hello and welcome to English in Brazil this is teacher Karina and teacher eler Elsa where are we we are at a park in PTO yes we are both so we're here at a park having a very nice conversation so Elsa thank you so much for being here with us oh thank you so much for inviting me it's so nice being here with you so were you born here in PTO alri tell me a little bit more about you well I was born in Alig so uh I came here in 1997 and uh my mom used
to live here so I was transferred from my school there to another one here and since then I was 13 back then you know I'm old so she's so old I'm old I came here and since then I've been living here okay so what do you do I'm an English teacher for long long time already yeah I started teaching when I was 18 and it was really challenging because I was nervous back then since my first day teaching I fell in love with it CU it's so amazing when you can actually see and follow a
student's progress so it's Priceless and how did you learn English I learned it by myself when I was a teen cuz my mom was graduated in English and she taught me English when I was young I was about four or five and she started teaching me the alphabet and also the numbers but then because I was a very outgoing kid and when I noticed that there were other languages in the world and I wouldn't be able to communicate with other people I wanted to start speaking something that would help me communicate with other people amazing
but now could you share with us you know your process your learning process what did you do exactly did you read a lot did you listen a lot I used to read a lot in the school uh Library I used to take some books home to study English you know and they were basically grammar books our Portuguese is already so tough you know H subject and the object of the sentence and whatever and I was so confused that I had to to learn in Portuguese too what all of those names were so I needed to
do different process in my mind I started naming things for example a subject is a person who does an action the verb is an action the object is what suffers the action so I started changing things in my mind so then I would be able to understand English you know so that's how I started learning English let me know why do you think not so many Brazilians are able to speak English the traditional schools they teach in a way that takes a really long time and Brazilians don't use internet to learn that's one thing it
normally we do use internet for entertaining entertaining purposes purposes purposes I think that if Brazilians start connecting getting along line to study it will be way better for them because I think that internet has so many good teachers you know that can help you improve a lot and learn a lot from it so it's not only entertaining and I think that also traditional schools have don't have the space repetition system and they don't have some things that help the students in the learning process once you attend a class for two hours once once a week
it's I don't think it's good enough for a student to actually learn and understand and keep all the information that they got yeah I think the problem is that it's not that going to a language School twice a week is bad I mean not that you're not going to learn anything there but it's not enough right yeah so you have to know what to do throughout the week for you to keep practicing and keep this immersion because without immersion you are not going to learn anything that's why so many people have been studying English for
eight nine years 10 yeah 10 years oh but I I can understand but I cannot speak so oh there is a problem right yeah exactly and what about you how did you start well I started learning English through songs because I love music you too probably everybody likes music right I wanted to get married to bonji bonji and me Taylor hansome awesome yeah so that's why I started uh learning English and ex Rose too he used to look so cute but nowadays yeah yeah you know it's changed a lot so I I used to love
these songs and I started practicing I started singing without knowing what I was singing you know I think that's why my pronunciation has always been you know good this process of listening and repeating listening and repeating so that's why my pronunciation is good even though my grammar was not good at that time because I didn't know know much about grammar but then I decided to take leas to study leas and I also learned a lot during this uh process of learning literature and uh grammar and everything in college so that's how I learned more basically
an immersion right an immersion and the opportunity to speak with other people because without practicing you're not going to learn that's what we're doing here we're in Brazil and we're speaking English we can both communicate in Portuguese of course but we're doing this here yeah we encourage you to do this too it's awesome even though if you make mistakes it's tot fine we should accept that English is not our first language it's not one thing that we know and even native speakers make mistakes yeah of course we make mistakes in Portuguese all the time so
we should you know just forget about it because you are going to make mistakes it just relax now tell me about your work on the internet how did you start because I know if you know but she has a huge audience on Tik Tok and also on Instagram and also on YouTube right you are also on YouTube yes we are reaching a million really oh my God so subscribe to her Channel now because she has to reach 1 million subs thank you so much whenever my husband started trying to recording I got totally froze you
know I I used to freeze a lot but he continued encouraging me come on let's do what you can do it can do it but it was tough it was tough I was really embarrassed I got really nervous tell me about your first video was it a short video or a long video for YouTube a short video short video and what was it about do you remember yeah brand names in English brand names in English yeah Colgate Palmolive which is and what about the views did you get lots of views in this first video or
not uh within 24 hours we got 1,000 views and we had zero followers you know I got really nervous I was teaching at the exact time it completed a day that we posted the video and my students were betting you know they started betting oh it's going to be uh 1,200 1,300 when we finish the class and it was amazing because they were cheering they were really happy and encouraging you yeah to continue doing that you know it was so nice and then you got 1,000 views you were happy what did you think next like
