English Conversations With Tiffani Episode 1 Meet Alex from Russia
hey hey welcome to today’s episode of
conversations with me
teacher Tiffany in today’s episode I
speak with my student Alex and I
thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and
I know that you’re gonna enjoy it too so
let’s jump right in this episode of
conversations with teacher Tiffany is
being sponsored by the speak English
with Tiffany Academy the number one
online English Academy for intermediate
and advanced English learners all right
it’s so good to see you how are you
likewise Tiffany I’ve been doing good I
caught a bit of a cold so my voice may
sound a little bit different but I feel
ok I’m getting better
exactly exactly
my Christmas ones alright we enjoyed it
yeah it’s such a such a magical time you
know yeah I still feel like I’m a child
and you know I’m excited every every
single year it counts it’s just great to
have this time you know good I also
enjoy the holidays I love spending time
with my family and I have two little
nieces so they make Christmas even more
fun they get so excited about opening
gifts so yeah it’s great I’m a bit
jealous because my family is in Russia
yeah for four years
oh really yeah yeah Oh since we moved to
the United States Brazil here and we’re
still trying to solve the visa the visa
status and stuff like that but yeah it’s
still funny you know because we have
friends here in Los Angeles so it’s
still an option you know to be happy and
excited
that’s very true yeah well Alex I want
to go back and start with the first
question because you have spoken via
email and I keep going but for students
that are gonna watch this one
conversation later can you
kind of introduce yourself Alex you
mentioned you’re from Russia but tell us
about your alright I’m Alex I moved to
the United States four years ago as I
said earlier and we moved with my wife
so my wife and I we’re musicians and we
have a band and the band is called chase
the comet we play kind of alternative
rock but just kinda it’s a mixture of
genres basically and yeah we’ve been
just you know following our dream
because we wanted to see if it can’t
work out here in America our music
careers so that’s why we moved and since
then I’ve been learning English pretty
hard because then was the goal I wanted
to feel confident while I’m having
conversations and this is this is how
and this is why I found you on YouTube
by the way yeah I’ve been watching lots
of English channels and lots of English
videos uh-huh I’m trying to do it
constantly every day uh-huh and then
your video just popped up and I was like
okay let’s give it a watch and I was so
like I liked it a lot divide the the way
you learn and I just you hook me up
that’s what I can say I’m so glad you
like the lesson I’m so glad that you
decided to join the Academy I’m I really
loved being an English teacher hold on
all right make off a few choice words
every words I really love teaching
English and I’m always excited when I
get an opportunity to meet my students
you know even though it’s via video call
I really haven’t you can feel the way
and I know you’ve been you’ve been
hearing this a lot that you’re a great
teacher and
everyone likes you but still that’s true
drinking
I really we’re not gonna flatter you is
just the way it is you know it’s just
pure facts thank you I really appreciate
that Alex I really appreciate that and
also I know what it means and what it is
when you kind of teach any subject
because I’ve been teaching guitar for
almost four or five years back in Russia
oh well I know what it is to you know to
talk to students to see their progress
or not to see their progress you know
it’s stuff but if you have passion yeah
you’re gonna succeed anyway yeah you
know this is what I you have thank you
you know it’s funny but right before I
started the YouTube channel about two
two and a half years ago there was
another youtuber that I followed and he
was giving advice about starting a
channel he said whatever you do you have
to be passionate about it because out of
work and it’s been so true throughout my
time running the English Channel I mean
now it’s you know doing well and I’m
able to meet students and we had the
Academy but there was there were quite a
few months where was just hard work
early morning also I know you’re a great
planner so it’s not just you know random
and chaotic you just plan everything
right this yeah that makes the
difference because when you have
strategy it’s easier to move on no so I
wanted to ask you how much time how much
time did it take to build your YouTube
channel like properly to have like a
decent amount of views and subscribers
so I started my channel I think it’s
been two and a half years and it’s there
were periodic jumps I would get my first
100 subscribers
it took about maybe two or three months
and then the next quote-unquote
milestone was a thousand subscribers
Matt to another maybe two to three
months when I hit that one thousand
subscriber point I had a few videos that
at that time went viral
at that time viral was they’ve left me a
million views Alton okay at that time
right now yeah
million views right time
excited when I got 10 pounds for sure
it was kind of a process but one thing I
would tell I don’t know if you and your
wife are ever interested in starting a
YouTube channel we have that we have
them this is where I’m asking the main
thing is follow your idea and your
passion and listen to your students
so what happened is those students that
were viewing my videos they were telling
me what they liked and what right all
right and as long as I paid attention to
what they needed and I kind of adapted
like okay well let’s say for example
there was a time I wanted to teach
