304. Real Stories About What's Possible | Interview with Jacqueline

Welcome to the Influency Podcast. I'm Hadar and today we are going to listen to a real life story about English success. You are going to listen to an interview with one of my students who is going to tell you what is possible now that English is no longer an obstacle. Let's listen. Today we have Jackie, Jacqueline, who's been my student for many years. I want you to hear her story because she is such an incredible woman with an interesting story and all the things that she had to overcome are really an example of what's possible. What's possible for you once you overcome the challenges that English pose. So, Jack. Hi. How are you?

I'm doing great. I couldn't, I couldn't be better. Yeah, definitely.

So good to see you. You look lovely. I love the blue color on you.

Yeah. By the way, the blue is one of my favorite colors.

I felt it. Okay, so tell us where you're speaking to us from, what time it is for you right now, and maybe a little bit of information about your background for those who do not know you.

Sure, my pleasure. So first of all, thank you for inviting me. I'm in high spirits to be here with you and your audience. My name is Jacqueline. I'm originally from Guatemala. Currently I live in the US in the state of Maryland for the past 10 years. And I live on the East Coast.

Amazing. So tell me about, when did you move to the U.S. did you say that right now?

It was, yeah, it was back in September20. 2012.

2012. What was your biggest struggle? Moving to the United States from Guatemala, actually.

You know the language? Yeah, I mean, in my, in my area, in my community, everyone speaks English. And at the beginning it was a nightmare. I, you know, I wasn't able to speak, I wasn't able to understand. I used to think, oh my goodness, I can't, I mean, I can, I can handle it because I, I relied on my husband for everything. Can you please ask this? Can you please say this? Can you, you know, but you weren't independent. Yes, I, I, I was relying on him for everything. And I was scared of speaking because, you know, I learned or I've been learning English for so many years. So I remember that my first English class when I was in the first year of middle school when I was 13 years old. But, you know, the old fashioned way, right? But just books, boring classes, but at least, I mean, I'm thankful that I got good at spelling because I used to, I Learned by heart 3. The three verbs. Verb 1, 2 and 3. At least I learned something.

So there is something good there with that method. Good.

Yeah. But when the, you know, the English that I learned, I thought maybe, you know, I can get by. But I, I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't like that, especially because I didn't work on my, my listening skills and, and speaking. So I, I wasn't able to, to get what people were talking or were saying to me. It was, I was scared. And I stayed home for the first six years speaking my native language, doing everything in Spanish. So I was probably. I felt that English wasn't for me because for six years during my time in middle school and high school, I spent six years trying to wrap up my head around the to be verb. I, you know, I couldn't understand when to use it. And the prepositions, it's, you know, crazy. And I didn't learn them in the proper way. I just learned them okay. On means n in my native language, at means, you know, just isolated. So it was really challenging. And when I realized that, let's say in Spanish, we can say this in this way, but in English is in that way. So I say, why?

Why?

And I was trying to use my Spanish grammar and, you know, English doesn't work.

Yeah. I think these are the tools that you're given in schools, right. In elementary school, and because it's, it's easier to teach it like that. And also the brain wants to find reason and, or structure, and it happens when you compare it to your first language where you feel familiar. So I think it's a big struggle. It's a big struggle for a lot of people. And I also want to say, I think your story is going to resonate with a lot of people, especially with immigrants and in particular immigrant women who have moved to the U.S. you know, I talked to Andrea from Brazil a few days ago, and like, that feeling that you're dependent on your husband or your partner feels very, very limiting because there's not a lot you can do if you don't have the language. What was it like to feel so dependent on someone else?

You know, at the beginning, I felt good. I felt safe. Right. So he's the person who I can rely on and he's going to be there for me always. But, you know, eventually he told me, you know what? I think you should start talking more or trying to do something else.

Yeah.

And then, you know, I started taking English classes at the community college, by the way, it was a bad experience for me, and I took intonation classes I took a class about idioms, which. I love it. I like idioms, sayings, and I'm passionate about that. But at least, you know, there is a silver lining, right? So out of those bad experiences, I took the good things because while I was in New Sound and we went over the mindset module, I learned about that, you know, bad experiences can hold us back. And I, you know, I was ashamed. And also I was angry because the experience was that it was a speaking class, so the teacher, you know, someone in power, and he used to. I remember that there was the first time that I saw something about vowels, which, you know, vowels as well, were a nightmare. But not anymore.

