25 minutos de CONVERSAÇÃO BÁSICA para praticar | Inglês para iniciantes

In this video, you are going to practice your listening skills with us but in English. Okay. Are you ready? I'm ready. Okay. So, who are you, Thiago? Oh, I'm Thiago. I'm an English teacher, content creator, actor, director, father, husband. That's me. Okay, that's it. That's the end of the conversation. Thank you so much. Bye, guys. So, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. I'm such in a awe being here with you. Oh, come on. It's so nice. You've accomplished so many things already in your life. So, I I really look up to you. You're

an inspiration to me. So, I'm very happy to have you on my channel as well for the second time. Yeah, for the second time. Guys, I know that we're all fans. Karina is such an inspiration to all of us. So whenever you think like I'm going to try to find some videos on YouTube, you know, tips on how speaking something, you're going to see this face. Yeah, I've been there forever on YouTube, but thank you so much for the kind words. Well, Chiago, the story of your life is really inspiring and um we've talked a

little bit about it on our speaking in Brazil podcast in Portuguese, but this this time we're speaking English, but I would like to to know how you learned English now in English. How did you learn English? Well, um speaking English has always been something that made me feel so happy, you know. I I came from a very poor background. Yeah. Where are you from, by the way? I'm from Baya. M Santana. So my dad was a brick layer, my mom a maid. So I was this kid trying to conquer the world, you know, watching movies,

you know. Uhhuh. I know. I was like thinking that maybe one day I could go abroad and then speak English. So I decided to to teach myself. So you're self-taught. Yeah. You've never taken any English courses or I had later on but um my first years as an English speaker was basically with everything that I learned through books, through videos and music, audios. So I talked to my mom, mom, I want to speak English. I want to go to United States of America and I want to be like a high school kid, you know, from

those movies with those jackets. Yeah, that's so cool. baseball jackets. And I told her and I asked her if she could ask away like her where the places that she used to work, you know, if she could like I could borrow books from them, English books and dictionaries. So, how old are you? I was nine. Nine. Oh my god. And then uh ahead of time. Ahead of time. and she got some material from me and then I started like trying to memorize new words and learn vocabulary and uh grammar rules. At the time I wasn't

able to practice my my speaking and listening skills cuz everything I had was written books. Later on I was able to get those tapes cassette cassette cassette cassette tapes. Yeah. And um I was able to listen to vocabulary and uh through conversations, you know. So I was like trying to memorize all of the lines of the characters in the the audience. And would you repeat? I would repeat like shadowing sometimes, you know, it was a very nice and uh fun part of my childhood and teenage years. Definitely. Yeah. And so your main motivation was movies.

Yeah. It's funny because my motivation was music. Oh yeah. So we have different types of motivation. So that's what's important for you guys to to find out what's your motivation to learn English. Is it movies, music, or maybe travel, work, work, studies? Yeah, we have to find our motivation. So you were 9 years old. When were you able to say, "Oh my god, I can speak English. I am fluent." Do you remember? Yeah, I quite remember. There was this group of missionaries that they they would come to my city once a year. And I told

my dad if he could like ask them to take me with them in those trips so I could be like their interpreter. My dad had never seen me or heard me speak in English. So he was like, "Do you really speak English?" But how were how old were you? I was like 16. I was 16 at the time. And then he came to the church where those missionaries were. We went together and he introduced me to the guys over there and he said, "This is my my kid Thiago. He speaks English. He would love to

help you out with this missionary program that you are doing here." They said, "Okay, we need interpreters. Come with us." And then uh I remember that we we traveled to Salvador and uh it was a camp. There was this day that the preacher would need somebody to translate the message. So they said, "Tiago, your turn today." And oh my gosh, is it really going to be me? because there were other people to help with English and in Portuguese. I was there on the stage 30 minutes of speech and I was able to translate everything from