vocabulary how long you been following
me but I started off with the visual
vocabulary series right images and I
love that yeah exactly they wanted a
teacher we want step-by-step and so when
I switched you skyrocketed right I think
the key is you have to yeah you have to
listen to your audience for sure yeah
good advice
yeah well tell me what’s what’s your
channel I mean students watching they
can go watch your videos too well that’s
funny because we have a few channels the
first channel is the channel of our band
is called Chase to comment so we have
they’re like our music videos official
media clips and all that stuff you know
that bands have okay I want to show it
to Jace change the comment yeah okay
hold on
I want I want to promote my students to
I want me I’m gonna open it up on my
computer right now I’m gonna share my
screen so you guys can see exactly what
Nina islets are talking about okay all
right this is the first one yeah we’ve
just we’ve just dropped a new record
like a few weeks ago it’s called out of
the matrix
1.3 thousand subscriber well but we we
got stuck a little bit so yeah I mean
you know there’s a little bit different
but with music channels have music bands
you have to do lots of light covers so
you see through
the singer of our band Nika she made a
it’s like a cover for frozen - oh no the
views are not there I don’t know why
because maybe there’s too many covers
out there so you have to kind of mix
your original stuff with covers because
covers they bring you followers they
bring your views very true it’s not all
the time like that’s we want to do like
you know on the regular base yeah
damn we want we want to be focused more
on our original stuff but at the same
time we have to combine it with covers
but anyway pop Palooza solution no
what’s that since we’re talking about it
I’m gonna show you there are their
YouTube channel because looking at your
YouTube channel and also what you are
trying to do hold on pumpa loose here we
go one second
they’re also a band they’re really good
but it seems again like they’re doing
what you want to do they make their own
music but they also do covers but I
think they make a great channel for you
to follow to get ideas and to see how
did they grow what are they doing why
are they getting so many like I love it
that was ten years ago they haven’t may
abuse but let’s see uploads like one
week ago yeah - dissing amount abuse
yeah yeah their style seems like
something maybe you and your wife or
your band would kind of you like to
mimic or copy man yeah and also my
second channel isn’t this second channel
is in Russian and this is where I help
my viewers and subscribers to stop
smoking weed because yeah I’ve been well
I’ve been through some difficult stages
in my life and then I quit and I’m
completely sober and I’ve been sober for
a long time
thank you this is yeah I felt this
necessary to share my experience with
some other people and we kind of we have
created a little community where we
helped each other and where we support
each other you know where we were trying
to reveal all the negative factors that
nobody’s gonna tell you about you know
really good well do you mind telling me
that I know it’s in Russian but I do
have some Russian students in the
Academy and again they may be able to
see your channel
well my channel is just to scold
Alexander miss Joseph my first name and
my second name let’s spell it together
Alexander is just a regular winner huh
typing and the last name how do you the
last name is M I SH US govt steel V
alright now I show it to you just to
make sure that spelling is correct is
that right yep and again students you’re
watching this video remember you’re at
each other so you guys can him and go
check out his channel
this is refrain I’m just telling how
cool it is to live your sober life to be
happy every single day of your life you
know to achieve some goals no I’m just
I’m just sometimes I’m goofing around
sometimes I do little rap videos you
know I’m just I just feel so much energy
that I can not hold it like inside
anymore I just want to share it and I’m
just feeling happy this is this is the
way you feel I guess right so when you
feel happy your life is so meaningful
and you want to just share it with
everyone
very true Wow excellent thank you this
is a great introduction all right so can
you tell us the next question I have for
you is when did you start studying
English again because it seems like
you’re very very comfortable with our
conversation you’re not shy at all when
did you start studying English and why
did you choose English hmm I’ve started
learning English back in Russia when I
was like 10 years old I guess it was my
fifth grade
but I guess I’ve started teaching it a
little teacher learning in a bit earlier
with my mom we would just pick up a
vocabulary and she would just teach me
like cat dog you know table like simple
words when I was a little bit like
younger but yeah the 5th grade I guess
but again the system we the system the
teachers teachers in Russia it’s kind of
pretty much everywhere you need to
practice it every single day you need to
have like real conversations you can
learn vocabulary you can learn grammar
but if you’re not using this it becomes
like passive you know I mean yes
it’s like every skill you might have
this skill but if you’re not using it
it’s just it’s just fading away so yeah
it took me it took me some time to get
to the level where I’m comfortable with
my skills still there’s a long way to go
okay I want to improve it and I want to
be better
good good so what is currently the
hardest thing about studying English for
you not having enough conversations even
though I live in Los Angeles even though
I have options you know sometimes well