Not at all. And we'll talk about that in a minute. How come? But yeah, so before the vowels, the sounds of English.

Yes, I remember that he gave us a chart about. But it was the color vowel, something like that. But he couldn't even explain to us how to use that. So I just remember, you know, the charge, the colorful chart. And when I, I mean, I. I didn't. I didn't speak a lot in the past. And also when he used to give us some small paragraphs to read to practice our reading skills, but instead of helping us, he was laughing at us. Literally, I think. I don't know. I don't know if the feeling that I was angry inside of me, but I wasn't able to speak up and say, why are you laughing? Right. If we are here is because we come here to learn. We don't know how to read. Right. But I couldn't say anything, and that was holding me back. I felt ashamed. And that experience, it's better not to speak because you're going to be ashamed or people will see that English is not, you know, your language and it's better to be quiet. So I used to be a good listener, and I. I didn't speak a lot. So you.

That skill of listening, because you avoided speaking because of that experience. And, you know, we talk about it. I talk about it in my mindset course and inside of New Sound about those experience that they become like many trauma, traumatic experiences where it. It's just like you just don't want to experience it again. So you avoid the situation or it creates a belief, in your case, a limiting belief. If you make a mistake, you're going to be shamed, embarrassed or shamed for it and all of those things. So the association of mistake creates the emotion of humiliation. And as a result, like, you would do everything in your power to avoid humiliation. That's what we do as human beings, it's in our primal brain. Like, we have. We don't. We want to be accepted. We want to be rejected.

It.

So you ended up teaching yourself to avoid speaking so that you wouldn't experience that again.

Yeah, as I. I had a lot of opportunities, but I just let them pass. And, you know, it was frustrating and. But I didn't know what to do. Right. I like learning on my own. So I watch a lot of you videos on YouTube and I found. I mean, I came across your. Your channel on YouTube because in one of those classes at the community college, they were talking about connected speech and, you know, all of those new topics were foreign for me. And then I. I googled it and then I went to YouTube and then I. That was my. My first. You know, that's how we met. Yeah. Yes. And then I started watching your videos and you were talking about the way that you break down the sounds and talking about, you know, mindset and you can do it. I mean, hearing that we can do anything that we can. That we put our mind to is possible and feasible. It's, you know, was mind blowing. And when I figure out that, no, when I found out that you are not a native English speaker, I said, wow, look at her. So she has worked so hard and she speaks like a native. And I was. I mean, since then I've been looking up to you. And they said, I mean, if she can, so can I and anyone right under the sun if we work and if we have the tools and resources, support. And I think the most important thing is when someone cares. Right. And empathy, because you went through that process. So you know what it feels to be, you know, in those shoes when you don't know what to say or if you want to say a lot of things, but anything comes out of your mouth. So it's frustrating and. But I think I needed to go through those experiences in order to, you know, to be here today with all.

The knowledge that you have and which, you know, even the bad experiences ended up being experiences that pushed you to. To really overcome those challenges and made you stronger and made you more resilient so that you are no longer affected by people criticizing or having opinions about you because you kind of like, you know who you are, you believe in your abilities, which, you know from how you speak. We can feel that.

Yes. And a year ago, I started working on my mindset and, yeah, that was the first time that I joined New Sound in the spring of 2022. And, you know, I started learning about the vowels, which, you know, those moments were important for me because I didn't understand the differences between vowels. Because in my native language, we have five vowels, five sounds. No more easy. Right. But in English, you know, English is crazy, but it's a beautiful language. You know, I. I fell in love of English, and since then it has been more easy and enjoyable. I. I learned that as well.

So, Jackie, I have a question. What would you tell someone who feels very limited, like, they've been learning a lot of. A lot of, you know, they've been to a community college, and maybe they took a pronunciation class, maybe they. They study on their own, they watch YouTube videos, but they still avoid speaking English. And especially for immigrants. Right. People living in the US Or Canada or Australia, England. What would you tell them from all of your experience and knowing what you know now to help them overcome that challenge?

Yeah. Yeah. First of all, I would say that we are selling ourselves short and doing, you know, saying that. I mean, that we take for granted many things that we are proficient at. Right. So we are proficient in our native languages. Right. So if we have, I mean, our experiences at work, in life, so that makes, you know, important, I think the background experience, the education, the language. So we are taking all of those things for granted, and we are comparing ourselves to native speakers, which is unfair because, you know, we are putting our vest every single day, and we are doing more than the native speakers.

