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The , or SWAP, brings free English classes to CU Boulder staff members who have immigrated to the United States and might not be fully fluent or literate. 听听听听听听听

Participants don鈥檛 need to be bilingual or have teaching experience. The program takes student volunteers from any major or department. There is no minimum GPA or prerequisite. The only requirement is a desire to help employees improve their language skills. Required training sessions last three hours and use books to help guide potential mentors though everything they will need to know. 听

Nitin Beri and Jean Russell are two of the student coordinators who match volunteers with employees and teachers听and handle administrative tasks. 听

Russell, a senior, was inspired to join the SWAP program her junior year, after her year abroad in Vietnam. Feliciano, her student last year, told her what it was like living in the United States before he was able to read or write in English.

鈥淲e learned a lot from each other, and that鈥檚 important,鈥� Russell said. 鈥淥nce you听get past these traditional ideals of a teacher-student role, it makes things a lot easier.鈥� 听听听听

Beri, a sophomore, joined the SWAP team as a volunteer during his first semester freshman year. He loves being part of SWAP, because of the connections and friends he鈥檚 made, and is passionate about the program鈥檚 power and positive impact on CU.

鈥淥nce you start doing SWAP, you realize that the student community and community of adults on campus who are doing so much work for us are really divided. I think SWAP works to bridge that gap,鈥� Beri said. The mentors work with their students to make an agenda. The books provided by the program give a rough outline but are designed to let students dictate what they want to learn and decide what would be most beneficial to them."

For example, Russell helped her student better understand university employee benefits.

鈥淭hey (the mentees) deserve to be able to communicate with the people they are working for听. . . I personally am very engaged in issues of social justice, and this is a really important aspect to it,鈥� Russell said.

The program coordinators say it鈥檚 sometimes difficult to get students to become comfortable with their mentees. The age and culture differences sometimes discourage volunteers from meeting with their mentees.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really normal to feel some sort of initial awkwardness when you鈥檙e doing SWAP,鈥� Beri said. 鈥淚t can be weird because you鈥檙e in sort of a teacher role, but you鈥檙e teaching lessons to someone who has probably lived in the United States longer than you have been alive.鈥� But, he said, once mentors build a bond with their student, it will become much easier and very worthwhile.

SWAP, a nonprofit, volunteer program, is an offshoot of CU Engage that coordinate with the ESL (English as a Second Language) Department. For more information, go to the . Click the link if you would听like to
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