English to Portuguese or from Portuguese to English. From English to Portuguese. Wow. But it is very hard because it's not like it's not just being able to speak English. It's being able to translate and to be fast, you know. So, it's not easy at all. I've never done this in my life. No, never. That was quite challenging. A fun fact, uh I'm a Christian, so I remember that sometimes I was at church and uh and my pastor would be like preaching the gospel and I was in my head trying to translate everything he was saying

to English just to practice my you know, my fast thinking, you know, I was really happy that I was able to have this sort of challenge and finally find out that my English was I mean was good. Of course, we always have something to improve, but at the time for somebody who taught himself, that was more than great of of course and and you feel that your English is real. It's enough to be used for communication to express your thoughts and your ideas. And I think that's the best feeling, you know? It's not just like,

oh, trying to speak English perfectly without a foreign accent. Come on. When somebody who doesn't speak Portuguese can understand what you're saying, this feeling is amazing, right? So, it means that your English works. Yeah. And there's something funny. The first time I told a joke in English to foreign people for native and they laugh at my joke, I was like, "Oh my goodness, I got there." Victory. My English is real. I can speak English. Yeah. And that's an interesting point because sometimes we are able to speak English, but we are not ourselves yet. You know,

we're not able to be who we are in Portuguese because we don't know. We don't know enough to be ourselves. Yeah. So, for example, I I've always had a sense of humor. So, I like, you know, telling silly jokes and I'm very fast in Portuguese. And there was a moment when I couldn't be myself in English. So, when you can do this, it's like, oh my god, yes, it worked, right? It's amazing. It's amazing. I have so many good friends. Um, Native American friends, like Native American sounds strange, like North American friends. So I have

so many friends cuz the first time I I I was with them in uh in one in that environment as an interpreter I was 16 but in the next year they came back and they kept came coming back year after year. So I worked with them for seven years. Wow. And I met like dozens of native speakers, English speakers. So I have friendship like when I got my when I got married they paid for my honeymoon in United States. Oh my god. I I need friends like that. fun coupons. Yeah. One of their kids, he

is a pilot for American Airlines. Yeah. And he always gives me the flight tickets when I when I go to America to my family, my wife, my kids. Are these friends? Lucky boy. I've been there for Christmas time, special moments like families and friends gathering together. So, I feel like they they truly know who I am. And that's amazing knowing that my English got to that level that I can show my authenticity and I can really feel comfortable in my own skin when I'm speaking English. Okay. So tell me about your first time in the

USA. So you were a boy from Fed. You had no money to travel abroad. How did this happen? Well um friends that is American friends. Yeah. American friends again. I was really into movies. Mhm. I'm still am but at the time I was like I want to be a filmmaker. I want to tell stories and I made this movie in my city called St. Hagas musical and it got me three awards international awards in a film festival. After winning that award I was like I know what I want to do. I want to study film

in United States. So I was searching through internet schools uh in the United States and I found out that there's this school in New York called the New York Film Academy and I applied for the school and I was approved in every stage of the process but I didn't tell them that I didn't have the money to pay while I was going through all of that process like English proficiency test and like sending them a portfolio interviews and everything. It was a long process. Yes, I was fundraising, you know. So, I told my story. I

made this video telling people how much I loved English, how much how hard it was for me to be able to speak that language. And um and also talking about my work as a filmmaker cuz at the time I I already won some awards and stuff like that. And people really got connected to my story cuz coming from the place that I am from, it's surreal thinking that somebody like me could be able to go to another country and study the way that everything happened. I made this video. People started donating some money. It's like

a vacia, right? A little cow. I'm just joking. That's not how you say it in English. Uh they got me on TV, on radio, newspaper. my they were spreading the word like my story was everywhere the local press probably yes some very sometime and from Salvador as well and I got really scared because you know that feeling like I'm too close I mean I'm almost there I'm really close but maybe it might not happen it might not happen and I was feeling like is it really is it for real cuz in the past I my

visa got denied twice and I was approved in uh exchange programs but they got cancelled. I have history. It had happened. Yeah, it had happened before. Yeah, I have a history and then I was really scared and uh but at the same time my faith I was praying I mean God please help me you know make this thing happen and I remember that the the last day to it was the deadline to pay the tuition. I got this email from the New York Film Academy with the invoice and receipt and everything saying that my school

was paid and I was like, how is that possible? Cuz the money that people donated is still here in my bank account in Brazil. But did you have enough money already? No, just 6,000. Yes. And how much would you have to I needed something like 60,000. 60,000. And you had 6,000? Yes. Wow. I got the the email and then I was like, "What's going on?" and they told me that a person in United States watched that video that I posted. They called the school and they paid my tuition. So, uh that's basically how this miracle

happened. I think God listened to you. God listened to me and um a couple days later I got a call from the United States and the person who paid the school called me through Facebook like FaceTime. This person used to live in my city when I when I wasn't even born. My dad as a brick layer, he built the house of this family when they live while they lived in my city. So they knew my dad and they paid the school for me. They knew your dad, they saw your story, they felt really touched by

your story and then they decided to give you a chance. Oh my god. To invest in your dream. Yes. That's such a crazy story. I love listening to it's the second time I I hear this story and it always gives me goosebumps because that's the power of your dream and your effort. So it's not just about dreaming and praying. Of course it is a part of the process but you've worked hard so you really deserved it. So you went to the states for the first time and how did you feel? Did you feel that your

