Agnes Jose-Eguaras

Adult Education is my passion and teaching ESL Levels 3 and 4 at College of the Canyons is a true pleasure and a great privilege. For me, there's nothing more rewarding than teaching Non-Credit ESL students! I love it when I have students who barely speak or write English when they first come to my class, and a few months later, they are talking and writing English comfortably, correctly and confidently. It's great to see them improve and achieve their goals. Quite a few of my students still keep in touch with me. Some of them moved to a different city, some went back to their countries, some established their own businesses, some got promoted in their work place or got a better job, some passed the GED exam, some passed the TOEFL Exam and are now taking classes at universities or colleges pursuing their Bachelor's and Master's, etc. I was actually born in the Philippines and grew up in Los Angeles. My family migrated in the U.S. when I was young. My father worked at the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines for 20 years and when he retired, my whole family was granted Special Immigrant status in the U.S. We became citizens 5 years after we moved here. I think because of my personal experiences, I am able to relate to many of our students' challenges and struggles. Living in the U.S. is not easy; however, with determination, proficiency in English and willingness to work hard, the opportunities to achieve anyones goal are tremendous here and proficiency in English definitely opens up a wider opportunity to succeed. I admire our Non-Credit ESL students for taking the time and responsibility to take our ESL classes. They not only learn English in the classroom but they also inspire and empower each other to learn English.