Amen to that. Yeah. You need to prove yourself more as an immigrant, as a non native speaker. Yes.

And because of that, I felt behind. I used to think, I mean, I'm not at the same level of someone else because my English is not good. My English sounds, you know, horrible. Something like that. But after new sound, I learned that that's not true. That was. All of that was limiting beliefs. And in fact, as I said, I'm proud of that. I'm bilingual. My accent represents that I'm bilingual. I'm proficient in my language, and I'm working on my second language. And every, you know, every single day, I'm learning something new. And I learned in the program that the repetition and the small things, we have to start small and simple. Right. And we have to focus on the things that we are lacking. We don't have to, let's say, okay, I'm going to learn about conditionals, but if I don't know the basic sentences, I need to master the basic sentences first. So there are steps and just also being kind to ourselves. And one activity that I really Love it and change. My, My mindset was telling myself positive affirmations, telling myself that I'm worthy or speaking in English, even though that is not my, my first, you know, language. But I, I, I'm part of the language. I belong to, you know, to the community who speaks in English. I'm part of that. And I've been working so hard, you know, I was taking for granted everything.

And I want to add, I love everything that you're saying, and I want to add that even if you weren't working so hard, you still belong and you still deserve it, right? And you deserve to be treated equally and to get everything that you want with or without working hard, because that's just how it is. And sometimes we feel like we need to prove ourselves to be worthy of people's appreciation and validation. And. No, simply by you existing and being you in this world, you are worthy, you know, because you did work really, really hard. And you deserve every single bit of the success that you experience today. But I'm sure that there are people who feel, who avoid speaking, and because of that, they feel crippled, and they feel like they cannot do anything related to English. And I want to, I want them to know that even then, they deserve to have that experience and that feeling like they can use English however they want, even with mistakes. And those mistakes don't define them. They don't make them any less of a good person or a worthy person. And Jacqueline, I know, you know, that, like, it's really so easy to get all those messages from, you know, English classes and social media and YouTube and, you know, even just watching the news that it has to be perfect, and it has to be a certain way, and you have to sound a certain way and look a certain way to succeed. And we need to dismantle that concept. Otherwise, we will still stay limited and stuck. Like you were when you just arrived and, and you felt like you were wrapped up in that, that traumatic experience of, you know, being humiliated for mispronouncing a word. Effy.

Yes, I second that. Hadar. Because to me, it's, you know, what really matters is communication over perfection. My goal is not to sound like a native English speaker because, you know, I have my identity, right? And I had a good experience a.

Couple of weeks ago.

I learned to stand up for myself. I'm the only one that can be my best advocate, right? So I need to advocate for myself. So I had, it was a good experience, and I felt good. So my husband and I, we had a meeting at a Resort. And, you know, the person who was taking care of us was a typical American guy, you know, nice and everything. And we had for, I believe, after two hours, we were having, you know, our conversation was flowing smoothly, and I was actually, I was asking more questions than questions than my husband. And, you know, the conversation was like, as I said earlier, smoothly, and I felt good. And at some point the guy said, I see that you have an accent, and your accent is different from your husband. And I look at my husband and then I look at the guy and I say, you know what? Yes, I have an accent because that means that I'm bilingual. English is my second language. And guess what? So this was, you know, the cherry on top of the cake. I told him, and by the way, you also have an accent. And he was like a. Wait, no, but I'm a native speaker. Yes, I know that you are a native speaker, but even native speakers have an accent. Depending on the region that you grew up, you have an accent because your accent is different from someone from New York or from the south, from Texas. Right. And he was like, yeah, I get what you mean.

It's like you're educating people. It is so important.