okay let me make another video or oh my God what do I do now how did you feel oh my God what do I do now you know and then my husband no come on we need to make another video and then we did another one and another one in 15 days we reached 18,000 followers on Tik Tok oh my God in two weeks I was in shock and then he grabbed my cell phone okay now go live how you go just like that and I had no planning or anything like that and I was
really nervous I was shaking I had no idea what to talk about I just wanted to thank all the audience that I had and I think that in two months we reached 100,000 in two months oh my God that was really quick yeah it was really fast and then I was teaching in his school back then and uh the honors they came to me and asked okay what are you going to do you know and I was I'm going to finish the semester and then I will see what I'm going to do about it and
then we reached I think two or 300,000 in 90 days no way I I was really nervous about it yeah because it was really quick so you don't know exactly what to do but just keep doing it it's working yeah exactly but I was we thought okay now we need to post on YouTube too then we did everything my husband was the one who was editing the video it was nice longer videos you mean yeah and did they get as many views as the ones on Tik Tok now right because YouTube is harder yeah it's
way hard it's really harder than uh Tik Tok and short videos but then we took a while to continue on YouTube you know it was we started on Tik Tok and then we started posting the same videos on Instagram and then we started posting on YouTube so just after a while cuz there were just the two of us so it was really hard to do everything that we were supposed to you know and how did you start okay uh I mean genuine questions here so how did you start monetizing your your work because it's a
lot of work you were working at a school your husband was helping you so uh okay you have followers but you have to pay the bills too so did you have to make a decision okay now I'll stop teaching and try this or it was everything a natural process uh my husband told me that okay you know how much do we need to make me and I was okay I just needed four students private students to quit my job and then that's what we did uh we posted a video saying I was going to open
my schedule to private students so then we got in less than 12 hours 12 hours right we got all the students that were necessary and then I quit my job wow because you were already very popular everybody wanted to study with you it was so cool but it was so nervous yeah I know so I I I can relate because I always feel a little anxious when I have to do something new but now it's not now you feel all right right now it's easier now it's better you know it's it got natural when uh
after you take a a while and recording videos and doing everything that that's really necessary you feel like okay now thank God I can relax but when you meet a person just like her oh my goodness I got butterflies in my stomach oh my go you know I was freaking nervous on my way here you have no idea I should be the one nervous meeting you because you're very famous on other platforms oh my God and even YouTube I didn't know you were about to to reach a million sub here but I I've subscribed to
your channel already but I didn't see the numbers you know so I was like wow it's a lot of people yeah you know it's p the size of I know I know it's crazy crazy so tell me something you love about teaching on the internet and something you don't like that much about teaching on the internet it can be about what you do or about what other people do one thing that I love the most is that you meet people from many different places I've got students in China in Japan you know this is so
amazing I don't like the way that people refer to teachers sometimes as objects you know because I know that there are teachers who really show their buddies but it's not our purposes you know it's not my purpose and it's not yours but I I think this is one thing that is really complicated do you think it happens a lot on every platform or not I think it's because of um some people who do it and other people think that oh no you're teacher sure so you can do it too no we don't MH no so
I I think that's really a thing that bothers me you okay what about you what about you something I don't like oh I don't like seeing uh you know language gurus saying that you're going to learn a language in one month so whenever I see this I I I want to kill myself no it's another one another person saying this because we know it's not a one month process you know it takes longer uh so yeah I think this is what I hate the most you know when people say things or promise things that are
not real I know they cannot you know deliver this to the student and the students go there and buy the course or buy something and I say it's not going to work so I I don't I hate it you know and then they start thinking that we do the same thing right yeah yeah they think all the courses are the same yeah exactly yeah this is what I hate the most I think and what do you like the most about teaching online ah it's the fact that well the internet has literally changed my life because
I was studying to be a college professor I would be very happy you know teaching uh at a university too but then my channel started growing and you know Google and YouTube noticed me just like you were noticed by Tik Tok and maybe other platforms too I don't know so I had lot lots of opportunities my first trip to to the USA my first and second and third trips to the USA were because of YouTube so uh I am so thankful uh I sometimes I don't believe you know I is it real is this real
life and everything because I just posted that first video you know I had to post that very first video it's a little cringeworthy whenever I look at myself at that video oh my God it's a totally different karinaa of course it was 10 years ago but I had to have the courage to upload that video in order to have all these things happening in my life so also I love teaching from anywhere I live in s Paulo now and I'm thinking about moving back to P to H to stay close to my family and I
can live wherever I want now just like you because you work online show 100% online right that's awesome this is something I love too now tell me a little bit more about your life so do you have any kids I know you do but tell me about your kids I've got two kids pabl and Laur Pablo is 13 years old and Laura is five both are autistic kids Pablo is one level one and Lura is level three now pabl is on vacation so he's just playing online at home you know and L needs 30 hour
