came to speaking up my idea in front of so many people.
We had to perform in our neighbourhood. The neighbourhood has an annual Indonesia’s Independence Commemoration Day. It’s on the night before the 17th of August when some people have to attend the flag ceremony in the morning.
It was quite a success! At least, my mom realized me that I got the talent to learn a foreign language. Thanks, Mom for always reaching me on every my down point.
When I was in junior high school, my dad pushed me to follow an English course. My guess is that probably because he saw my younger sister became so outspoken due to the English course she had followed. My dad always wants me to be independent. He doesn’t like his daughter crying most of the time trying to solve her own problem.
Still, I know that the English subject is my cup of tea yet socializing is not my thing honestly. I was so nervous on the first day entering the class. My hand was shaking and cold. Sigh! I said the truth. I was that afraid.
Seeing this now, I have understood that my biggest source on to why I become more confident is this wonderful semi-formal classes. Thank you, LIA Solo and all of fun amazing teachers. From this environment, I got so many learning activities leading me to my competency. I could know consciously what I can do. These are both hard skills and soft skills.
I studied a lot (and it was a fun experience) about English structure and vocabulary. The vocabularies which sound weird to my peer. At that time, I was like “Oh, I know many more amazing vocabularies than my peers” hahaha. It surely boosted my confidence at some point because I had the vocabularies to express my idea.
Additionally, I studied how to say or write something if something happened. Let’s say I learned the phrases if I want to invite someone to my home, I want to apologize, I want to ask permission, I want to offer something, etc. All of these phrases showed me many kinds of social settings. I knew what I had to say to people. Bye-bye awkwardness and absurdity! Until this point, I have rationalized the communication skill I can get from learning language actively.
In this course, the approach to learning is student-centred. The teachers only explain around 20% of the whole class activities. We were encouraged to construct our own theory by discussion, projects, games, and role-play performances.
All of these settings required me to work collaboratively in small groups. This one surely enhances my collaboration skill. I learned how to take responsibilities, how to solve problems, and of course how to talk better to my friends. From this place, I got to know people outside my school as well. They were sometimes younger or older than me. This also added my skill on how to collaborate better with people coming from a different background than me. It could be from school, age, religion, and wealthiness (yes, I have to write that. Some friends are richer, right?)
My favourite was a project-based task. We had to make a poster or a wall magazine to be presented in the other class. It was okay if we presented to lower-level students. However, we were usually horrified if we were assigned presenting to higher-level students and seniors. Oh NO! We usually prepared small notes just in case we forgot something in the middle of the presentation and rehearsed many times to prevent unexpected questions from seniors.
While role-play performances shaped my creative skill in many ways. I had to make the script, rehearse it, then perform or record it. The script making was always my favourite part. I took many parts on that. Besides, the idea of being someone else in a role-play is just amazing. I could construct sentences imagining what the speakers would like to tell to other people according to their personality traits or profession.
In short, I am fully aware that my parents had helped me to build my confidence. One thing for sure is from the good education that they gave to me. I am beyond blessed alhamdulillah. I thank them million for working their ass off to make sure that I can get a better-qualified education.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
–Nelson Mandela.
Through education that my parents are investing in me has changed my own world. From an anti-social person to an extrovert. From a shy person to a talkative one. I am now braver to take challenges and good opportunities.
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