For the New Year, many of us resolve to change something in our lives to improve ourselves.

Some Nevada County residents are making a New Year's resolution to improve their English in hopes of a better life. Partners in English Language Learning (PiELL) is here to help those reach this goal.

One PiELL student has been living in California for five years — he and his wife have three children under the age of six. Assimilating into the local culture and going through the process of learning English is often difficult.

Now that they have one child in school, they realize how important it is to be part of their children's education.

This student works in the Nevada County area in the construction/landscaping industry. He contacted PiELL to apply for our free tutoring services.

He discovered that learning English involves much more than learning to read, speak and write. For the first time, he understands the imperative of assimilating into the culture. He and his wife realize the importance of having the skills to deal with medical problems, parental school responsibilities, and other factors involving home and job responsibilities.

After four months, he can now read and translate children's books in English.

He is learning to speak in complete sentences in English. Most importantly, he feels more confident to interact with English-speaking persons and takes the initiative to perform tasks with the local library and other agencies as needed.

Their are more than 10 people waiting to begin the challenge of learning English, and volunteers are needed to help them reach their goals.

The next volunteer tutor training will be offered on Feb.11 and 18 (must attend both days).

For information, call (530) 274-8428 or visit www.piell.org.

Donna Cobb is program coordinator with Partners in English Language Learning.