English was good or did you have you know a shock? Oh my god, a culture shock or something like this. A linguistic shock. It felt like a dream. I got there on January 1st, so the city was quiet, the snow, it felt like I was in the one of those movies that I've been watching throughout throughout my childhood. In terms of the language, I didn't have a hard time, but I I do remember that when I used to go back to the house where I was staying, I would have headaches at night cuz it was

a lot of English like all the time. I remember feeling the same when I went to England for the first time. Oh, really? And it was the British accent also. So, I thought I knew English, but my British uh accent, I mean, listening to the British accent was harder. So, oh my god, I used to have terrible headaches. Yeah, you got really tired, you know. It's exhausting, in fact. But after a few days, you get used to it, isn't it? You can get by. There were Brazilians in my group, so there were like three Brazilians.

So, I was able to speak Portuguese uh here and there, you know, but um I was trying to put myself like in a position where I have to practice. I have to speak as much as I can cuz that's why I came here, you know. Exactly. Yeah. You can't miss this opportunity, right? Imagine going to the United States and speaking Portuguese all the time. No. Yeah. Makes no sense. Well, and then you became a teacher. How did this happen? Yeah. I went to school. I mean, I studied letters with English. I studied English, right? So,

I went to college and I graduated from college. I Was it before or after going to the USA? It was before. Before. Ah, okay. You were a teacher when you went to the States. Okay. Now it makes sense. So I decided to study English because somebody told me somebody told me you had a boyfriend. Do you know the song? Oh yeah. Okay. This another one. Somebody told me that there were like uh exchange programs opportunities for like English students. But that was a lie. I didn't I did I wasn't able to find any. So what

I did I tried to apply for exchange programs like uh there was a program the biology core students there was they were able to apply for an exchange program in um in a university in Mississippi. Yes. And I applied as I was if I were like a biology student but I I enrolled myself in language subjects you know. Okay. Got it. It was like I it was me trying to make it out you know. and uh and I was approved. Mhm. A month prior to my trip, they cancelled their um relation, their contractor relationship status

with my university. So, I wasn't able to go because God had better plans for you. He had better plans for me. Yeah. Now I see. Yeah. Now you see sometimes we feel devastated, but maybe what's next is better. Yeah. All things work for our good. Mhm. Okay. Then you've lived the dream. You became a teacher. You were a teacher and now you teach online. You have the perfect connection between the acting world with the teaching world. So that's two parts of your life. Yes. And you bring these two parts together to your social media, right?

Yes. So you are very famous for some fun series uh teaching English or using English with humor and stuff. So tell us about these ideas. Where do these ideas come from? You know, I'm a theater kid. So, um, growing up at church, I was always I mean plays and choir and like anything related to performing arts, Thiago was there, you know. So, I always loved writing stories and telling stories, especially my stories. Internet helped me to give me this platform where I can you know create engage an audience that believes the stories that I have

to tell and that's amazing you know the feeling like 1 million people watched my video like I made this series called Diego Natan it it got me like more than 30 million views that's insane that's crazy you know and I'm very grateful for being able to showcase my talent and also teach English and be an inspiration to kids that have the same sort of background and also to speak English, something that I love doing. Mhm. And you talked about stories, but now I'm curious to hear about what you like to read. What are your favorite

books? Are you into reading or not? Yeah, I'm not much of a reader lately, I would say, but I really enjoyed reading Rip Bono. It's one of my the books that I I read at at college. Isn't it the one where he says I would but I prefer not to. Is it this one? I don't think so. Okay. Sorry. But I remember there was an accent like rip venle. I don't remember. I've read the part at college. I really like uh selfimprovement books like that the ones that talks about performance and authenticity. I like biographies.

