Varenya Borbora, The Lovely, Little English Teacher

Friday morning started on an exciting, beautiful note as I got to know about an amazing young talent. Along with other news that came up on my social media feed, I happened to read about this adorable kid who has taken the Internet by storm with her amazing English-speaking skills.

Ten-year-old Varenya Borbora from Jorhat, Assam is a content creator with a mission to educate the young on the nitty gritties of the English language. She shares her reels and shorts under her social media handle Vivacious Varenya, a name that rightly defines her lively personality. She instantly brings that ray of sunshine whenever she speaks. In a recent appearance on the popular Ranveer show, Varenya, who is overtly excited, mesmerizes the host as she candidly recounts how she ended up becoming a social media influencer.

The beginning of a journey

Born in 2014, Varenya developed a liking for English right from the time she would mumble in that language as a one-and-a-half year old toddler. She had always taken a fancy to learning English words and constructing sentences with them. More than Hindi or Assamese, which is her mother tongue, it was English that she caught on to.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Varenya watched many movies and videos and built up her accent. Initially, she would simply take her mother’s phone and record random things around the house. Without her knowledge, her mother opened an Instagram account and posted her videos. Once she got to know about it, she started making fun posts, and the rest, as they say, is history. Varenya graduated to making videos where she presented informative content. Today she is a top influencer with over 2 million followers on Instagram.

The actor and cute little teacher

The wide range of material covered in Varenya’s videos has to be seen to be believed. Sometimes dressed up in a saree like a grown-up, Varenya loves to play the teacher giving her make-believe students classes on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, idioms, and what not! She introduces to her audience figures of speech such as onomatopoeia, where a word imitates or suggests the sound it describes. Varenya’s accent is more in line with American English, and she has addressed the differences in pronunciation between American and British English.

Rather than presenting the information in the form of boring rules, the lessons are taught in the context of anecdotes and situations. Varenya acts out the scenes, making them really interesting. 

How did confidence come knocking on her door?

Varenya shares that constant appreciation has made her confident. It started with her singing a song dedicated to her school principal. She received so much praise for her performance that it boosted her morale, giving her the drive to do more. 

Being a famous social media influencer also carries with it its own baggage. Varenya too sometimes receives negative comments on her videos. She has however learned to ignore the bad and embrace the positive feedback from her fans.

Family is a patchwork of love

Varenya has the able support of her parents and her elder sister in this endeavor. All the way from writing the scripts to recording and editing the videos, each family member plays their role. 

Spending time with her family features high on the list of things she loves to do. She says she plays with her dad, helps mom cook in the kitchen, and indulges in sharing laughs with her older sister.

What is Varenya passionate about?

Varenya wants to keep the child in her always alive. She enjoys reading and mentions Sudha Murthy as her favorite author. 

Maturity defines Varenya, who is just ten. She says that although she has achieved success, she wants to stay grounded. She has never separated herself from her friends. With humility she admits that one should not take too much pride in oneself because it could be the cause for ruin.

The inspiring, creative digital creator

At a time when inappropriate social media use has become a cause for concern, a child sends a strong and powerful message. By embarking on the right path, one can use social apps as tools to educate, inspire, and enlighten the young generation. 

Here’s to wishing Varenya even more success. May she shine brighter and spread positivity and knowledge around her!