This is the VOA Special English Education Report.A mentor is someone who teaches or advises a younger person with less experience.January is National Mentoring Month in the United States. This is a time for calling attention to the value of mentoring.Some mentoring programs connect adults with children who need guidance.Researchers say mentoring can reduce drug and alcohol use and violence among young people.In Southern California, a nonprofit group called School on Wheels has volunteers who tutor children from homeless families.Experts estimate that one in every fifty children in the country is homeless at some time during the year.They might live in shelters or weekly hotels or abandoned buildings or even on the streets.Anywhere except a permanent home.Sinead Chilton is marketing consultant for School on Wheels.She says she was surprised to learn the extent of the problem when she moved to the United States from London.SINEAD CHILTON: "When I first moved here ten years ago and I heard about School on Wheels,