Yeah. As you know what. And as I said, I. I felt so good because my experience now, I mean, moving forward, my experiences are different from the past. Right. And I just let the past go. And I learned to, okay, if I fall, I'm just gonna get up. I'm gonna, you know, brush up the dust and keep moving. And I'm doing that. So, you know, that was. I don't know what, It's a good experience for me. And my husband, he said, oh, yeah, yeah, that's true. And even though your accent is similar to mine, because, you know, my husband grew up in the east coast, so I think that that's the neutral accent. And I was, you know, inside of me, I was like, my inner child was, good job, good job. You did it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And here's a beautiful, like, here's how you reframe an experience. Because a lot of people, when something like that happens, when they get commented on their accent, especially people living in an English speaking country where they, you know, this is already their country, this is where they're from. And then they get questions like, where are you from? Or comments about their accent, that singles them out and that, that says, hey, I recognize that you are not like me, assuming that I am the center and I belong here in the US or wherever you live, and you are different, even though that doesn't make any sense. And it's called microaggression. Right. And usually what happens when you experience microaggression is. And it's kind of like a very subtle action that indicates some sort of a bias or. Or some sort of even discrimination. Not that necessarily. That was your case. But sometimes I feel like, oh, where are you from? Or. And we feel like it's not always a friendly question. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it does get people to feel, you know, I don't. I. I remember that when I immigrated to the US When I lived there, every time someone would ask me about where I'm from or my accent, it would pinch me a little bit because I would be like, but we're talking about something else. What does that have to do with my accent? And I don't want to talk about where I'm from. I want to talk about what we're talking about right now. So what you did is you took this very common experience of people who are non native speakers speaking to native speakers that they had to kind of like explain or defend or just feel like they did something wrong, and you reframed it and you took back the power. Instead of feeling like, oh, he singled me out. I was like, I'm gonna teach him something here. I'm gonna. And I'm also going to say that you want to be mindful when you talk about this, because not everyone is comfortable with this conversation. Some people are, and for some people, it's not a problem at all. But I am speaking from the experience of so many of my students. Jack, like, would you agree?

Definitely, yes. And I think you shouldn't be feeling afraid of, as I said, advocating for yourself, because, yes, I learned about microaggressions by watching your videos and interviews. And I started noticing those, and they said, I'm not gonna let people, uneducated people to treat me like that because they don't know, as I said, what it takes to be in front of someone else, that you are trying to communicate with them. I'm not trying to be the same as them. No. As I said, I have my identity. I'm really proud of my roots, and I have two daughters, and I'm teaching them Spanish. My journey has been quite long, and sometimes I feel like it's in slow motion because I decided to speak Spanish at home because of them. I really feel that my family deserves to have a communication with my daughters. My family lives in Guatemala. My parents, my siblings. I mean, my whole family, and they don't speak English. And it's easier for my daughters to learn Spanish. And that was a decision because, as I said, I, I don't want them to lose that connection with a family because family is number one for me. Right. That is what drives me to do better, learn more, and, you know, achieve my, my goal.

I, I totally agree. And I would also add, because I speak to my daughters Hebrew as well. So I, like, I chose, I was, I was trying to make a decision should I speak to them in English at home or Hebrew. And I feel like there is something about your native language that has a deeper personal connection with emotions and with who you were as a kid and how you were parented and, you know, how you were raised. And to me, it felt like if I would were to. Not that I judge anyone who uses English to speak with their child, it's very individual for every person. But to me, it felt like if I were to speak to them only in English, I would take away a very powerful part that is only connected to my first language, which is my connection to my parents and my connection to deep, deep emotions that are rooted in my childhood. So. And what you say, it's like even more so that is really like you're also offering them a tool because why wouldn't they speak? So I love that. And I guess that they had no problem learning English and speaking in English. No.

And actually, I mean, they learned Spanish first, you know, while at home, we would just talk in Spanish. But then when they started attending kindergarten at kindergarten, so they started, and it was, you know, mind blowing, Three, four months, they started picking English and starting, you know, speaking more English than Spanish. And eventually they, you know, now they feel comfortable speaking in English. And I know that that was something that wouldn't happen. And. But still, I feel like they, my daughters, I think in the future, they. Because at this moment, sometimes they say, oh, mommy, no, I don't, you know, I don't want to speak Spanish. Okay? And I'm always. Remind them, remind them, okay, this is something that you will be grateful in the future because instead of one person, you can talk to 500 people, right? So I think language is, to me, language is a world, right? Because the language represents everything. Music, food. The way that things are said is not the same. And also, I believe, as you said, I mean, some emotions or ideas can be translated into English. They don't sound the same.

