Here are some of our ESL faculty members' pictures and biographies to learn more about your teacher(s) - Non alphabetical.

**ESL Faculty Information**
Name (Last, First)	Picture	Instructor Biography
Bussell, Courtney		Courtney Leckey Bussell was born in and raised in New York City. She commuted up to four hours per day to school, traveling by bus, boat, and train to attend Hunter College High School in Manhattan. She later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Creative Writing from Macalester College in Minnesota. During college she spent a semester in Ireland studying archaeology and literature. After college she taught English at the Centro Venezolano Americano in Caracas Venezuela,. Upon returning to the USA, she earned a Master of Arts degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from The City University of New York at Hunter College. Afterwards, she taught English at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, and then at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York. In 2009 she accepted a position at Southwestern College, where she has been teaching Academic English ever since. Since fall 2018, Courtney has served as the chair of the ESL department at Southwestern College. Courtney loves travel, reading, movies, music, art, science, hiking, and spending time with friends and family. She has two sons, a wonderful husband, and a very fluffy dog, and she loves to go on adventures with them.
Zemlick, Brittany		I am an English as a Second Language (ESL) Adjunct instructor here at Southwestern College and at Grossmont College. I have a BA in Psychology, a TEFL Certificate, and a Master of Education in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). I stared teaching ESL in Thailand in 2008, and I have lived and worked in Thailand, England, France, Colombia, and the USA. I love traveling, hiking, and learning new things. I also like to do yoga and aerial acrobatics. I look forward to seeing you in class!
Esser, Joanna		I was born in Warsaw, Poland, moved to California with my family in 9th grade, and graduated from Santa Monica High School. I transferred to UCLA from Santa Monica Community College and graduated with a BA in Spanish. Followed by a two-year adventure with teaching English in Taiwan and traveling throughout Southeast Asia, I entered CSU Los Angeles and earned my Masters Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language in 2004. I began teaching ESL in San Diego that same year, worked at several community colleges and adult schools in the area, but Southwestern College is the only institution where I am currently teaching. I live in San Diego with my son, my daughter, our dog Oreo, our cat named Kot. Getting to know SWC students and their goals and accompanying them along their path has been a great experience!
Whitsett, Jessica		Hi, everyone! I moved around a lot as a child, so now that I've lived in San Diego for many years, I call it home. I started my educational journey by going to UCSD and studying communication. After graduating, I realized my personality is not suited for public relations, so I put my career on hold and got a job as a tutor at City College's Writing Center. It was there that I fell in love with helping ESL students! So I went to SDSU and got an MA in applied linguistics. I started teaching academic writing as a graduate student and then came to SWC after that. Several years later, I got an MA in English from ASU so that I could better teach composition. While I love teaching, I also love traveling, exercising, reading, cooking vegetarian food, and walking my dog.
Pumpelly, Emma		Hello! I was born in Coronado and raised in South San Diego. I am married, and we have two beautiful adult daughters. My husband and I love to spoil our grandson and I have a Chi Poodle dog named Coco. Coco is part Chihuahua and part Poodle. In my free time, I love swimming, going camping with my family, and going to Big Bear. I have my Master of Arts in Education with an emphasis in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL). I have been teaching at Southwestern College for almost 25 years now. In the past, I used to teach in the Reading Department at SWC and for the Restorative Justice program at SWC. I love teaching and meeting new students every semester. The students I meet in my ESL classes come from different parts of the world with different backgrounds or different cultures, and this diversity gives me more passion to teach English.
Moody, Dan		Welcome to ESL! I was born in the San Diego area and studied at Grossmont College and Mesa College before graduating from San Diego State University with a bachelor's degree in French and a minor in Spanish, and I earned a master's degree in English as a Second Language from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. I have worked at Southwestern College since 1987 in the Reading, English, and ESL departments. I have also taught many classes at the American Language Institute and the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at San Diego State University, and in the Graduate School of Education at Alliant International University. My favorite activities are spending time with my family, including my wife, children, and four grandchildren, and I like to read the Bible, novels, and online news. I am also a textbook author and coauthor.
