From a Hindi-medium school in rural Uttar Pradesh to a large online audience, Yashoda Lodhi built “English with Dehati Madam” around a simple idea: language learning should feel accessible, not intimidating.

For many people in India, English is more than a language. It can determine how confidently someone speaks in a classroom, applies for a job, interacts online or enters spaces where they may already feel like an outsider.

Yashoda Lodhi knows that hesitation personally.

Today, she is known online as English with Dehati Madam, where she teaches spoken English and language skills through videos designed to be simple, practical and easy to follow. Her audience includes learners from rural backgrounds and women who may not have had access to conventional English-learning environments.

In October 2026, that work received formal recognition when Yashoda was honoured with the Digital Education and Language Learning award at the Times of India Youth Icons UP Chapter Awards & Summit in Lucknow. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was present at the event.

The award is a recent milestone. The story behind it began much earlier.

Learning English Without a Conventional Classroom

Yashoda grew up in Uttar Pradesh and studied until Class 12. She attended a Hindi-medium school and did not follow the conventional path associated with becoming an English educator.

Her fluency was built largely through self-learning.

She spent hours listening to English speakers online, practising the language herself and gradually becoming comfortable speaking. In an interview with The Indian Express, she recalled using earphones while doing household work so she could listen to English regularly.

That process eventually changed the way she thought about learning.

Instead of treating English as something reserved for people who had studied in English-medium schools or had access to expensive coaching, she began looking at it as a skill that could be developed through regular exposure and practice.

That became the foundation of her digital classroom.

From a Smartphone to a Learning Community

Yashoda's entry into digital education was not part of a carefully planned career.

In 2021, after her husband was involved in a road accident and was unable to work for several months, she began looking for ways to contribute financially while staying at home. Around the same period, she received a smartphone and started exploring YouTube more seriously.

She initially experimented with different kinds of content before focusing on English.

Her channel, English with Dehati Madam, began growing because the lessons felt different from conventional classroom teaching. She spoke from her own experience, used everyday situations and explained English in a conversational way.

She also filmed, edited and uploaded the videos herself, learning those digital skills through online tutorials.

By 2023, her channel had already crossed hundreds of thousands of subscribers and accumulated millions of views. Her videos covered everything from grammar and vocabulary to overcoming hesitation while speaking.

The audience was not simply watching lessons. It was becoming a community of people learning alongside her.

Why “Dehati Madam” Matters

There is another part of Yashoda's identity that is central to the story.

She did not try to hide the fact that she came from a village.

Instead, she made “Dehati Madam” part of her public identity.

The word “dehati” is sometimes used dismissively to describe someone from a rural background. Yashoda chose to reclaim it, presenting her village identity alongside her fluency in English rather than treating the two as contradictions. In a recent interview with India Today, she explained that she wanted the name to represent her community and show that a woman from a village could achieve more than people might expect.

That distinction is important because her content does not ask rural learners to become less rural in order to learn English.

It tells them that they can learn a new skill without being ashamed of where they come from.

A Digital Classroom Without Walls

The scale of Yashoda's online presence has changed considerably since she began.

Her recent growth has extended beyond YouTube to Instagram and other digital platforms. In October 2026, she also received a significant boost in visibility after Priyanka Chopra Jonas shared one of her videos on Instagram. Reports subsequently noted a sharp increase in her online following.

But visibility is not the most interesting part of what she has built.

The more significant change is that English lessons that once required a classroom, teacher or paid course can now reach someone's phone in a village.

A learner does not necessarily need to travel to a coaching centre. They can watch a lesson while doing household work, practise a sentence repeatedly or return to the same video whenever they need it.

That does not replace formal education. But it can make learning more accessible to people who might otherwise remain outside traditional systems.

Recognition for a Larger Idea

The Digital Education and Language Learning award adds a new chapter to that journey.

At the Times of India Youth Icons event, Yashoda was recognised alongside people working across education, entrepreneurship, technology, culture, sports and social impact.

For someone whose own education did not follow an elite or conventional route, the recognition carries a particular significance.

She did not begin with a classroom full of students.

She began with a phone, a language she had taught herself and the willingness to keep practising in public.

Over time, those lessons reached people who saw something familiar in her story: someone from a rural background trying to become more confident in a language that can often feel intimidating.

Making the Classroom Bigger

Yashoda's journey is ultimately less about becoming an English teacher and more about what happens when knowledge is shared in a form people can actually access.

Her own learning happened through repetition, listening, practice and the internet. She then turned that experience into content for others.

The recent award recognises where that idea has reached.

But the more lasting measure may be what happens on the other side of the screen, when someone who once avoided speaking English begins trying, practising and eventually speaking without the same fear.

A digital classroom does not need walls.

Sometimes, it only needs someone willing to open the door.

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