I read Viola Davis biography. It's such an inspiring book. Will Smith, his book is awesome. Like I've never There are parts of his story that I've never been told before. So, it's really cool. I I love reading inspirational stories, people that, you know, overcome their obstacles and hard time. So, but I love watching movies. I I do that more than I read. Mhm. So you said you like reading self-improvement books, but don't you think that sometimes you feel more anxious than inspired? Because sometimes that's what happens to me. So when I read too many inspiration

inspirational stories or I read this high performance world where we need to do our best and wake up early and work out and pray and then be a good dad, a good mom. Sometimes it makes me feel a little crazy and um you know a little uh anxious. How do you feel about it? How do you balance these things? Well, uh there's the expectation versus reality. You know, I like to feel inspired by other people and uh I truly learn from their path, from their struggle, but I I don't like compare myself cuz I feel

like everyone has its own story. So the way that I like to read those books is like putting myself in a place where I'm here just to take whatever is going to help me. But I don't like to compare myself cuz I sometimes I feel that when I watch some videos on YouTube, you know, cuz they put a pressure on yourself that sometimes it's a burden, you know, to carry. Yeah. We want to be better people, but sometimes we cannot do everything at the same time. Yes. For example, when I had my two kids, I've

always been an amazing mom and I will never regret giving up lots of things to spend time with my kids. Yes. But my career was a little on the back burner for a while because I had to be a mom. That makes sense. Um but then some years passed and now I feel that I have to get my career back. It doesn't mean that I'm not a good mom, but I'm trying to to focus more on work. I think there's moments, right? Sure thing. I feel like the same. I'm look I mean I'm very productive

on this. I know when I'm thinking about recording a video, this guy has like 10 scripts and he said, "Okay, I've recorded five already, so rush." I'm this kind of person, you know, who's always trying to create something new to bring up new ideas. And I'm always like analytic about numbers and performance and everything. But I'm going to tell you something. Sometimes it's really tiresome. Is it worth it? Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking of new ideas to improve my work, to to be better, to do better, to perform to

perform better. So yeah, sometimes I feel like I don't know if this is enough because as much as you give, you don't get the return the same with the same amount and passion and love and effort that you you put in. So this is something I always question myself as well. So, is this it? Is this what I really need to do to live? Yes. So, yeah, some phil philosophical questions we have no answer. That's the idea. That's the theme for another video. Yeah, another video. And you have two kids, two very small kids, actually,

one newborn baby at home. So, tell us about your family. Uh, and your wife, by the way, she she's a singer. This is like so many artists in this family. Yeah, my family is my treasure. I'm really blessed with the family that I have with my wife and my two kids. We've been through so much and I feel like God has been blessing us. Sometimes I feel like, oh my goodness, is this really happening? You know, when you look at those little faces, oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. With I mean, especially not only material things,

but you know, in terms of health and happiness and peace. So, uh, everything I do is for them, you know, I really want to give them the best life that I could ever give to them. But also being down to earth, I always try to have in mind the place that I came from, my origins, my family, cuz that's something that really shaped me and made me the man that I am today. Kevin's such a a creative guy, you know, he speaks English already. He's three, right? He's three years old. Uh, he's very smart. He

plays the drums. Um, he plays the drums at three. He plays the drums. My god. My My son is five and he doesn't play anything. Come on. Performance. High performance. Mattails. You're behind Kevin. Ka is one month old, but he's very quiet. I think he took after his mom who is more like quiet person. He has a very good melodic memory. Sometimes we sing songs and then he can sing the same key as singers. I do sing as well. We always singing at home and sometimes he started singing the same key of the original song

that requires a lot of memory melodic and harmony memory you know to do it and he grew up watching us cuz we do musical theater me and my wife so he took him to the rehearsals and he watches us performing on stage singing dancing acting I think Kevin's going to be an artist as well you are definitely their inspiration I mean inspirations good inspirations for the kids have you been sleeping well No. What is that? I don't know what sleepy mean. Let me tell you something. Me neither. And my daughter, she's almost three now and

she still doesn't sleep at night. It's terrible. But Thiago, thank you so much for this lovely conversation. I appreciate you. Yes. Thank you so much for having me. Such an honor to be here in this channel, guys. Subscribe in her channel. Subscribe to his channel as well. Have lots of fun there. Thank you so much and see you next video. Bye. In this video, you are going to practice your listening skills with us but in English. Okay. Are you ready? I'm ready. Okay. So, who are you, Thiago? Oh, I'm Thiago. I'm an English teacher, content

