FACULTY

Andres Gonzales | Nancy Paolini | Kristi Ridgway | Frances Schulze | Brandon Smith | Amy Sobel

Amy Sobel has been a full-time faculty member of the ESL Department at CSM since 1997.  She has taught mainly writing and conversation classes of a variety of levels.  She is also co-lead faculty of the Reading and ESL Center, where she conducts Conversation Circles and meets individually with students to help them with their listening and speaking skills.  Amy also works at the Writing Center, working individually with students on their grammar and writing skills.

Although Amy is a native speaker of English, she has personal experience with many issues that ESL students face when they first come to the United States.  She grew up in Mexico City, speaking English at home and “Spanglish” with her friends.  When she came to the United States at age 18 to attend Stanford University, she suffered serious culture shock.  At Stanford, Amy majored in Russian, struggling with Russian grammar and vocabulary for 3 years before going to Moscow for a semester.  She was able, finally, to feel comfortable speaking Russian.  After graduating with a degree in Russian Literature and another in Political Science, she wanted to travel and see more of the world.  She found herself in Indonesia, where she taught English for 2 years to university students.  In Indonesia Amy learned what it was like to not be able to communicate at all, and how tiring it is to live in a place when one doesn't speak the language.  Once again, Amy experienced severe culture shock, but was eventually able to learn to speak Indonesian and to feel comfortable in this new land.

In 1995 Amy received her Master’s Degree from San Francisco State University and has been teaching in the San Mateo Community College District ever since.  She thoroughly enjoys teaching ESL, both because Amy loves to help students achieve their dreams and because she learns so much from her students every day.  When she is not at CSM, Amy enjoys spending time with her two children and her husband.  As a family, they enjoy camping, hiking, and traveling.