I haven’t been writing too much about the ELT in Chile podcast on my blog, but it has been an important project over this past year.
From the beginning José Luis and I had the vision of sharing our knowledge and experience about teaching, and we felt that our different backgrounds would be an asset in being able to give different perspectives. Despite that, we were also very aware that we are two men that are working in a field that also has many women that can share their experiences.
We wanted to include guests in the form of video interviews on the podcast in April or May once we felt that we had established the foundation of the podcast, but the pandemic interfered with those plans.
Fortunately, with the wonders of modern technology we were able to conduct and publish our first ever video episode!
Tina is a dear friend of mine that I met in Santiago in 2014. We met at a networking event, and when we left we realized that we live in the same neighborhood. We became friends and spent time together celebrating birthdays, eating good food at potlucks, playing Catan and videogames, and just hanging out.
I think one of the most memorable times I shared with Tina was going to see the movie Selma when it was in theaters. If you aren’t familiar with it, it shows the civil rights movement and the violent opposition that Martin Luther King and others faced. The movie starts out with the bombing of an African American church that killed four children, and it really left an impression on me.
We didn’t really talk about the movie that much after it happened, but it really brought to light how horrific those times were. We learned about the civil rights movement in school, but I don’t remember learning about the extent of the atrocities that actually happened.
After the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others that have happened I really felt like talking to Tina. I wanted to see what I could do to be an ally, and at that time I got the idea of interviewing her to share her experience.
The video episode is longer than our audio episodes, but I think it will be of value to anyone that is teaching English in another part of the world or that wants to learn more about what they can do in terms of social justice.
You can watch the episode on the website www.eltinchile.com or on our YouTube channel by clicking here.
I hope you enjoy the interview and if you have any questions or comments feel free to comment below.