again my wife and I we’re Russians and
obviously we speak in Russian and
sometimes just it’s it’s fine we live in
a Mexican neighborhood so no one pretty
much speaks English here I got to you
know so we have to go out there like we
have to go to the office of our company
where we work for to have this practice
you know to have this conversations but
sometimes we work from home and I just
get it we just keep speaking Russian and
if it like goes on for like a few days I
feel like I’m missing it I feel like I’m
losing it even like might might my
tongue my tongue flexibility you know
what I mean mm-hmm exactly it has to be
like has to be moving the
proper way all the time yeah otherwise
you’re losing this so yeah not having
enough conversations it’s a it’s it’s a
problem it’s an issue for me I’d say
this is who I am
this is why I’ve joined the Academy this
is why I’m trying to you know yeah do as
much as I can
good good good have you um when did you
join the Academy how long has it been
for you it was like happy Thanksgiving
deal or something and oh yeah did you
say that’s that’s the high time this is
when I joined it
well you joined just in time because I
don’t have you got my other email
January first the price is gonna
increase but you don’t have to worry
it’s just fair this is forgiving the
service you provide for your students it
has to be like but you know that as well
as long as you’re in you’re fine like
you’re gonna remain askew so currently
in the Academy what have you enjoyed so
far like again every student in the
Academy is at different levels you’re
intermediate in it but a different level
so how has it helped you so far well
I’ve started watching my first step was
I started watching the interviews with
some other students and this is where
I’ve noticed and this is where I found
that no one has to be afraid of their
speaking abilities or speaking skills
because we still can understand each
other and what I think is like the
perfection is that the correct word
perfection when you’re trying to do
everything yeah that’s where you write
you ever can I guess this is this is the
most like this is the worst thing you
can have this perfection when you just
it doesn’t allow you to go to the next
step you know what I mean like having to
afraid yeah and be perfect and you’re
being too afraid to even start talking
because
I remember my feeling when we just moved
to the United States everyone was
speaking so fast and using so much like
slang and stuff and I felt like maybe
it’s not the right time to start
speaking maybe this it’s not a right
time to say something I just I’ll just
be silent you know mm-hmm the more
silent you are the more smarter yeah you
are this is what I thought but it’s not
the way you you will never learn
anything if you just you know you have
to get out of the comfort zone and I
like how this how the students with
different skills on the different levels
do it anyway they do it anyway I explain
they express themselves you understand
them the connection goes on exactly
it’s it’s brilliant because so many
times we just we are afraid to move on
just because we are afraid to make
mistake yeah yeah very true logically
logically it makes no sense because you
make mistakes you become you become a
better doing of you know whatever better
speak you’re better guitar player
exactor and stuff you just learn from
your mistakes
but if you don’t if you don’t make them
you don’t learn exactly that’s good good
I’m glad you said that I I’ve been um
talking to another student in the
Academy because again I get a lot of
emails every week and I respond to every
email and students have said teacher you
have so many as like a fan i love them
ready i don’t know the thing is I really
do love my students Alex like I really
enjoy you guys a lot so are you sure are
you sure you have 24 hours it seems like
you have 48 or something I think because
I’m so organized and I have certain
periods of times for certain things
that’s really helpful it helps me a lot
but I also been a student like I speak
Korean yeah I know how it feels to be a
your teacher so I know yes it may take
me an extra hour every day to check
every single email but I know how
special a student will feel if I respond
to them even if it’s very short
I think it’s very important for me to
continue you know responding to email
and I like it I enjoy you know breathe
brings the meaning to you - what do you
do to your job with you or to your
passions it’s yeah how it has to be you
know not everyone does that so yes
respect and my
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hopefully you can join the the VIP group
which starts in January because like you
were saying before meeting the practice
time and again that’s one thing that
students keep telling me needing
practice time so I’m working on a
project for VIP students where you guys
will have a partner from another country
so like maybe your partner be from
Brazil well you’re in bridge I see your
Brazil sure I’m just trying to support
all the Brazilian students you have yeah
but like putting you guys together and
letting you talk and that’ll also help
you become more comfortable and just
talking and learning about you this
country so I have a lot of ideas you
know good good
yeah just keep us updated yeah
definitely definitely
okay well what’s your do you have a
favorite English book well I listened to
lots of like recently I’ve been
listening to lots of audiobooks this app
called audible
yes audible yeah yeah I just I just
adore it it allows you when you just
register when you just get this it
allows you to download like three to
five audiobooks for free and then you
just keep the subscription on going on
it’s like $15 a month or something but
