Botagoz Omarova at the Board

What it is

The TikTok of Botagoz Omarova, a teacher of Russian language and literature in Dostyk, a village on the Kazakhstan–China border. According to Forbes Kazakhstan, her videos run about 30 seconds: a green school chalkboard, chalk and one rule — punctuation, spelling, word stress, common student mistakes. In 2025 TikTok put her on its global Discover List in the Educators category, the only creator from Central Asia to make it. When we checked, she had about 163,000 followers.

Why we picked it

In a feed where everything shouts and flashes, her videos look almost old-fashioned, and that's exactly why they work. No effects: a veteran teacher calmly explains the difference between two tricky Russian verb forms. Forbes Kazakhstan reports that this clip drew around four million views. The rules come the way you wish they had at school: short, with an example, with a slight smile.

We also like the story itself: a big audience for a teacher from a small border village, with no producers and no studio.

Where to start

• Find her video on participles versus verbal adverbs, her best known.
• Scroll through the clips tagged "korotkoiyasno" ("short and clear"), her main format.
• If you're studying Russian, save the punctuation clips.
• Watch a couple of the funny classroom videos to see what her class is like.

Who it's for

Everything is in Russian, so it's for native speakers and learners at intermediate level and above. Students before exams, adults brushing up on grammar without a textbook, and teachers who want an example of clear explanation.

Quick answers

Who runs it? Botagoz Omarova, a teacher of Russian in Dostyk village, Zhetysu region, Kazakhstan.

What is she known for? TikTok's 2025 Discover List, Educators category; before that she won Kazakhstan's Teachers on TikTok contest.

How long are the videos? Usually about 30 seconds, one rule at a time.