creator, actor, director, father, husband. That's me. Okay, that's it. That's the end of the conversation. Thank you so much. Bye, guys. So, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. I'm such in a awe being here with you. Oh, come on. It's so nice. You've accomplished so many things already in your life. So, I I really look up to you. You're an inspiration to me. So, I'm very happy to have you on my channel as well for the second time. Yeah, for the second time. Guys, I know that we're all fans. Karina is such an

inspiration to all of us. So whenever you think like I'm going to try to find some videos on YouTube, you know, tips on how speaking something, you're going to see this face. Yeah, I've been there forever on YouTube, but thank you so much for the kind words. Well, Chiago, the story of your life is really inspiring and um we've talked a little bit about it on our speaking in Brazil podcast in Portuguese, but this this time we're speaking English, but I would like to to know how you learned English now in English. How did you

learn English? Well, um speaking English has always been something that made me feel so happy, you know. I I came from a very poor background. Yeah. Where are you from, by the way? I'm from Baya. M Santana. So my dad was a brick layer, my mom a maid. So I was this kid trying to conquer the world, you know, watching movies, you know. Uhhuh. I know. I was like thinking that maybe one day I could go abroad and then speak English. So I decided to to teach myself. So you're self-taught. Yeah. You've never taken any

English courses or I had later on but um my first years as an English speaker was basically with everything that I learned through books, through videos and music, audios. So I talked to my mom, mom, I want to speak English. I want to go to United States of America and I want to be like a high school kid, you know, from those movies with those jackets. Yeah, that's so cool. baseball jackets. And I told her and I asked her if she could ask away like her where the places that she used to work, you know,

if she could like I could borrow books from them, English books and dictionaries. So, how old are you? I was nine. Nine. Oh my god. And then uh ahead of time. Ahead of time. and she got some material from me and then I started like trying to memorize new words and learn vocabulary and uh grammar rules. At the time I wasn't able to practice my my speaking and listening skills cuz everything I had was written books. Later on I was able to get those tapes cassette cassette cassette cassette tapes. Yeah. And um I was able

to listen to vocabulary and uh through conversations, you know. So I was like trying to memorize all of the lines of the characters in the the audience. And would you repeat? I would repeat like shadowing sometimes, you know, it was a very nice and uh fun part of my childhood and teenage years. Definitely. Yeah. And so your main motivation was movies. Yeah. It's funny because my motivation was music. Oh yeah. So we have different types of motivation. So that's what's important for you guys to to find out what's your motivation to learn English. Is it

movies, music, or maybe travel, work, work, studies? Yeah, we have to find our motivation. So you were 9 years old. When were you able to say, "Oh my god, I can speak English. I am fluent." Do you remember? Yeah, I quite remember. There was this group of missionaries that they they would come to my city once a year. And I told my dad if he could like ask them to take me with them in those trips so I could be like their interpreter. My dad had never seen me or heard me speak in English. So

he was like, "Do you really speak English?" But how were how old were you? I was like 16. I was 16 at the time. And then he came to the church where those missionaries were. We went together and he introduced me to the guys over there and he said, "This is my my kid Thiago. He speaks English. He would love to help you out with this missionary program that you are doing here." They said, "Okay, we need interpreters. Come with us." And then uh I remember that we we traveled to Salvador and uh it was

a camp. There was this day that the preacher would need somebody to translate the message. So they said, "Tiago, your turn today." And oh my gosh, is it really going to be me? because there were other people to help with English and in Portuguese. I was there on the stage 30 minutes of speech and I was able to translate everything from English to Portuguese or from Portuguese to English. From English to Portuguese. Wow. But it is very hard because it's not like it's not just being able to speak English. It's being able to translate and

to be fast, you know. So, it's not easy at all. I've never done this in my life. No, never. That was quite challenging. A fun fact, uh I'm a Christian, so I remember that sometimes I was at church and uh and my pastor would be like preaching the gospel and I was in my head trying to translate everything he was saying to English just to practice my you know, my fast thinking, you know, I was really happy that I was able to have this sort of challenge and finally find out that my English was I

mean was good. Of course, we always have something to improve, but at the time for somebody who taught himself, that was more than great of of course and and you feel that your English is real. It's enough to be used for communication to express your thoughts and your ideas. And I think that's the best feeling, you know? It's not just like, oh, trying to speak English perfectly without a foreign accent. Come on. When somebody who doesn't speak Portuguese can understand what you're saying, this feeling is amazing, right? So, it means that your English works. Yeah.

