From “No sabo” to “Lo sé” – My Language Journey

My journey as a no sabo kid turned Spanish & English language teacher/coach/mentor

Growing up as a “no sabo kid” was rough – especially as a 1st generation American in Texas.

I understood a lot of Spanish, but when someone actually spoke to me, I would freeze and my brain would shut down. It wasn’t until I understood this one thing and built a system to fix it, that I finally broke free, unfroze, and can speak Spanish fluently.

Now I’m a Spanish and English Language Coach with 10 years of experience and a master’s in Education helping adults break free and unfreeze.

If you’ve ever felt like something was wrong with you – the good news is – there isn’t.

There’s still hope for you to learn Spanish – or any language you choose.

In this post, I to share my story of how I went from “no sabo” to “lo sé” – and how you can too.

Early Childhood

I used to think I was all alone. I grew up in a suburb of Houston called Sugar Land, Texas (home of the imperial sugar factory) and felt completely out of place.

I’m 1^st generation Palestinian-Lebanese-Honduran-American (yes I know, lots of hyphens), but that’s how I identify.

My dad was born and raised in a refugee camp in Lebanon for Palestinians, and my mom was born and raised in Honduras. My dad moved to Houston at 18 to attend the University of Houston and my mom moved to Maryland with her family at the age of 16. They both met in Houston as engineers. They had my sister in 1991 and me in 1994.

At 8 weeks old, I was sent to Montessori school. Because of that, I learned how to read quickly – but in English only.

At home, I would hear Spanish and Arabic, but my parents spoke English together.

The Spanish in my life was my mom’s side speaking Spanish, telanovelas and salsa music, and a CD ROM of a Spanish learning curriculum I loved to play. The arabic was my dad speaking insanely loud on the phone with his family, Arabic soap operas and black and white concerts of legendary artists like Fairuz. We also went to a Lebanese catholic church in Houston.

I picked up a lot of both languages, but always struggled to speak it.

I felt shame because I saw other bilingual people around me and I had many cousins who were bilingual or even trilingual, but they were raised in households where both their parents spoke the language or their schools taught them languages at an early age.

Was there something wrong with me?

Middle & High School

I was super excited to finally be in 8^th grade and take Spanish class. For some reason, American schools decide to wait until then.

Spanish class was super easy for me because I already knew the basic vocabulary.

I continued to Spanish 2 in high school and it was still pretty easy to write basic sentences, fill in the blanks, and get 100s on quizzes.

Then I reach Spanish 3 and I started struggling with what? Yes you guessed it – the dreaded past tense conjugations. I got so confused on when to use what and the fill in the blank quizzes weren’t cutting it for me. I was already struggling to balance marching band and academics and Spanish conjugations felt impossible.

Ser o estar? Preterit or imperfect? and then on top of that, we had to read Don Quijote.

I pushed through because my Spanish teacher was hosting a trip to Spain and my parents had already let me sign up.

I have a distinct memory where I had to beg my Spanish teacher to let me on the trip because I was about to fail Spanish 3 for cheating on an assignment and using google translate because I simply ran out of time to write it.

When I went to Spain, I fell in love with it, and my Spanish teacher convinced me to continue into Spanish 4. But then when the year started and the reality set in – I decided to drop it because I wanted to take choir and theater instead (and Spanish was getting super difficult, I didn’t think I could pass it).

I had given up. I watched and got jealous as a saw my American peers speaking better Spanish than I could. I felt extreme shame when my Honduran family would correct me when trying to speak or even worse – get excited that I said something in Spanish and say “¡ayy qué linda!”

When this happened I would shut down and freeze. I felt like I could never learn and was a disappointment to my ancestors.

College

When I got to college, I felt even more shame for not knowing Spanish because I was studying international development and most of my peers were bilingual or trilingual.

I felt like a complete failure.

I did Duolingo but it was way too easy for me. I listened to music in Spanish and watched some shows, but I still had trouble understanding different accents and would still freeze when speaking and resort back to English.

So, I pushed myself to take a class.

That’s where I met the professor who changed my life forever.

He helped me embrace who I am and not be ashamed of it, but proud of it – and how to use it to my advantage.

He gave us explanations and exercises that actually made sense and that pushed me to speak rather than just understand.

The thing that unlocked my fluency wasn’t more vocabulary or grammar drills – it was being able to talk even when I didn’t know a word.

Being able to push past perfectionism, and just speak – flaws and all.

