Teacher Celine begins and ends her lessons with songs. She teaches phonics through arts and crafts. She also gives assignments through worksheets that she made herself. If your child still needs further help, you can make her repeat the lesson again endlessly. That’s because Teacher Celine is a YouTube teacher.
Celine Cornejo’s channel tackles lessons of preschool and kindergarten. She covers phonics, counting and values through storytelling. What sets hers apart from other channels is the way lessons are presented. She does it play-school style.
The channel is a dream come true for her. She quit her 10-year job as a preschool teacher to stay at home with her two sons. But she wanted to continue teaching through play.
“My husband would often encourage me to put up my own preschool, but I didn’t want the administrative work of a formal and physical school. I just really wanted to teach,” she said.
Going online
She thought of starting an online preschool in 2015 but it would take another four years before she went ahead and did just that. What Cornejo did between those years trained her to become a more effective online teacher.
She hosted learning-based children’s parties and parenting forums. It was also the period when she studied photography, video editing and started purchasing equipment.
“My husband even bought me books on how to start a YouTube channel, how to set up a studio, and how to edit videos,” she said. They converted one of their bedrooms into a studio.
“I also started outlining my online curriculum, which to me was a little different as I had to keep the learning sessions short and fun. I also had to vary the lessons to engage with kids with different interests and smarts,” she said.
She came out with her first video in March 2019, and hasn’t stopped producing ever since. To date, she has over 100 videos covering phonics, counting and storytelling. At this writing, Cornejo has close to 37,000 followers on YouTube, 13,000 on Facebook and almost 80,000 on Instagram (@teachercelineph).
“It took me two years to reach 35,000 subscribers. The road was not easy, especially for noncelebrities like me,” she said. The pandemic also boosted her subscribers as learning from home became a norm.
Creating a brand
The videos are planned for every month. She has two extra videos on hand, ready for upload every week. One time, the hard drive containing two months’ worth of videos crashed. It almost made her want to quit.
“With prayer and a lot of encouragement from family, friends and followers, I persevered,” she said.
She is her brand’s creator, editor and social media manager. Yes, she answers everyone personally. She makes her own lesson plans and materials, and does her own makeup. Her husband helps her check the studio setup like the lights, angle, and microphones.
This is also her edge over other teaching channels. The production of each episode is topnotch. The audio and video are clear. Lessons are concise and comparable to television shows. It also understands its audience. There are a lot of colors and singing to keep children interested. Her channel has six original compositions.
“I’ve been collaborating with my good friend from high school for the compositions. I would come out with lyrics and she would turn them into music,” she said. The collaboration involves their families as they ask them for feedback.
Mimicking
Cornejo said that her favorites are “Learning Through Play,” which can usually be heard at the end of the videos, and “Stop the Spread.” She chooses the books to read based on what they have in their home library. For the craft, she recreates activities that she did when she was younger or were taught in her formal preschool.
Her strategy works. Parents are reaching out to her on all her channels requesting for specific lessons that she should tackle next.
“I have dozens of parents messaging me that their children, who’ve never been enrolled in any type of school, learned how to read and write with the help of my channel.” she said. “I have other parents who tell me that their kids really look for me every day and think of me as their school teacher. I’m happily part of their learning routine.”
Parents send her photos and videos of their children singing, dancing and mimicking her. Little girls send their photos wearing headbands, just like Teacher Celine. The headband is part of her brand.
“I love to dress up. I really love to accessorize. Since I typically wear a simple shirt in my videos, I figured that a headband would upgrade my casual look,” she said. “It has the added benefit of keeping my hair in place when I need to do music and movement activities in my videos.”
Some parents tell her that their home library is growing because their children started requesting books as gifts. Hundreds inquired where she teaches formally intending to enroll their kids in that school.
“I love sharing books with kids… I believe that avid readers grow up to be eager learners. So I try to have reading segments on my channel whenever possible,” she said.
Worldwide reach
Her students are not limited to the Philippines. Cornejo gets messages from Canada, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the United States.
Her worksheets can be downloaded for free. She makes them in Canva. The worksheets serve as an assignment. This is part of Cornejo’s goal to provide free education for the underserved.
“I want to cater to all willing learners, whether they are viewing my videos as supplemental lessons or because they are the only preschool education or content they have access to,” said Cornejo. “Parents message me, showing me my worksheets, copied and drawn by hand as they don’t have printers.”
She tries to integrate access to all her learners in everything she does. When brands approach her for collaborations, she makes it a point to request giveaways for her subscribers. She said it’s also one way to interact and share with her followers.
“I’ve found that technology is still underutilized in the education system in the Philippines. Properly managed, technology can have the widest reach and can be the most interactive learning medium,” she said.
Teacher Celine is living her dream. She spends time with her sons, Alejandro, 9, and Alonzo, 6. But she’s also doing her advocacy of teaching hundreds of children through play.