And there's something funny. The first time I told a joke in English to foreign people for native and they laugh at my joke, I was like, "Oh my goodness, I got there." Victory. My English is real. I can speak English. Yeah. And that's an interesting point because sometimes we are able to speak English, but we are not ourselves yet. You know, we're not able to be who we are in Portuguese because we don't know. We don't know enough to be ourselves. Yeah. So, for example, I I've always had a sense of humor. So, I like,

you know, telling silly jokes and I'm very fast in Portuguese. And there was a moment when I couldn't be myself in English. So, when you can do this, it's like, oh my god, yes, it worked, right? It's amazing. It's amazing. I have so many good friends. Um, Native American friends, like Native American sounds strange, like North American friends. So I have so many friends cuz the first time I I I was with them in uh in one in that environment as an interpreter I was 16 but in the next year they came back and they

kept came coming back year after year. So I worked with them for seven years. Wow. And I met like dozens of native speakers, English speakers. So I have friendship like when I got my when I got married they paid for my honeymoon in United States. Oh my god. I I need friends like that. fun coupons. Yeah. One of their kids, he is a pilot for American Airlines. Yeah. And he always gives me the flight tickets when I when I go to America to my family, my wife, my kids. Are these friends? Lucky boy. I've been

there for Christmas time, special moments like families and friends gathering together. So, I feel like they they truly know who I am. And that's amazing knowing that my English got to that level that I can show my authenticity and I can really feel comfortable in my own skin when I'm speaking English. Okay. So tell me about your first time in the USA. So you were a boy from Fed. You had no money to travel abroad. How did this happen? Well um friends that is American friends. Yeah. American friends again. I was really into movies. Mhm.

I'm still am but at the time I was like I want to be a filmmaker. I want to tell stories and I made this movie in my city called St. Hagas musical and it got me three awards international awards in a film festival. After winning that award I was like I know what I want to do. I want to study film in United States. So I was searching through internet schools uh in the United States and I found out that there's this school in New York called the New York Film Academy and I applied for

the school and I was approved in every stage of the process but I didn't tell them that I didn't have the money to pay while I was going through all of that process like English proficiency test and like sending them a portfolio interviews and everything. It was a long process. Yes, I was fundraising, you know. So, I told my story. I made this video telling people how much I loved English, how much how hard it was for me to be able to speak that language. And um and also talking about my work as a filmmaker

cuz at the time I I already won some awards and stuff like that. And people really got connected to my story cuz coming from the place that I am from, it's surreal thinking that somebody like me could be able to go to another country and study the way that everything happened. I made this video. People started donating some money. It's like a vacia, right? A little cow. I'm just joking. That's not how you say it in English. Uh they got me on TV, on radio, newspaper. my they were spreading the word like my story was

everywhere the local press probably yes some very sometime and from Salvador as well and I got really scared because you know that feeling like I'm too close I mean I'm almost there I'm really close but maybe it might not happen it might not happen and I was feeling like is it really is it for real cuz in the past I my visa got denied twice and I was approved in uh exchange programs but they got cancelled. I have history. It had happened. Yeah, it had happened before. Yeah, I have a history and then I was

really scared and uh but at the same time my faith I was praying I mean God please help me you know make this thing happen and I remember that the the last day to it was the deadline to pay the tuition. I got this email from the New York Film Academy with the invoice and receipt and everything saying that my school was paid and I was like, how is that possible? Cuz the money that people donated is still here in my bank account in Brazil. But did you have enough money already? No, just 6,000. Yes.

