“My name is Profe Canales, Cristian Canales, and I teach Dual language Spanish and this year I’m teaching Spanish four. I haven’t always wanted to be a teacher, and I was a chemist in Costa Rica, worked there for a long time. I moved to California as a chemist, I explored other careers. I have a lot of friends in Costa Rica, I would like to live there for 6 months and in the United States for 6 months. I moved to the United States because I met my wife in Costa Rica and she lived in the United States, and at the time I got a job in California so we decided ‘yeah, why not’ and everything went smooth, so I decided to stay. So the reason I moved was because of my wife and because of my job. I ended up in Oregon because I was pursuing my teaching career, I got my masters degree in education, I found a job here, that was 10 years ago.”
People of the ‘Ville – Christian Canales
‘Profe’ Canales is a pilar at Wilsonville High School, having taught here for over ten years. You may see him around the halls with his surfboard, engaging with students and saying his well known catchphrase: “Pura Vida!”
A photo of Canales holding a swordfish in Costa Rica on an EF tour with his students. This trip allowed for further connection with some of his spanish students, and also an opportunity for them to use this skills learned in his classes.