You see, you don’t have to be perfect to start speaking – you have to start speaking to become better (and still you’ll never be absolutely perfect) because we’re not even perfect in our native language.

This unlock that my professor gave me was only the beginning of becoming fluent in Spanish. I didn’t just become fluent overnight with that amazing advice. I took that advice and my newfound confidence and ran with it.

That professor didn’t make me fluent, but he changed my mindset forever.

I started embracing my heritage language and culture even more and immersing myself into all of Hispanic culture and language. I studied abroad in Mexico and Spain and took some more classes and my speaking got significantly better.

Becoming a Spanish Teacher

I decided to become a teacher after college and didn’t expect to become a Spanish teacher, but one day, a parent at my part-time job as a gym and music teacher at Gymboree Play and Music told me that if I wanted to find a job in December, I could find one as a Spanish teacher because there was a shortage.

When I got my first job as a Spanish teacher, they were so shorthanded that I just had to promise that I would pass the Spanish LOTE certification test – honestly, I wasn’t sure if I could pass the exam with my skills, and, to be completely honest, I failed the first time I took is by a few points because of my speaking skills. Thank God, the second time I passed – but by a few points.

There were many times where I felt like an imposter and even got bullied by Spanish speaking students for my accent or the vocabulary I used that was different than theirs. Even as a teacher I would get nervous and freeze up speaking Spanish in front of students and adults.

Sometimes I even still feel like an imposter and I don’t deserve this, but I push past it because of the advice from my professor and because now, as a teacher, I understand the science and systems behind learning a language.

My heritage and my experiences help me embrace who I am and, instead of being hard on myself when I make a mistake, I look at it as an opportunity to get better because I would tell my students the same thing.

How I Became a Language Coach for Adults

I taught middle school Spanish for almost 8 years, taught English abroad in Spain, mentored and trained teachers on best practices for ESL students in their classroom, and led the Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC). I even got a master’s degree in Education.

Every time an adult would speak with me they complained about the same thing –

“I took Spanish in high school and wish I paid attention more.”

“I have a Duolingo streak, but I still can’t speak. Is there any hope for me to learn as an adult?”

“I took an free adult community ESL class, but it wasn’t that good and I still can’t speak English very well. What do I do?”

“I wish there was a class like yours for adults so I can finally speak Spanish because I want to encourage my kids to be bilingual.”

“My parents never taught me Spanish because they wanted me to assimilate into American culture”

After I left teaching in public schools, these adults’ voices kept playing in my head.

Even though there are thousands of Spanish and English tutors out there, endless apps, and now AI tutors – there’s still something missing that these adults need that’s doable for their schedule, but actually effective and targeted.

So, I started reflecting on how I made it from “no sabo” to becoming fluent and created a personalized system for adults that is based on strategy, targeted practice focused on output, lifestyle integration, and progress tracking.

Now, I’ve helped more than 30 adults become better speakers and unfreeze – even my own sister who recently moved to Spain and was stuck in the Duolingo plateau.

The Anti-Freeze Method

A simple system to go from “I freeze” to “I can actually speak.”

Step 1: Strategy
Figure out what’s actually keeping you stuck. Clarify your motivation, review what you’ve already tried, identify your real skill gaps, set clear goals, choose three focus areas, and build a realistic practice plan that fits your life.

Step 2: Targeted Speaking Practice
Stop studying and start speaking. Work directly on your freeze points using guided speaking tasks, real‑life scenarios, and purposeful repetition. Get simple, actionable feedback so your speaking becomes more automatic and confident.

Step 3: Lifestyle Integration
Make the language part of your daily life. Blend practice into your routine, create real speaking opportunities, build habits that stick, and grow your confidence through consistent wins.

Step 4: Progress Tracking
Measure what’s improving, adjust your plan as you grow, and celebrate your progress. You’ll see your confidence rise, your freeze moments shrink, and your speaking skills become more natural over time.

To adult no sabos – there’s hope for you.

I saw a post on Reddit today of another “no sabo” adult asking “Is there hope for me?!?”

And I’ve been asked this by other adults who want to learn for work, travel, or relocation.

I hope my story inspires you to keep going and my method helps you get there.

Everyone wants to paint the picture that learning a language is easy, but the truth is that it’s hard and takes a lot of patience, self-care, and a growth mindset.

If you want some help with the journey or some inspiration, be sure to follow me and/or message for a personalized plan.

You got this! (¡Sí se puede!)

I’d love to hear your story, are you a “no sabo kid” who still struggles to speak Spanish? Leave a Reply Below