And how much would you have to I needed something like 60,000. 60,000. And you had 6,000? Yes. Wow. I got the the email and then I was like, "What's going on?" and they told me that a person in United States watched that video that I posted. They called the school and they paid my tuition. So, uh that's basically how this miracle happened. I think God listened to you. God listened to me and um a couple days later I got a call from the United States and the person who paid the school called me through Facebook

like FaceTime. This person used to live in my city when I when I wasn't even born. My dad as a brick layer, he built the house of this family when they live while they lived in my city. So they knew my dad and they paid the school for me. They knew your dad, they saw your story, they felt really touched by your story and then they decided to give you a chance. Oh my god. To invest in your dream. Yes. That's such a crazy story. I love listening to it's the second time I I hear

this story and it always gives me goosebumps because that's the power of your dream and your effort. So it's not just about dreaming and praying. Of course it is a part of the process but you've worked hard so you really deserved it. So you went to the states for the first time and how did you feel? Did you feel that your English was good or did you have you know a shock? Oh my god, a culture shock or something like this. A linguistic shock. It felt like a dream. I got there on January 1st, so

the city was quiet, the snow, it felt like I was in the one of those movies that I've been watching throughout throughout my childhood. In terms of the language, I didn't have a hard time, but I I do remember that when I used to go back to the house where I was staying, I would have headaches at night cuz it was a lot of English like all the time. I remember feeling the same when I went to England for the first time. Oh, really? And it was the British accent also. So, I thought I knew

English, but my British uh accent, I mean, listening to the British accent was harder. So, oh my god, I used to have terrible headaches. Yeah, you got really tired, you know. It's exhausting, in fact. But after a few days, you get used to it, isn't it? You can get by. There were Brazilians in my group, so there were like three Brazilians. So, I was able to speak Portuguese uh here and there, you know, but um I was trying to put myself like in a position where I have to practice. I have to speak as much

as I can cuz that's why I came here, you know. Exactly. Yeah. You can't miss this opportunity, right? Imagine going to the United States and speaking Portuguese all the time. No. Yeah. Makes no sense. Well, and then you became a teacher. How did this happen? Yeah. I went to school. I mean, I studied letters with English. I studied English, right? So, I went to college and I graduated from college. I Was it before or after going to the USA? It was before. Before. Ah, okay. You were a teacher when you went to the States. Okay.

Now it makes sense. So I decided to study English because somebody told me somebody told me you had a boyfriend. Do you know the song? Oh yeah. Okay. This another one. Somebody told me that there were like uh exchange programs opportunities for like English students. But that was a lie. I didn't I did I wasn't able to find any. So what I did I tried to apply for exchange programs like uh there was a program the biology core students there was they were able to apply for an exchange program in um in a university in

Mississippi. Yes. And I applied as I was if I were like a biology student but I I enrolled myself in language subjects you know. Okay. Got it. It was like I it was me trying to make it out you know. and uh and I was approved. Mhm. A month prior to my trip, they cancelled their um relation, their contractor relationship status with my university. So, I wasn't able to go because God had better plans for you. He had better plans for me. Yeah. Now I see. Yeah. Now you see sometimes we feel devastated, but maybe

what's next is better. Yeah. All things work for our good. Mhm. Okay. Then you've lived the dream. You became a teacher. You were a teacher and now you teach online. You have the perfect connection between the acting world with the teaching world. So that's two parts of your life. Yes. And you bring these two parts together to your social media, right? Yes. So you are very famous for some fun series uh teaching English or using English with humor and stuff. So tell us about these ideas. Where do these ideas come from? You know, I'm a

theater kid. So, um, growing up at church, I was always I mean plays and choir and like anything related to performing arts, Thiago was there, you know. So, I always loved writing stories and telling stories, especially my stories. Internet helped me to give me this platform where I can you know create engage an audience that believes the stories that I have to tell and that's amazing you know the feeling like 1 million people watched my video like I made this series called Diego Natan it it got me like more than 30 million views that's insane

that's crazy you know and I'm very grateful for being able to showcase my talent and also teach English and be an inspiration to kids that have the same sort of background and also to speak English, something that I love doing. Mhm. And you talked about stories, but now I'm curious to hear about what you like to read. What are your favorite books? Are you into reading or not? Yeah, I'm not much of a reader lately, I would say, but I really enjoyed reading Rip Bono. It's one of my the books that I I read at

at college. Isn't it the one where he says I would but I prefer not to. Is it this one? I don't think so. Okay. Sorry. But I remember there was an accent like rip venle. I don't remember. I've read the part at college. I really like uh selfimprovement books like that the ones that talks about performance and authenticity. I like biographies. I read Viola Davis biography. It's such an inspiring book. Will Smith, his book is awesome. Like I've never There are parts of his story that I've never been told before. So, it's really cool. I

