I have never noticed that someone perceives me as an "other" learner, but oftentimes, I perceive myself as one of them.
In 2017 I went to the Erasmus Mundus student exchange program in Helsinki. There were other students worldwide, and we attended courses related to Teacher Education. Whenever I am in a new English-speaking environment, I get a bit anxious and have a self-perception like I do not belong there, that I am not competent enough to speak about complex themes academically, so I rather choose not to speak, even if something it is a real interest of mine. Luckily, this anxiety lasts for a maximum of a couple of weeks until I see that I am like everybody else - just doing my best at the moment.
However, I must admit, there was a time when I perceived someone as an "other learner."
In the second year of bachelor studies, a new student joined our study group. In the first class, she showed her huge enthusiasm for knowledge, additional literature, more study work, etc. Some negative comments were roaming around the class - that she is too much extrovert and just wants to be liked by professors. After a couple of classes, she integrated very well into our group and became one of my dearest friends even today. An amazing, lovely, young woman who is eager to learn new things, has kind words of encouragement to share with you, and one of the greatest active listeners I have ever met. Sadly, not all fellow peers changed the opinion of her, but the majority of us did. I believe it was hard for her to get back to studies and adapt to the new student group after one year of pause because she needed to work to support her family. Now, she is one of the Teaching Assistants on Andragogy's program and doing amazing at what she does!
We all have prejudice and tend to conform to others' opinions, which was exactly what happened to me at that time, which I realized really quickly and made mind-shift.
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