Piovesan, Fabrizio		Fabrizio was born and grew up in Italy (near Venice). His first languages were the Venetian dialect and Italian. He came to the States in his early twenties with no much knowledge of the English language and learned to speak it as all immigrants do: first on the job and eventually going back to school. He fell in love with this new language and began studying it seriously, completing all of his postsecondary studies in the United States. These include: a B.A. in Linguistics from UCSD, a M.A. in Applied Linguistics/Tesol from SDSU, and, because we all need to remain faithful to our roots, later on a M.A. from the University of Venice-Italy in Italian as a foreign language and the diffusion of Italian Culture abroad. He looks forward to meeting you and helping you on the journey he himself has successfully travelled.
Ross, Carol		Hi Everyone! I’m Carol Ross. Teaching, learning, and exploring the world are my passions! I’ve taught Spanish and ESL at several universities and colleges. I’ve taught at SWC since 2004! I also love learning! Like you, I studied languages at community college! At Mesa College and San Diego State University (SDSU), I studied Spanish, German, and Portuguese. I received my Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in Spanish with a minor in linguistics from SDSU. I also learned Baliwood dancing in India and Zumba and Paddleboarding at SWC. I plan to study French, German, and Portuguese beginning this summer! Finally, I’ve studied piano most of my life. Travelling is another of my passions, and I have lived abroad. I've explored North America, Europe, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, and India. I also lived in Chile for three years. I look forward to meeting you!
Lenke, Jaime		Hello! My name is Jaime Lenke and I am pleased to serve our SWC students in and out of the classroom. One of my favorite things in the world is helping people learn - whether it is working in the classroom, playing with my two sons (Lincoln and Jack) and learning about dinosaurs, or teaching my cat, Bob Sanders, how to play fetch, I love talking and working with others to have fun and accomplish goals! I have a B.A. in Psychology from George Mason University (in Fairfax, Virginia) and an M.Ed. in Education, TESOL, Language, Literacy and Culture from the University of San Diego. As a former working community college student, I have a healthy respect for the passion and hard work needed to juggle family, work, and school activities. I hope to inspire each student to complete their goals - I would not be where I am today without the support and expertise of teachers and classified professionals that supported me on my academic journey. When I'm not in the classroom helping students, I love hiking and being outdoors hanging out with my beautiful wife Sharai and our two little boys, Lincoln and Jack, in the forest, at the beach, or in one of the many beautiful parks that San Diego has to offer. I look forward to meeting you!
MacArthur, Alison		Alison MacArthur was born and raised in New York. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Classics from Union College in Schenectady, NY. During college, she spent a semester living and studying in Athens, Greece. After graduating and moving to San Diego, Alison attended the Teacher Education Program at UCSD. It was there, working as graduate teaching assistant in an ESL writing course, that she discovered her passion for working with ESL students! This inspired Alison to earn a Master of Arts degree in Applied Linguistics with a specialization in ESL from San Diego State University. After teaching ESL at a number of area colleges, she joined the SWC ESL Department full time in 1998. Alison loves to travel and has visited many countries in Europe, as well as numerous states in beautiful Mexico. Alison enjoys spending time with her family and animals in the mountains, and in her free time she loves to delve into sci-fi and fantasy and attends San Diego Comic-Con every year she can.
Yamamoto, Yuki		Hi everyone! I'm Yuki Yamamoto. I was born, raised, and lived in Kanagawa, Japan until I moved to the US in 1997. In Japan, I graduated from Waseda University (B.A. in philosophy) and worked for an international corporation in Tokyo for several years as a customer service agent. When I was 16, I lived in New Zealand alone for a year, where I learned to survive using only English. It was a life-changing experience for me and since then, my passion has been to help those who go through a transition to a new home country and learning the language. Following my dream, I moved to San Diego, earned an M.A. in TESOL from United States International University (now AIU), teaching ESL (and also Japanese) at multiple community colleges and universities. In my spare time, I enjoy gardening, cooking, playing music (I'm a trained pianist & singer), and hiking and trekking. I'm also a big fan of animes and comics ;-)

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