therapy every week 30 hours it's a lot yeah it's a lot it's a lot and but does she go to school too she no no no she doesn't go to school no oh she's five she's five sorry no but um she was supposed to oh really yeah but uh we decided not to mhm for now you know because it's not easy to find a school that is actually inclusive because there are a lot of schools that I oh no come here we accept autistic kids but but they don't you know yeah they don't pay close
attention to the kids so the kids can be you know just isolated from other kids yeah so I understand yeah and what do they think of work do they understand what you're doing my son Pablo is he loves it you know he doesn't quite understand what's going on but he loves it he finds it so cool when I told him that I was coming here to meet you he was like oh my goodness does he know me of course he of course he does you know and he was like oh Mom that's awesome I'm so
happy for you pabl so he was he was really really really uh supportive he's amazing he's such a nice boy he's really sweet and Laura doesn't get it but she loves my hair you know she loves your hair yeah who doesn't who doesn't love your hair you uh you recognize me right uh from really uh a long distance exactly so I was in the park okay I can see you know uh what's a Pink Spot in the park it's Elsa it was very easy to find you and you know what I think it's very nice
for your videos too it's easy to recognize you oh it's that teacher with the pink hair so I think uh it it's very positive for your image and for your social media too I think don't you think so yeah it's nice but you know it's insane because I didn't start with this colorful hair you didn't because of Internet oh yeah no I know one year before that I because it was my Teenage Dream oh my goodness I really wanted to have a really colorful hair and I didn't have money to do it when I was
a teen and I really want it's an investment you know having this kind of hair yeah we spent a lot so um when I first did it I arrived home I just told my husband oh I'm going to dye my hair you know it's going to be really colorful and stuff and he was oh go for it and then I arrived home with a rainbow you know I'm going to show you in the video later on his reaction he loved it you know loved it cuz I don't know it's so meat you know having this
colorful hair I love it I really love and what do people say about your hair do you have I I I suppose you get lots of you know all kinds of comments about your hair because you know save me teacher she's another pink haired teacher you know her she she sometimes gets comments like oh my God you shouldn't have this kind of hair because you're not a teenager anymore do you have this kind of a lot oh my God why do people care about your hair right come on you know it's my dream and I'm
so happy that I can nowadays that I can do it you know yeah I know so I think that this is one of the worst part of the internet since you post a video people think that it can go there and comment and judge you and whatever they don't even know you so how come you know ah you know that a lot right I know I know but you know what my audience on YouTube it's a very safe space I don't know thank you guys for being so kind because I don't get many bad comments
on YouTube sometimes on Instagram especially in my ads because uh they are sponsored uh when we talk about my course uh and stuff so we sponsor these videos and then I get PE comments from people who don't know me sometimes they're bad comments but I don't even read them anymore and such okay stupid comment stupid comments so I don't even care but on YouTube it's a it's a safe space I I feel safe here I think it's because you go viral more often than I do so when you go viral you get lots of comments
from people who don't know you right so I think that's but that's a part of the process to you know but I think that this is one of the points that really took me a while to Poe for the first time you know because whenever you open up whenever you post a video and people start judging you I don't know I in the beginning I got really upset yeah me too I wanted to quit I wanted to disappear I wanted to you know yeah but then we just kept doing it and here we are okay
one last question and one last question now tell me about your viral videos I mentioned this before so what are the most popular videos on your social media the simplest ones you know there's a video that we recorded we were going to gram when Tik Tok invited us to stream on official Tik Tok profile you know we were supposed to show how gam looks during Christmas and we uh Tik Tok sent us there and we recorded a video at I think it was 3:00 a.m. I was really oh my goodness that video went viral oh
the audience that we got from this video was gigantic so we reached I think 64 million views 64 million views in one video but you know showing gam no it was uh about the alphabet Oh the alphabet W it was so simple and we did it one shot you know taking notes here I'm going to make a video about the alphabet now yeah please do it come on it works and one thing it always works the same video you know the same idea what the alphabet always okay let me talk about the so it was
and it was my husband's idea he was like oh come on it's going be okay now everybody loves your husband because he supported me he liked my hair he created my viral videos oh he's amazing yeah but he's taken guys so sorry not available no not available but you know uh it was so crazy cuz we did it one shot and times we you know we think and think and think okay let me think about something different something they won't know but not many Brazilians can speak English so if you want to reach a bigger
audience you have to aim at the basic level right yeah exactly oh good tip so alphabet what alphabet numbers you know numbers alphabet okay so those those videos were awesome I don't know I I got so nervous because when I went to 64 million oh my God we uh went to gado that day when I went to bed not even 30,000 views you know but uh when we woke up in the morning it was like 800,000 and it was oh my God is a good feeling it worked W yeah but then it was come on
how come and it was amazing amazing and my husband is the one who did all the editing and so on it took us a while to Ed did it and then go out to eat something to have dinner and then we went back to the hotel and the live video for Tik Tok was going to be on the next day so we were there already to check things around and uh how things would work at the time that I was supposed to stream on Tik Tok and then the video went viral in a way that
I just couldn't believe it wow it was the first time that I reached a million followers congratul fore for thank you so thanks for watching cute
