October 15, 2019 By Orly Avitzur, MD, MBA Voices: Lived Experiences
I arrived in the United States from Israel at age nine, unable to speak a word of English. My new elementary school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania had never enrolled a foreign student before nor one who had been unable to understand its language. I remember shivering through recess trying to acclimate to cold weather and feeling alone as the kids in the schoolyard chatted and played. This was years before programs for English as a Second Language were developed; instead, I was provided with speech therapy to rid me of my accent.