Interview with Brock Brady
““If you don’t have the skills {you want}, I think in some ways the only thing you can do is to keep doing it and breaking it and doing it and breaking it until you finally develop the habits.””
Show Notes
In this episode, I'm happy to welcome Brock Brady as my guest. Brock began his career in the ELT industry somewhat spontaneously, as you'll hear from our conversation. He started as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, West Africa and from there went on to earn a Master's degree in TESOL before gaining experience in positions such as English lecturer in South Korea and Language Center Director in Burkina Faso and Benin. He served as the co-director of American University's TESOL program in Washington DC and later returned to the Peace Corps – this time as an education sector specialist and the TEFL certificate program manager. Perhaps most notably, Brock served for three years as the president of the TESOL International Association.
Brock's extensive experience in ELT has taken him all over the world, but there was one final frontier he just recently decided to brave: online teaching. I even had the pleasure of working with Brock when he joined my Online English Teacher program to make that final leap in adapting his in-person teaching skills to online teaching skills.
In this episode, Brock and I sit down to talk about the benefits of organizations like TESOL International. We also discuss his own challenges and rewards when it comes to teaching online and why you shouldn't be afraid to start your virtual teaching career at any age.
“ “I really enjoy working with people who work across cultures. There’s an attitude there…a commonality between me and whomever I’m speaking to. It’s not about sides, it’s not “win or lose” – we’re just trying to keep everything together for everybody. It really gives me great pleasure to talk with people who have had that experience of working across cultures and across frontiers.” ”
In this Episode
What Brock’s current career looks like - all the interesting things he’s doing in the industry
Why English teaching is not brain surgery
How an ad in the newspaper kicked off Brock’s ELT career
How he transitioned from farming in Africa to to teaching
Why he loves working with people who have worked across cultures and what that kind of experience means to him
The standout travel destinations Brock has visited in his career
How Brock ended up working as a science and technical lecturer in Korea
His experience as a teaching assistant in Paris with no structure or curriculum
The practical aspects of teaching his Master’s degree DIDN’T adequately prepare him for, and his thoughts on the difference between theory and practice
Why he feels the Online English Teacher program is the perfect complement to an MA
What the TESOL International Association is and how it benefits teachers
Details of TESOL International Association membership - cost, benefits, etc.
How going online during the pandemic actually created connections between countries
TESOL International Affiliate Associations
How TESOL International Association conferences and events bring teachers together (even “TEFLelebrities” like David Nunan!)
How the Non-Native English Speaking Teacher Caucus sprang up from TESOL International
What research has concluded about whether students prefer native or non-native speaking teachers
How the TESOL International Association provides support to new teachers who want to publish or present at conferences
How he became the president of WATESOL and then TESOL International Association
Why Brock decided to start thinking about online teaching and how he anticipated it would be different than what he’d done before
A story about Brock’s father that illustrates the hesitation some people experience when it comes to technology
Why older teachers sometimes get left behind with online teaching and why we need to find a better way to help them feel comfortable
Why you need to “break it” to learn it - or being bad at something before you get good at it
Why it’s so important to find an opportunity for hands-on practice when you first start teaching online
How learning has evolved - why people of Brock’s generation may have very different ideas of what “learning” means and may be less used to experimentation
Brock’s own challenges with transitioning to online
What Brock found most helpful about his training in the Online English Teacher program
Why online learning is good for developing tolerance of ambiguity
How online classes help develop learner autonomy
Why younger students may even prefer online learning
Brock’s big takeaways and “aha!” moments when he started online teaching
Why it’s good to get your mistakes out of the way in your training course - not with paying clients!
How his confidence with technology improved during the live teaching practicum in Online English Teacher
How he’s keeping his online teaching skills sharp now
Brock’s advice for other teachers
What’s next for Brock in ELT
““There’s a whole generation of people who didn’t grow up with {online learning tools}… but should they be discarded just because it’s not intuitive? Just because they have to start learning about it now? What can we possibly do to find ways that we can bring those people back? (…) To have people who feel discouraged, particularly people that have been in this profession for a while… we have to find a better way to include them.” ”