Bia Valle is not a classroom teacher, but her classroom on Clubhouse is one of the most innovative ideas I have seen on that platform. While many people use the platform to market themselves, Bia has been using it to teach emerging bilinguals to practice their English. People from around the world tune into Clubhouse to practice speaking and listening skills in Bia’s “room” and then curate Flipboard magazines. 

Her classes are popular in countries where people are hungry to practice English as a second language, such as Iran, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Japan, to name a few. Bia is also an avid Flipboard user, like me, and she requires her students to create, curate and share Flipboard magazines. What better way to collaborate with adults than by curating on Flipboard? She masterfully conducts her classes, even empowering several of her students to host the Clubhouse room while she moderates.  

Bia is a consultant and communications trainer in Brazil, where she received her bachelor’s degree from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado and an MBA from Fundação Instituto de Administração. She has experience working as an interpreter and trainer at Berlitz, at Delta Airlines, and was previously a content curator at Flipboard. Now she works to build bridges across language barriers using Flipboard magazines and her podcast, Verbs in a Nutshell, which is popular amongst her students and other emerging bilinguals. Verbs in a Nutshell has well over 20,000 downloads and Bia has 127,000 followers on Flipboard.

Bia empowers students to collaborate in group magazines, where they can share important aspects of their own cultures as they learn English. She manages her community by setting themes and scheduling events as students gain cross-cultural awareness while learning. It’s amazing to witness and be a part of her master class on learning and speaking English.  

In this episode, we discuss Bia’s passion for Flipboard, how she uses it as a learning management system with various students, and her class on Clubhouse. 

—William Jeffery is curating Flipboard EDU Podcast

“Coach Jeffery” is an award-winning digital learning educator and principal at Columbia High School in Texas. His tech pedagogy continues to drive him to curate educational content on Flipboard that highlights teaching strategies, edtech, and ways to improve student success. He hosts the “Flipboard EDU Podcast” as yet another way to share resources with peers.