I'm your host, Steve Hatherly.

My guest today is quite the celebrity in the English education field.

She started teaching English in Korea way back in 2008 after studying psychology for

her undergraduate degree.

And now she's actually studying to be a therapist.

We will talk about that a little bit today.

She is the top English teacher for Shaw Education.

She has over, I think if we count correctly, 160 videos on the website now.

Although that number might be a little bit higher, we'd have to count more accurately.

Those videos are there for your viewing pleasure and your education pleasure, of course.

She covers grammar, vocabulary, listening and conversation in her videos.

And we will have a conversation today.

Welcome Esther, should I say Ester sonsangnim, Esther teacher, Miss Esther?

Welcome regardless to Speak English Fluently.

Thank you so much for having me, Steve.

And you can call me Esther.

That's totally fine.

Very good.

Well, thank you once again for joining today.

OK, so let's talk about your career then.

You are from the United States, and you are currently residing in the United States.

You studied psychology in school.

Did you move to Korea after university in America or was there a time period between?

Actually, I moved to Korea right after I graduated from university.

It's a funny story.

I was supposed to go there for a 15-day graduation trip and ended up staying for 9 years.

So pretty much right after I graduated.

Let's… yeah, I mean everybody was surprised and yeah, it's… it was a wonderful time

there.

That's such a common story though, isn't it?

You know, people move to Korea and then the plan is to stay for a short time.

But they end up staying for a long time.

People fall in love with Korea, don't they?

Yes, and I miss it so much.

I can't wait to go back and visit sometime in the near future, and I've heard countless

stories and have many friends who had similar experiences.

When you moved to Korea, did you have plans of teaching English?

I guess not, because you were only planning on being here for a couple of weeks.

That's correct.

I had a friend from college who lived in Korea and was studying abroad in the US when we

met, and she heard of a job opportunity, asked me if I'd be interested in interviewing, and

I got the job.

And that's how I ended up staying for a lot longer than I had ever planned.

Wow, so what made you interested in teaching English then?

Because it came to you very suddenly, I guess in in your life, right?

Yeah, I have always really enjoyed working with young people and children.

When I was young, I wanted to be a teacher or an artist, but I think my teaching abilities

out… outway… are stronger than my artistic abilities, although I am very creative.

So yeah, I…

I have always been interested in teaching and this opportunity did fall in my lap and

I took the opportunity.

I guess I seized the opportunity and never looked back.

Carpe Diem moment for you.

So how did you become involved with Shaw education?

Um, so between teaching jobs, I had taken a little bit of a break to go back and visit

my family.

And when I came back to Korea, I didn't have another job lined up.

And so I was looking.

I wanted to do some part time jobs or some tutoring jobs.

I was looking for some jobs that would give me a little bit more freedom than working

at the kind of typical hagwon or English institution or Academy.

And so I was…

I was tutoring.

I was doing part time work, doing some research and development for some hagwons, and then

I came across an ad from Shaw English, looking for teachers to shoot some videos teaching

English.

And I thought I'd give it a shot.

So another opportunity that just fell on my lap.

I'm curious to know where you saw the advertisement, because that's exactly how I came to Korea

originally as well.

It was a really small advertisement in the bottom right corner of the newspaper that

said teach English in Korea.

So where was your Shaw Education advertisement?

I want to know.

That's a funny story.

Well, my, uh, the ad that I saw was on Craigslist, I believe so, yeah, very funny 'cause I don't

really know anybody who used Craigslist in Korea maybe.

So I just got very lucky I guess.

Yeah, maybe to buy a sofa or something like that, but not to start this amazingly successful,

you know, online English education career.

That's a very rare story.

Exactly.

What year was that that you got started with Shaw?

I believe that was 2012.

OK, so it's been quite a long time, then, that you've been making videos for Shaw education.

You did that while you were here in Korea, but after moving back to the United States,

you continued working with Shaw.

Was that in the plans or… because usually when people leave Korea, they kind of leave

perhaps, not always, but sometimes leave the English education part of their life behind.

But you took it with you.

Yeah, that was actually never part of the plan.

I didn't expect things to take off the way they did.

I worked for maybe two months, I think with Robin in 2012 and I thought that was the end

of it and I think we reconnected maybe around 2015.

Team and started talking about let's make some more videos and even though I've moved

to the states, Robin has come here and we've done some more content in the USA and I've…

Wow.

Yeah, and I've flown back to Korea as well to make more videos.

So was that, does that mean then that the videos that you made in the beginning were

so well received or so popular that Robin thought, wait, we have a good opportunity

to make some more success here?

I definitely think so, yeah.

I didn't expect it, but they did take off.

Can you remember the very first video that you made, I wonder?

I I'm not sure, but I if I were to take a guess.

I would guess the 'can and can't' and some of the very simple basic skills.

