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CATESOL News: San Diego Chapter Newsletter Released
03/05/2025
Michelle Skowbo
Greetings San Diego CATESOL! I would like to briefly introduce myself and describe what CATESOL has meant to me over the past two years. Originally planning to be a labor lawyer and union organizing researcher, I found that I could not sit still at my computer in my Chicago office and instead was far more inclined to visit members at their job sites. As such, I returned to my home state of Michigan in 2009 to teach ESL to farm workers in Sparta and Kent City - I never really looked back! Until 2022, I taught ESL in Grand Rapids with AmeriCorps, continued doing so in Washington, DC and Maryland, and moved to El Paso after an 18-month COVID quarantine. While in El Paso, I began to volunteer with One Digital World, a San Diego nonprofit that established computer labs in Tijuana migrant shelters. Visiting Pro Amore Dei and Espacio Migrante in Mexico was a quasi-religious experience for me and I pledged to move to San Diego ASAP.
In 2022, I found a full-time job teaching ESL/Citizenship with a refugee resettlement agency in San Diego, joined the San Diego Refugee Forum and the El Cajon Collaborative, and discovered CATESOL and the warmth of its San Diego Chapter Coordinator, Burçu Chatham. I returned to Michigan in order to finish my doctorate, while remaining connected to California through the Refugee Forum and CATESOL and hope to return soon. Although the San Diego Chapter is limited in terms of events it can host this year, the November 2024 CATESOL conference was a fantastic experience with a highlight for me being our Chapter’s lunchtime Munch & Mingle session. At least fifteen of us attended, including some newer members! I truly hope that over the next year, particularly in the face of life suddenly getting a lot harder for some of our students, our Chapter can continue to provide much-needed connections and support to all ESL professionals.
Link to the full newsletter issue: https://catesolsandiego.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/7/8/12786216/catesol_sd_newsletter_spring_2025.pdf
Michelle Skowbo
San Diego Chapter Newsletter Released
Greetings from the Chapter Coordinator
Christina Kaufmann, Freelance Instructor & ResearcherGreetings San Diego CATESOL! I would like to briefly introduce myself and describe what CATESOL has meant to me over the past two years. Originally planning to be a labor lawyer and union organizing researcher, I found that I could not sit still at my computer in my Chicago office and instead was far more inclined to visit members at their job sites. As such, I returned to my home state of Michigan in 2009 to teach ESL to farm workers in Sparta and Kent City - I never really looked back! Until 2022, I taught ESL in Grand Rapids with AmeriCorps, continued doing so in Washington, DC and Maryland, and moved to El Paso after an 18-month COVID quarantine. While in El Paso, I began to volunteer with One Digital World, a San Diego nonprofit that established computer labs in Tijuana migrant shelters. Visiting Pro Amore Dei and Espacio Migrante in Mexico was a quasi-religious experience for me and I pledged to move to San Diego ASAP.
In 2022, I found a full-time job teaching ESL/Citizenship with a refugee resettlement agency in San Diego, joined the San Diego Refugee Forum and the El Cajon Collaborative, and discovered CATESOL and the warmth of its San Diego Chapter Coordinator, Burçu Chatham. I returned to Michigan in order to finish my doctorate, while remaining connected to California through the Refugee Forum and CATESOL and hope to return soon. Although the San Diego Chapter is limited in terms of events it can host this year, the November 2024 CATESOL conference was a fantastic experience with a highlight for me being our Chapter’s lunchtime Munch & Mingle session. At least fifteen of us attended, including some newer members! I truly hope that over the next year, particularly in the face of life suddenly getting a lot harder for some of our students, our Chapter can continue to provide much-needed connections and support to all ESL professionals.
Link to the full newsletter issue: https://catesolsandiego.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/7/8/12786216/catesol_sd_newsletter_spring_2025.pdf