Limiting Beliefs in English

2 Oct 2023 · 1 min

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This YouTube video ("Limiting Beliefs in English") features Hadar Shemesh recounting a student who, after being laughed at by a teacher and classmates in fourth grade, developed a core limiting belief that speaking English (and making mistakes) would lead to humiliation. The anecdote is used to illustrate how brief, early negative experiences can create long-lasting, often-unconscious limiting beliefs that block language use and personal growth.

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I once had a student, I would speak in English, and she would respond to me in Hebrew. She would not dare speak even one word. And the whole point was for her to do this work so she could present her thesis, because she had to do it in English. And then we started talking about her experience in English. And she said, you know, when I was in fourth grade, I was standing up to speak, and I said something, and my teacher started laughing, and then the entire class started laughing, and she said, you would never be able to get English. And she said, from that day on, they never opened my mouth to speak. So that experience created a core belief for her that if you make mistakes, people are going to laugh at you. Or even more so, if you make mistakes, you are going to be humiliated. But I want you to understand that. That sometimes we're not even aware that we build those limiting beliefs. We carry them with us for many, many years.