again there’s so many good books and
recently I’ve been listening to yeah
that’s the one showing for students
listening this is what he’s talking
about yeah yeah website and also I
watched one video per students and one
guy told that he really likes the power
of now I like yeah I really love this
kind of you know motivational books
where you just can have some inspiration
from and yeah this is what I’m listening
right now the power of now good my next
book I’ve already download it my next
book is called this is marketing and
thanks to you
yes great book on my desk good so I have
I have something implants and yeah also
my previous one was talking to strangers
it’s a it’s a it’s an interesting book
it’s not what I expected it would be but
still I I didn’t I don’t regret I I read
it I copy strangers okay into strangers
just like well shortly it’s a it’s a
book about how different we are and how
our behavior sometimes cannot be
predicted learned well as we think we
can predict it so it’s kind of
complicated to talk about it but if you
listen to it you get on in here
good okay I want to show that one as
well again he said this one right here
right talking to strange yeah
talking to strangers yeah good okay guys
so you see this book that Alex has
mentioned
you guys want to check it out talking to
strangers by Malcolm Gladwell good good
good
all right perfect okay so now I want to
know your opinion this question I always
enjoy because basically it’s students
telling me their opinion about teachers
so what are three things that make a
good English teacher in your opinion
well I like the fact that you’re not too
focused on the grammar because
personally I love grammar and to me it
seems to be like very logical but again
it’s very tricky when someone is
speaking something when someone is
speaking in English and you thinking
should I correct him or her or should I
let him go yes you know express the
thoughts and stuff so it’s again it’s
your question and I kind of question you
how like how does it feel what let me
think about it
so how does it feel when someone when
someone is making mistakes but you just
let them go on because you know they are
expressing themselves great question
yeah I mean is it a good way to correct
every single step because you know one
one girl told me that she lives in
Canada and she has been doing the same
grammar mistake or something for like
ages and no one would correct her and
she got so annoyed and so pissed off
like no one would even would even tell
me lit I’m wrong this is what this is
what one one situation yeah like one
situation and on the other hand if you
if you’re correcting someone for like
over and over again they just feel like
okay I don’t want to go on because like
everyone ever everything I’m saying is
just wrong so where’s the balance I’ll
tell you the balance and I want to see
something so remember toward the
beginning of conversation you asked me
about the word perfection you’re like I
said okay and I said oh sure it keeps
going and you kept saying and you kept
saying it
and then I responded and I used it in
the correct way and then you immediately
copied what I said
that’s so instead of me saying Alex stop
we don’t sing it over and over again
now perfection is a word but I knew the
context you were trying to say it in so
I think as a teacher instead of me
correcting every single mistake instead
it’s more important for me to say okay
wait a minute maybe he made multiple
mistakes but there’s one mistake that
he’s making over and over and over let
me correct that because what has
happened in his brain or in a student’s
brain if they’re making the same mistake
over and over it’s become a habit my job
is to break the habit those other small
mistakes over time if they hear somebody
say something they’ll kind of mix it so
that’s my methodology I realize first
you get rid of the old lab like main
mistake like the mistakes that you hear
well how to say
teacher so again as a teacher and again
it’s not something that can be taught
every teacher has different techniques
my technique is I’ve given if I got in
to know a student or again like we’re
having a conversation we’d be talking
for a little while I can see kind of
your level and I’m like okay I can see
your comfortability I can see when maybe
you get a little nervous again I don’t
think you’re nervous at all but I think
for me the main thing I do is try to
figure out okay what’s the student’s
weakness let me help with the main
weakness and not make everything a
weakness because I know how how
difficult it is for students to speak in
English it’s not an easy language so
there’s a word in English I don’t know
if you ever heard this word nitpicking
you ever heard that word let me show it
to you and I’ll show to you guys also
that are watching this soap nitpicking
means to look for all the small problems
every single small fun so it’s called
nitpicking looking for small or
unimportant errors or false we say no
yeah I see that yeah I see the
what’s example code examples the
synonyms yeah yes pretty makes makes
more sense yeah so as a teacher it’s
important to not for me to not nitpick
oh you didn’t say this you didn’t say
that
I have another student who’s also in the
Academy and he’ll probably watch this
we’re very close we talked and talked
and I recognized that his issue was he
would always go between past and present
tense
oh so he’d be talking to give me an
example let’s say for example I’m
talking to you and I asked you a
question about mmm
studying English last year I say hey
okay Alex so how did you study English
last year some question about the past
what when you answer me you say well I
will study English with my mom yesterday
about the grammar as far as the word the
