LIBERTY CITY, Texas — A Sabine High School teacher in Liberty City is racking up views on TikTok with nearly 10 million likes on her videos -- and her students are the stars of the show.
Elizabeth Coti started making TikTok videos three years ago with the intent of showing people how learning can be fun in the classroom.
"They (the students) love to dance and sing. So we’ve done salsa, bachata, every dance we can," Coti said.
She's gained nearly 183,000 followers on TikTok and almost 10 million likes on her videos. Verified accounts like YouTube, Amazon Music Latin, and even the artist who sing the songs featured in the videos are all commenting.
"People see like they’re actually learning a language and they’re having fun at the same time and they’re learning about culture," Coti said.
Eight grade student Logan Pritchard said Coti's class is one of his favorites
"We learned 16 new songs. I think we did eight of them for TikTok," Pritchard said.
For Pritchard, this class is all about being able to communicate with others like his soon-to-be sister-in-law who speaks Spanish.
"I’m trying to learn how so I can better communicate with her. It’s definitely a helpful class in more ways than one," Pritchard said.
Coti said that behind every TikTok, students learn the lyrics in Spanish and the cultural background of that artist.
"We learn about Shakira from Colombia. They love to learn about them and see about their lives and different places," Coti said.
A teacher’s smile seeing her class having fun and learning at the same time is priceless.
"They’ve learned so much throughout this year," Coti said. "I can speak to them in Spanish and they’re answering in Spanish it’s awesome to see that."
What’s also awesome to see is how far she has grown as a teacher and become a social media sensation all thanks to her family.
Her family traveled from Guatemala to the United States, and teaching Spanish allows her to give back to her family in both countries.
"They gave up their whole lives to come to America. This is just giving back to them because when they were 18 they came to the U.S. and they made that big trip and they didn’t have to," Coti said. "I always love and cherish where I’m from and my home and it’s awesome to teach kids about it too."