Former elementary ESL teacher, college instructor, mother, and founder of the handcrafted decorative pillow company Smithy Home Couture, Smithe Sodine is an Amazon.
And she reminds me so much of my Mom, who passed away five years ago.
Smithe moved to Florida from Haiti as a 16 yo.
She couldn’t really speak English at the time, and she remembers sleeping off in class because there’s only so much stress the teenage brain can take when trying to learn Math or any other subject in a new language.
So it’s heartwarming to see she went on to become an elementary English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher.
She joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about:
The danger of ignoring acculturation
Dealing with the negative perception of Haiti
Her Haitian heritage
Her approach to dealing with cultural differences
Moving as a teenager, and more
Enjoy!
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E29: Smithe Sodine on the beauty of her Haitian heritage