They don't, they don't feel the same in the mouth, they don't sound the same. And I want to take what you just said, and connect it to English learning. And you said what you said to your daughters. Do the hard work. Now you, you're not going to like it. I'm going to make you suffer a little bit as you're speaking Spanish to me, but you're going to say thank you for it years from today. So it's, it's kind of like, it's something that I heard recently from Mel Robbins. Do the things today that you don't like, things that you do as your future self. Right. So if you, your future self is a fluent English speaker. For, if we talk about English, then do the work today that is needed for you to become the person that you want to be, to step into the identity that you want to be. So if you want to be speaking English without limitations, I'm not saying flawlessly because I don't believe in that. But if without limitations, then you got to put in the work and it has to happen at some point because if you don't make a decision to do it and get through the hard part until it becomes a habit, and then it's no longer as hard as you think it is right now. Right. But when you do it, then you create the reality that you want to have as your future yourself. And I think that is so important. I want to answer a couple of questions that came up here. And Jose said, I think people use the accent stuff is just an excuse for not pronouncing English properly. And for example, you talked about my accent and you said I don't have an accent. So I did learn very diligently an accent that is called the standard accent, which is what you refer to as no accent, because people associate it without any regionalism. And actually the standard accent is the closest one to a Californian accent or a West coast accent in the US but it's still an accent, which is a way in which the language is pronounced and used in certain musicality. And just like Jackie said, not everyone is born into this particular accent. So you might hear a person from New York and to you it's going to, it might sound the same, but there will be small nuances, right? Maybe someone, or maybe the R is going to be harder in some dialects, maybe the R is going to drop in other dialects. British versus American. These are accents and dialects. So I just wanted a. To clarify that aspect. And there is also a non native accent or a foreign accent, which is what we think about when we think about an accent. But ultimately an accent is an accent. And every as soon as you know a language, you have an accent. Okay. Someone was asking Jackie, Jackie, maybe you want to answer it about New Sound. If there are live lessons inside of New Sound, do you want to talk a little bit about the experience?

Sure, yeah, it's my pleasure. Because also on Sunday I joined the last live meetup with Karen and Christina and I was in a breakout room with Carla. So she was sharing her experience and then she asked about New Sound. And you know, that is music to my ears, right? So it says. I really enjoyed talking about that because in my New Sound program I found the resources, I found the missing piece that I lacked because as I said, I had a lot of knowledge, but I didn't know how to say them out loud. But in New Sound, I learned about habits. So you will have access to the modules, lifetime access. So even though the life experience ends in three months or 90, 90 days, but you will have access to the modules and the recordings. So you can go back and watch them again and see. Okay, I'm going to focus on this. So you will have also the hot seat. So you can sign up for one hot seat and you can ask any question that you might have or if you want, any piece of advice or pronunciation coaches or anything. And also you will have access to a lot, ton of opportunities to speak, to practice, which by the way, I, I build up my confidence in the community because you are going to connect with like minded people, right? So everyone in the community has the same North Star. We are working toward that goal. So everyone in the community is committed to do whatever it takes to develop that skill. A language is a skill. In the past, I used to think that someone who speaks more than one language was because that person had a talent or a gift. But I was wrong. I learned that a language is a skill. And by that I mean that we can learn anything that we, that we want through practice, repetition. And I was skeptical at the beginning when hadar said, okay, 10 minutes a day is enough.

What?

No, it's not enough. You know, I've been hearing that at least you need to be sitting for two, three hours. But no, that's, that's not true. Ten minutes a day, believe me, it's enough. And you can work on your. You need to focus on, as I say, one, one thing at a time and eventually you will be happy more and more and more. And you know, it's like a snowball, right? So you're going to start small. That's what I learned. That start small and simple and then you Know you're going to be working on a lot of things and you won't realize or you will. Yeah, you wouldn't know that you are learning through those short practice. Yeah, definitely.

Yeah. We talk about the compound effect, right? Like when you talk, take small consistent actions, positive actions, you don't feel the change from the daytoday. But then ultimately you look back and it's like, huh, I've improved. Right?