So in your videos, I talked about it in the opening a little bit conversation, you covered

that.

You cover a lot of different things in your videos.

And some of your videos are quite long as well, although they're put together I think

3 hours, some 5 hours some.

But yeah, different topics, conversation, speaking, all these different types of things.

When you started making videos again, did you know that you wanted to cover many different

topics in your video?

No, but I did always enjoy the storytelling videos, which were a little more casual, a

little less formal.

We haven't done any kind of storytelling videos in a while, but I'm looking forward to picking

up on those again.

And there was a video where Robin asked me really quick-fire 100 questions and that was

a lot of fun as well.

I…

I did one of those videos too, for Robin.

It was…

It was a lot of fun.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever been asked 100 questions in a row before in such quick-fire,

quick-fire fashion.

But yeah, those are fun to do.

Right.

I saw one of your videos has 17,155,940 views and that number is probably higher as we are

speaking right now.

So I wonder, in your opinion as a teacher, as a star teacher, what makes your videos

so popular, do you think?

It's hard to say, um, when I read the comments, I just feel like people connect with me.

Uhm, I have heard that I speak very clearly.

And I think that is helpful for a lot of English learners.

Uhm, you know, I don't know.

But I really, really just appreciate all the love and kind comments and questions people

have left.

Yeah, those comments really make you feel great, don't they?

Because it makes you realize that you're making an impact.

You're having a positive influence on someone's life, and as someone who is studying to be

a therapist and studied psychology before, I'm guessing that that's really quite important

for you personally.

Yes, it's very rewarding just to know that I am helping people.

And just that ---I'm making some kind of impact.

It feels really wonderful.

Do you remember the moment when you realized, oh wow, these videos are becoming quite popular?

Because in the beginning you only worked with Robin for a couple of months.

There was a break time there, a long break time.

And then you started making videos again.

Do you remember, was there any particular video or any particular time when you realized,

oh, this is going to be quite successful?

I still don't think it's really hit me.

You know, when you say 17 million views, that's shocking…

That's just that's Justin Bieber territory.

I still have a hard time wrapping my head around what that really means to be honest.

The first time I realized not that this was going to be a big deal or that this was big,

but the first time that I thought this is more than just the two months kind of commitment

I had made with Robin initially, was when a colleague of mine at a hagwon was preparing

a lesson for his class and was looking up some videos on YouTube for resources and said

to me, is this you?

And I…

That was the first time I realized like while people are getting to my videos when they

search for something really simple for teaching English.

Has it gotten easier over the years because now it's… it's been a long time now, right,

for you to be making videos?

Has it gotten easier to make these videos or has it gotten more difficult, I wonder?

I don't know if it's gotten more difficult or easier.

Not to toot my own horn, but…

Please do.

That's why we're her, Esther.

Well, I…

I was surprised by.. by lack of nervousness.

I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be.

I think I do OK under pressure.

You know, I have to admit, even before this interview I was pretty nervous.

But here I am and I'm feeling OK.

And even with school presentations and things like that, I really feel nervous before, but

in the moment, I tend to do OK.

Maybe I'm acting a little, I don't know.

But it… it never felt too difficult.

I guess that's a really good feeling to know though, because…

that's how students of English feel often when they have to speak English and even worse

when they have to do a presentation in English.

So knowing that feeling, do you think that that maybe makes you an even better teacher?

Oh, that's a good question.

I think, yeah.

You know, before presentations or before an interview, something like this I will often

also practice either in my head or in front of a mirror.

I'll do my best to feel that I am well prepared, so I looked at the interview questions ahead

of time, or I'll ask about what I can expect and I don't go in blindly.

I do prepare.

And then… and then…

when I… once I'm in it, it doesn't seem as bad because I kind of know what to expect.

Now, when it comes to maybe like a live lesson or something like that, I may be a little

bit more nervous because things can go wrong.

But in general, if I have some time or ability to prepare, I'll feel a lot better going into

the activity that I'm doing.

Oh, that's the beauty of live TV or live radio or live streaming, is that, hey, sometimes

things go wrong and that's OK when that happens too, right?

Of course, yeah.

Is there any video that comes to mind for you that was the most fun to make, I wonder?

I'm going to go back to that 100 questions, rapid questioning video, just because it was

very casual for that one.

I didn't really have to prepare, and who doesn't like talking about themselves and things that

they enjoy?

Right, that's… that's true.

So that was fun.

Maybe that's how I should have prepared for this interview today?

I should have just prepared 100 questions and just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,

boom.

So you're studying to be a therapist now?

Does that mean that you will stop making English education videos in the future?

Or will you do those both of those things together in the future?

I'm still working on making videos with Robin.

I don't have any plans to stop in the near future.

Things may slow down depending on how often we're able to travel back and forth and make