Shakira Serna-Villa was a curious 56 year-old ESL student who started studying English as a second language in order to better understand the language and culture of her second home.

Like Serna-Villa, other Credit ESL students from countries like Italy, Egypt, Morocco and Mexico, among others, filled the rows of LA-103 for a workshop on support services on Friday, Sept. 25.

The workshop, put on by the Credit ESL Department was the first in a series of four that will take place during the fall 2015 semester.

Joann Sugihara-Cheetham, department chair for the Credit ESL Department, expressed, “It started with Carlos [Diaz], he was doing his dissertation and he wanted to study students at Cerritos College.”

Diaz, who was also an ESL student, wanted to investigate the low retention rates for ESL students and let them know it was possible to finish their education.

According to the department chair, Diaz talked to ESL students and researched student persistence, also known as continued enrollment, and found common issues as to why ESL students stop their education.

“Some of the issues that came up were not being aware of the college and not feeling connected with the campus, and the language barrier, they definitely have that; acculturation issues,” Cheetham said.

She expressed to Diaz that they had to do something to address the issues and that is how the idea for the workshops emerged.

Cheetham stated that the workshop’s goal was to make ESL students feel more like a community and get them to know each other.

The workshop included a scavenger hunt where students were put in groups and visited the student activities center, career center, counseling department and disabled student services, so they became acquainted with the spaces.

The first group to return with proof that they visited the resource centers received a goodie bag prize.

The event also featured guest speaker Paula Pereira, Cerritos College librarian and author, who provided signed copies of her book, “How I Learned English.”

“I am very excited, and I feel like I’m almost crying because just to see so many people here in the room and just to think about how I was as a student here and how I resonate with everything they are going through,” Pereira expressed.

The author said she felt like she was motivating and guiding the students every step of the way through their ESL education.

Pereira stressed that she wanted students to know that struggling with communicating or speaking is a normal part of the process.

“I don’t want them to be frustrated, I want them to understand this is part of learning and my mission here at Cerritos College, as a librarian is to empower them, so they feel like they will be able to [grow] and if they need an extra hand I want to guide them every step of the way,” she said.

Vilma Saavedra, a Cerritos College ESL student, said she began studying ESL because she wanted to be able to communicate, wanted to be sure that no one is lying to her due to the language barrier, and most importantly listen to her grandchildren’s conversations.

Serna-Villa stated, “I wanted to support the cause that is ESL. I am an ESL student and I’m 56 years-old. Despite my age I’ve learned English well.”

“I live in this country and I want to learn its culture and its language because this will be my home until I’m called to the other side.”

The workshops will continue with a counseling based event in October, in order to have students go beyond ESL and understand the resources available to them.

“A lot of them have no idea what an AA degree is because it is different from the way they studied in their country, so that’s totally a new learning curve for them,” Cheetham said.

The transfer workshop will tackle the sometimes-confusing process of transferring, which can be extra daunting to students with a language barrier who are experiencing a new culture.

Cheetham concluded, “It’s for them and they’re totally worth it, they’re great, we’ve got a great crew so I hope everything works out.”