Just let me tell you this, Heather. I wasn't sure how to use adverbs. I was, you know, should I put this at the beginning, in the middle or at the end or before the main verb or after I was, you know, lost. But then I, I mean I like learning grammar. I need, you know, I need to learn grammar in order to like digest how that part of the speech in Spanish works in English. But then I said I couldn't, I couldn't get when the proper place. But then through the sprints that just 10 minutes, I love sprints. And eventually I started noticing patterns and when you said, okay, so you can, you know, adverbs can be before the main verb or after the to be verb and you know, or at the end depending on the type of adverb. And they said, now I feel comfortable with adverbs. And you will learn a lot. It's not just English. Also in the community you will hear about tools that can help you to, you know, to overcome your challenges in English. And I've been using all of them. I gave them a try and yeah, I'm in love with wordtune and dictionary.com Cambridge Dictionary I mean there are a lot of tools that I've been using and you know, taking the good because you know, there are, it's like, like a double sword. Double. What is the idiom? It's a double edged sword because yeah, you can get, you know, good things or bad things. Right. But as I said, you need to get the good things out of any experience. And the last thing is try. Don't be scared of trying. You're gonna fail. But out of every failure, every mistake, you're gonna learn. And then, you know, you are not gonna make the same mistake and then you're gonna move forward. So that's like a simple try, fail and try it again. So that's, that's a lifelong journey. And the most important thing hadar in the first round was to learn how enjoyed any conversation, any activity in English. Because in the past I, I was scared. I was worried for, you know, things that don't matter and When I started enjoying the activities, it was fun, and I learned more since then. Yes.

That's amazing. And, you know, the reason why I love interviewing my students is because the. Their success speaks for itself. Like, seeing you feeling very grounded, very comfortable in your voice is really something that shows so much about the journey that you have gone through and all the work that you've put in. I really appreciate everything that you have done for our community and for yourself, because it's so inspiring. And Jacqueline and I met in New York, so we actually had a workshop live, which was such a pleasure working with her. So we do go way back, because I. I think you joined New Sound. When was that? A year and a half ago, Was it?

No, last year.

A year ago, Exactly. Yeah, a year ago. Good. And. And yes, like Jacqueline said, first of all, we really focus on community, and the community is a big part of the magic and the transformation. Because first of all, you need to use English to be able to grow, and you need to use it in a space that you feel comfortable in so you can explore and push yourself. Because if you feel criticized or if you feel like you. You need to be someone else that is not you. Because sometimes that's the case when you're in certain rooms or certain environments, then you will not dare to explore, and then you stay stuck and limited. This is where we feel like we're stuck in a plateau. But when you feel safe, that's when you allow yourself to do things that you wouldn't normally do. Say, say things. Follow your impulse to speak, sing, do a monologue, or do all the things. All the crazy things that we do inside the program. So I believe that the community has a strong part in why this is so. Has been so transformative to so many students. But, of course, everything else that you shared. We have the core training. We have live training with a lot of support and a lot of coaching and a lot of pronunciation coaching. There is a question from Mariela, and she says, Jacqueline was your student since the beginning. Does she start studying with you since zero English? I'm feeling motivation. Jacqueline, do you want to answer this? Well, first of all, good that you're feeling motivation. That was the point.

Sure. I mean, I've been working with Hadar since 2018, but she didn't know it.

Makeover, I remember. Of course. Yeah.

But before accent makeover, I watched your videos on YouTube. And then I joined New Sound. I mean, the accent makeover. And I learned a lot, but still, I was missing something. You know, I. I learned more about the vowels. And then I started practicing them and I learned about connected speech. Speech, which, as I said, that was something new to me. I didn't know how to connect words and had the sneaky sounds that come between depending on the letters or sounds. But after that, as I said, the missing piece for me was the mindset, because as I said, I like learning by my own as well. And I have a few books and I was like writing, collecting a lot of idioms, phrasal verbs and a lot of things, but I wasn't working on my speaking skills. And, and then I, I follow you since then. And I watched that you, that you launch your new program. And they say, the first year, no, I'm busy. You know, I don't, I don't have the time right now, but in the next round. And then the next round came and said, no, I mean, this, this time is not the best for me because in a few months I have to do this, and I won't have the time to, you know, to be seated and, you know, spend three hours, two hours practicing. They say, no, next round. And then, you know, the years passed and I'm, I mean, there is some regret because, you know, I, I, I could have done that earlier, but as I said, if I would have done that before, you know, my speaking partner that I met in the first round and the second round, so I wouldn't have the chance to meet them, you know, in a personal level and something like that. So I think. So last year I was on the fence as well, saying, no, this time is not good, because last year my sister was pregnant, and I knew that I had to help her out with the baby and her and say, oh, no, the baby's gonna born in May and no son is gonna be in the middle of those months. No, maybe next round. But then, but then I watched the, the stories from your students, and they were so motivated. And then Leah, she, she shared her story as well, that she, I mean, she went through almost the same experience than me, that she had a friend with a baby, and then said, okay, it's now or never, right? I've been telling myself or holding back next year or next round. And I said, okay, I'm gonna do it now. I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna have a lifetime access. And, you know, I'm gonna have the support. And they say I'm just gonna go with the flow. And I mean, I couldn't be happier and grateful that I made that decision because there was a turning Point in my fluency and my journey in confidence is not just English, it's every, you know, as a whole process. Yeah. And the last thing you know, I just want to tell you, if you, if you are overthinking it, just do it. I mean, take advantage of the, let's say I know that you are struggling with money or something like that. Take advantage of the financing. Financing program, which, by the way, I took advantage of that. I, you know, I signed up with the monthly payment. Every single penny is worth it, believe me. I mean, you can see the, it's not just my, my story. It's the. Everyone in the community has something to say about that. And I've been repeating this adjective that I learned in one of my trainings at work. Right. Yeah. So let me say this, that to me, new sound is like a unicorn. Right. It's unique, it's one of a kind. And the last adjective is it's a world class program. You will get more than you will pay. As I said, you will have the core program, the support from the coaches, hadar, the community, which is priceless. And the resources, if you are behind, you mean you. There's always someone behind checking in on you. And that feels good. You know, it's like I'm not alone on this road. I have someone guiding me, like holding, literally like holding my hand. Do this today. You have to drill this, you have to do this, do that, and just follow the daily recommended practice. And you will, you will feel that change and you will learn more. And you will, as I said, you will get more than the investment. I call it an investment. It's something that you won't regret.

