As a volunteer with St. Vrain Valley Adult Education, Tony Reyelts works with English as a Second Language (ESL) students.

Monday nights he is a teacher's aide, assisting with routine classroom tasks
and teaching. "Sometimes the teacher will divide the class into two groups," Reyelts said. "She'll take half and I'll take half."

Thursday nights he works in the ESL Literacy Lab tutoring individuals and
small groups of students. "I know I'm the only one who volunteers both in the classroom and the lab," he said.

Meeting students' needs makes Reyelts popular with students and staff. "He monitors students and knows who's not getting it," said adult education teacher and volunteer manager Ardith Loustalet. "As an individual tutor he's very versatile. He has a good rapport with the students and is good at targeting and providing what they require."

Most of his students are from Latin America, with the majority of those from
Mexico. He also works with students from Russia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ukraine
and Nepal.

"There is a line between the Latin American group and the others," Reyelts
said. "Latin Americans have more exposure to the media. They do a lot better
verbally, but need help with their written English.

With the Asian students, it's just the opposite. They've had schooling and writing, but haven't had exposure to spoken English. As a teacher it's something you have to watch for, and was one of the more interesting things I learned my first year."

Besides giving his time in the classroom and lab, Reyelts won a $1,000 grant
from his employer, IBM, where he is a software engineer. "That was actually kind of an accident," he joked. "I went to a meeting about something else and found out about this program that IBM has for volunteers. As long as you meet the minimum amount of volunteer time, you can submit a grant proposal."

The grant recently was awarded and will go toward printers for the ESL
Literacy Lab and the teacher work areas.

For information about volunteering with St. Vrain Valley Adult Education or other agencies, call the Volunteer Connection East at 303-772-5772.