Instructor Q&A: Brad Holt
Accelerated Certificate Program (ACP) Instructor
Spring 2019
Q. Why do you like teaching
international students?
A. I learn so much from them and
these are the best of the best. They
are studying at a postgraduate level
in a foreign language in a foreign
country. Although I moved to China in
1993 and studied Chinese language
at the Beijing Language and Culture
University, I learned that meeting
people from other countries was
where the real learning begins.
Teaching international students is as
much about sharing ideas with them
as learning from them. I get to learn
about business nuances in different
cultures. Hopefully, they can learn
from my 30 years of “life experiences,”
including the good and the bad!
Q. What special qualities or
qualifications do you bring to the
classroom?
A. I have traveled all over the world
and lived overseas for almost a
decade, so I have been in their shoes.
I work hard at making the learning
experience practical and fun. I am
honest with them. More than half of
my closest friends live overseas, and
honesty is critical. So it's important to
me to find ways to push my students
outside of their comfort zone.
Although I am an instructor, I am
also a businessman. I treat our
students like my clients. They need
to get what they paid for—a real
education tailored just to them! I
believe this is where they will learn
about themselves and gain skills to
be effective in the international
business world. I don't tell them what
they want to hear. I try to be real and
tell them what they need to hear.
Q. What do you do to engage with
your students and support success
in the classroom?
A. I have to admit that I am known
for giving out candy when they
participate. I think participation is such
an important part of their education.
Although I am always learning from
them, their participation is not for me,
but for each other. They can learn so
much from their classmates. We all
have our assumptions about one
another and how the world works. I
try to get them to share ideas with
each other to break down these
stereotypes and to give them a
real competitive edge.
Q. Can you tell us about a
memorable moment you've had
while teaching international
students?
A. When you get open and honest
communication in class, you can see
incredible growth. The students in the
program are quite remarkable but
sometimes forget to “truly listen” to
others. During a group project, a team
captain stated the team had
consensus on all their answers. Based
on my international experience, I
knew some team members were
probably holding back their “true
feelings.” So I challenged the captain
to dig deeper. To his credit, he really
tried to understand his teammates’
answers and discovered countless
new opinions and challenging
assumptions that he never considered.
He came back and told me they
talked for hours that evening and
he felt it was the most valuable
educational experience in his
program. How many other times
had he missed this valuable
information during discussions? That
is real education and real personal
growth.