I love reading inspirational stories, people that, you know, overcome their obstacles and hard time. So, but I love watching movies. I I do that more than I read. Mhm. So you said you like reading self-improvement books, but don't you think that sometimes you feel more anxious than inspired? Because sometimes that's what happens to me. So when I read too many inspiration inspirational stories or I read this high performance world where we need to do our best and wake up early and work out and pray and then be a good dad, a good mom. Sometimes it

makes me feel a little crazy and um you know a little uh anxious. How do you feel about it? How do you balance these things? Well, uh there's the expectation versus reality. You know, I like to feel inspired by other people and uh I truly learn from their path, from their struggle, but I I don't like compare myself cuz I feel like everyone has its own story. So the way that I like to read those books is like putting myself in a place where I'm here just to take whatever is going to help me. But

I don't like to compare myself cuz I sometimes I feel that when I watch some videos on YouTube, you know, cuz they put a pressure on yourself that sometimes it's a burden, you know, to carry. Yeah. We want to be better people, but sometimes we cannot do everything at the same time. Yes. For example, when I had my two kids, I've always been an amazing mom and I will never regret giving up lots of things to spend time with my kids. Yes. But my career was a little on the back burner for a while because

I had to be a mom. That makes sense. Um but then some years passed and now I feel that I have to get my career back. It doesn't mean that I'm not a good mom, but I'm trying to to focus more on work. I think there's moments, right? Sure thing. I feel like the same. I'm look I mean I'm very productive on this. I know when I'm thinking about recording a video, this guy has like 10 scripts and he said, "Okay, I've recorded five already, so rush." I'm this kind of person, you know, who's always

trying to create something new to bring up new ideas. And I'm always like analytic about numbers and performance and everything. But I'm going to tell you something. Sometimes it's really tiresome. Is it worth it? Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking of new ideas to improve my work, to to be better, to do better, to perform to perform better. So yeah, sometimes I feel like I don't know if this is enough because as much as you give, you don't get the return the same with the same amount and passion and love

and effort that you you put in. So this is something I always question myself as well. So, is this it? Is this what I really need to do to live? Yes. So, yeah, some phil philosophical questions we have no answer. That's the idea. That's the theme for another video. Yeah, another video. And you have two kids, two very small kids, actually, one newborn baby at home. So, tell us about your family. Uh, and your wife, by the way, she she's a singer. This is like so many artists in this family. Yeah, my family is my

treasure. I'm really blessed with the family that I have with my wife and my two kids. We've been through so much and I feel like God has been blessing us. Sometimes I feel like, oh my goodness, is this really happening? You know, when you look at those little faces, oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. With I mean, especially not only material things, but you know, in terms of health and happiness and peace. So, uh, everything I do is for them, you know, I really want to give them the best life that I could ever give to

them. But also being down to earth, I always try to have in mind the place that I came from, my origins, my family, cuz that's something that really shaped me and made me the man that I am today. Kevin's such a a creative guy, you know, he speaks English already. He's three, right? He's three years old. Uh, he's very smart. He plays the drums. Um, he plays the drums at three. He plays the drums. My god. My My son is five and he doesn't play anything. Come on. Performance. High performance. Mattails. You're behind Kevin. Ka

is one month old, but he's very quiet. I think he took after his mom who is more like quiet person. He has a very good melodic memory. Sometimes we sing songs and then he can sing the same key as singers. I do sing as well. We always singing at home and sometimes he started singing the same key of the original song that requires a lot of memory melodic and harmony memory you know to do it and he grew up watching us cuz we do musical theater me and my wife so he took him to the

rehearsals and he watches us performing on stage singing dancing acting I think Kevin's going to be an artist as well you are definitely their inspiration I mean inspirations good inspirations for the kids have you been sleeping well No. What is that? I don't know what sleepy mean. Let me tell you something. Me neither. And my daughter, she's almost three now and she still doesn't sleep at night. It's terrible. But Thiago, thank you so much for this lovely conversation. I appreciate you. Yes. Thank you so much for having me. Such an honor to be here in

this channel, guys. Subscribe in her channel. Subscribe to his channel as well. Have lots of fun there. Thank you so much and see you next video. Bye.