New York, USA

MICHAEL BRADY

Hello! My name is Michael Brady and I am the Foreign Director at Cornel’s Nan Men campus. I taught at Cornel for 3 years before accepting the full time administrative position at Nan Men where I lead an amazing group of teachers. I am from Ithaca, New York and I graduated from Cornell University, for which our school is named, with a degree in Political Science and Communication. After graduating I wanted to pursue to a career in education and moved to Taiwan to realize my dream of becoming a teacher.

I fell in love with Taiwan instantly and have stayed and taught for 8 years in Taichung. Since I have been here I have gained experience in teaching kindergarten, all elementary grades, public junior high schools, and winter and summer camps. My most rewarding teaching experience came as the head teacher taking 100 students from Taichung to Singapore for a Leadership Camp. It was amazing to expose my students to different cultures and exciting activities all while speaking English. After encouraging students to try things out of their comfort zone it was great to see the positive growth all students showed by the end of the trip.

In my classes it is always my goal to promote creativeness and cultivate confidence in my students while having them reach their highest potential as English speakers. I believe by creating interesting lessons and using things students can relate to and get excited about you can motivate them to do the best work they’re capable of. I often incorporate music, games, art and digital media in to my lessons to keep students fully engaged.

Outside the classroom travel is a passion of mine and I have been to over 20 countries on 5 continents. I love sharing my journeys with my students and enjoy watching them get excited about learning about other places and cultures. I also am an avid reader, sneaking in time to read my current book whenever I have a free moment.

Basketball is another hobby of mine and I enjoy playing all sports. In the summer I can be found backpacking in the mountains, camping, swimming and doing really any outdoor activity.