bigger issue was ah you’re having a hard
time going between past and present
present so the longer answer to your
question but basically that’s the way I
teach I let you see yeah this is my
answer to you like to be able to analyze
such mistakes and make methods out of
them you know like to be to be very
accurate with every single student and
kinda analyze the they are their
mistakes their issues and then to be
able to bring it up and just improve it
that’s that’s great that’s one of the
most abilities of the and one of the
most goals I guess for every single
teacher thank you yeah I really do enjoy
it I don’t like to make it to make it
really individual for everyone yeah yeah
that’s true very good point very good
point yeah the final approach as well
good I like that one
okay um tell me now I know you said
you’ve been studying English since you
were 10 years old and that you also
practice your mom but you got more
serious about it as you got older how
has your life changed after speaking
English dramatically dramatically well
the first thing I want to mention is
that what
King movies and TV serious in English it
has become such a pleasure you know
because because of the voiceovers even
though sometimes they are great the
great actors do them but still it kind
of kills the main idea because you
cannot separate a character from his
voice yeah it’s just it doesn’t work
this way yeah and to be able to watch
the TV series and movies in English it’s
it’s it has changed my life dramatically
and also when you listen to your
favorite bands and they sing in English
and you can understand the lyrics this
is great because like back in the day
hours I would just listen to them and I
would love the music but I I wouldn’t
have a clue like what they’re singing
about yeah and also also boobs real
conversations I work for for an American
company which does the video licensing
so I mean my life has changed
dramatically as I said and I’ve been
doing a lot to to get to this level so
it’s kind of it’s not just a miracle
yeah it is a miracle how we are as human
beings capable of you know becoming
better learning so many things having
everything in our head like a little
chorus you know yeah yeah if you put
enough time if you put a decent amount
of time and if you practice enough and
if you’re consistent enough it’s just
it’s a miracle how talented we are all
of us yeah
how far we can go it’s great sure good
very inspiring good all right what is
your dream regarding English do you have
a dream well dream maybe not regarding
English because I feel like I know I
know what I have to do and I see my next
steps but maybe just you know my dream
for the future is not to stop doing what
I do you know not to stop
not to stop morning something you know
like exploring and discovering new
different areas of your life where you
can be better as you were before and you
know to just grow grow grow grow
constant yeah not to get stuck this
might be good good all right our final
question our final topic is literally
what advice do you have for other people
other learners because again like you
watched other videos and other
conversations that I had with students
they’re gonna watch this video what
advice would you give them for students
that may not be in the same level what
would you tell them well this is what I
this is what I said like a few minutes
ago my advice would be guys don’t be
afraid don’t be shy you are doing a
great job already because not only
people of the world speak a few
languages speak different languages most
of the people they just speak 101
English one language and yeah I mean you
are already getting yourself out of the
comfort zone and this is great I mean it
might be stressful it might be not
comfortable but once you start doing
this you see it’s not that scary anymore
you know just you just get this
self-confident and just if you do it
constantly again this is that this is
the way you just don’t don’t drop what
you what you’re doing you have to put
some time into whatever you do and again
don’t be afraid don’t be shy because we
are all human beings we all make
mistakes and this is where this is where
and this is how we learn from from it so
you are already doing a great job
speaking of you languages again not
everyone does it okay not ever not
everyone wants to learn a foreign
language mmm since you guys want to
learn something new you’re in the right
place so just go on okay keep moving on
can everything is gonna happen
Alex thank you so much I really enjoyed
this conversation we’d likewise Tiffany
likewise really enjoyed it well I’m
gonna definitely be posting this today
and I know that students are really
gonna enjoy this conversation thank you
I look forward to seeing you more in the
Academy and hopefully you can join us
and be I only have a few spots for the
VIP but I would love to have you as one
of the VIP members too we’re gonna do a
lot more live classes with the VIP
members so hopefully we’ll see you there
yeah keep me posted as well about your
band you know any questions remember you
can always email me or message me if you
have any questions and anything you need
absolutely absolutely I will thank you
too all right
I hope you enjoyed today’s episode if
you want to join me for a conversation
all you have to do is join my Academy
and become my student the link is right
here on the screen speak English with
Tiffany academy.com join today and you
can join me for a conversation I’ll see
you in the next episode this episode of
conversations with teacher Tiffany was
sponsored by the speak English with
Tiffany Academy the number one online
English Academy for intermediate and
advanced English learners
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