With confident but broken English, Jenny Chew held up a photograph of her 7-month-old daughter, Jessica.

The circle of people in the Newman Center’s lounge Tuesday night listened and watched as Chew explained her daughter was in China with her husband’s parents.

“I miss her,” Chew said.

The show-and-tell session continued around the circle until everyone had shared and explained photos and other important items they brought to share at Amigos and Friends.

It was Chew’s second week at the program organized by the Newman Center to help teach area residents English as a second language.

Chew is one of 14 students who attend Amigos and Friends three times a week to work on their English.

Most of the students work at restaurants in the Mattoon-Charleston area, like Jumbo Buffet and El Rancherito.

The program was started five years ago and has continued to grow ever since.

Chew has been living in Mattoon and working at Jumbo Buffet for two years. She came to the program to try to improve her English and said she likes how things are going so far.

“My teacher is very good,” Chew said, smiling and looking to her right at her tutor, Ashley Riley.

Riley helped Chew write down a description of her show-and-tell object to present to the other students and tutors.

This year’s classes, which began the last week in September, got off to a rough start, but seem to be coming together now, said Emily Davis, director of the program.

“Now people are really gaining confidence, and that’s a good thing,” Davis said.

Of the 14 students, only a handful returned from last year, meaning there’s a growing need and interest in the program, Davis said.

She hopes as the year continues, more students will come to learn.

“If we get more students, we’ll have to recruit more teachers,” she said.

The program has too many teachers, which left a few sitting around without a student to tutor on Tuesday night.

Carolina Pelaez, a second-year graduate student, was able to work with her student and help him explain a drawing of his dog at show-and-tell.

Pelaez is originally from Columbia and only learned English about 4 years ago.

She has a background in ESL and decided Amigos and Friends was a good way to volunteer her talents.

“I think it’s just a way of helping people who need it,” Pelaez said. “It doesn’t take a lot for me to help somebody, and for them, it’s really significant.”

She doesn’t mind volunteering a few hours a week at night, which is the best time for students to attend.

Amigos and Friends meets Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights from 10 to 11 p.m., after many of the restaurants where the students work close for the evening.

“There’s a lot of motivation to learn, so you don’t have to really struggle like regular teaching,” Pelaez said. “They’re here because they want to be.”

Heriberto Diaz is beginning his second year in the program. He’s been living in Charleston for four years and working at El Rancherito to save money for his family back in Michucan, Mexico.

With a little help from his tutor, he was able to answer questions about his life in Charleston.

The only place he practices his English is at Amigos and Friends. He said the class helps a little bit or, “un poquito.”

Davis said Amigos and Friends is open to anyone wanting to learn or help teach English. For more information, contact the student volunteer center at the Newman Center.

Laney Gillespie, right, a senior elementary education major with a spanish concentration, works with Heriberto Diaz, as he copys words off a worksheet in the Newman Catholic Center Monday night during Amigos and Friends. Diaz has been going to Amigos and

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