Amazing.

Wow.

I couldn't have said that better. That was so beautiful and so appreciate every single word. And I want to say, just to kind of like you hear Jacqueline's story and you've heard previous stories as well, and go to the website and read the stories of almost 200 students who share the same experience. It's not just someone who, who is super talented or unique or something like that. It is people just like you, if you're struggling with English, that just follow a path that is right for them and really takes into account really everything that you need to succeed. And I know these are hard times and I know that this is an investment. So this is why you have two things that can play in your favor. One is that we have the eight payment plan or the 12 payment plan, so you can break it down into smaller installments and we have a full Money back guarantee. So within the first 14 days, which means that you actually, if you join, you actually get to take part in two full modules. You get access to two full modules before you make the final decision. So there is a way back. Like you can say, no, this is actually not for me. This is not worth the investment. And we are happy to give you your money back because we don't want anyone who doesn't want the program. We want people who are committed because it is a commitment, not just a financial commitment. It's time and energy and intention and attention. So it's really for everyone. But you need to want that. So if you do, I do invite you to, to join, even if it's, if you're not sure just yet. And use the refund option if it's not for you. Because when you take action now, just like Jacqueline, like you will start seeing results, things will happen to you, but things will happen to you when you take action. When you put that, when you make the first step and when you take the right action that is aligned with how you, when your brain are designed to thrive. When learning a second language. Jacqueline, I want to say thank you so, so much. You've been such a huge inspiration to all of us and you are a world class lady, my friend. I'm honored to know you and I'm honored to be your teacher. Thank you so much. Do you have any last thing, something last thing that you want to say?

Two things that I'm flattered. Thank you for your words, kind words and this phrase. I've been, you know, hearing and learning new phrases every day, but I learned this from one of the sprints. You snooze, you lose, right? So don't hold, you know, hold back and just give it a try. You don't have anything to lose. Just as Heather said, there is guarantees that if you don't feel comfortable, you will just send an email and that's it. And enjoy, enjoy the ride.

That's an important thing. I think that if you don't enjoy this work, it's not going to work. You're not going to feel the progress. You need to enjoy the practice. You need to want to get to your English practice so it becomes a fun habit. And also the brain is so much better at learning when the emotion is positive, not when it's negative. And unfortunately, when learning, there's a lot of the stress and anxiety and not feeling good enough or just boredom. And then you're not designed to remember it like that. The brain doesn't register. So it's. And then you think, oh, it's my problem. I just don't know how to learn.

No, no.

It's just that your brain is not receptive to new information because there is resistance and there are limiting beliefs, and you are. There is a part in you that thinks, I can't do this. And all of that affects to how you're able to learn. So. Yeah. And thank you for telling us all.

Of that and be willing to be ready for, you know, new opportunities. Definitely. Learning English will open doors for you.

Yeah.

And, yeah, there's something in store for you. And what a better way to. To have them in English, right? 100%.

Yeah. Amazing. Jacqueline, thank you so much. I love you.

Thank you. Have a good day.

Bye.

Bye. Bye. Sa.