Chester County’s Volunteer English Program Helps Grow Community through Tutoring [Volunteer Opportunity]

Volunteer English Program’s July tutor training was kicked off today in Coatesville, PA. With the maximum capacity of tutors in this “class,” the ability to impact and change our community is immense and inspiring. Volunteer English Program’s mission is to help the many people in Chester County who cannot reach their full potential due to language barriers. With tutors who can enrich the lives of immigrants and refugees through language and culture education, these barriers can be broken.

By training over 100 volunteers each year, the Volunteer English Program can give hardworking people access to one-on-one English language and culture tutoring every day of the week, morning through evening. This opportunity empowers language learners to prosper in our communities. And even with the highest possible amount of volunteers, the waiting list for students is two years on average.

Mariana Ionescu worked for 25 years as an engineer in Romania before moving with her husband and son to Downingtown, PA. Even though all three had degrees, they had to work at a cleaning company for 9 hours a day, 6 days a week in order to afford the cost of living.

Eventually, her family found the Volunteer English Program and got assigned a tutor, Mark. Mark worked with the Ionescu’s to build their language skills and cultural awareness. He invited them to community events, encouraged them to volunteer, helped them open up bank accounts, and more. While Mark was teaching the Ionescu’s, he also learned a lot from them. They taught him about Romanian culture and opened his eyes up to experiences he’d never known.

Tutoring through the Volunteer English Program can help a person or family in need, but can also greatly benefit the volunteer tutor. Gaining a worldly perspective, meeting new people, and seeing someone’s life improve are all amazing aspects of this volunteer opportunity.

If you missed this training opportunity, check out http://volunteerenglish.org/tutors/ to find out more information on our next training, happening in September.