The first lesson learned this year by teachers Astrid Li and Christina Tang was this: The length of a day does not increase in proportion to the work to be done. Fortunately, they learned a second lesson: Learning Leaders can help.

Much of the teaching team’s workload doubled this year at PS 20 in Flushing, Queens, where Li and Tang are inaugurating a dual-language program in Chinese and English with their two kindergarten classes.

“At the start of this year, there were times when I was so overwhelmed,” said Tang. She reached out for help, and it came from Laura Zelada and Chee Fong Chia, two volunteers from Learning Leaders. “This is an intense program and you always need an extra pair of hands,” she said. “These ladies are amazing.”

Learning Leaders is the largest organization in the city dedicated to supporting student success through parental and community involvement. Touching every school district in every borough, the 60-year-old program has 4,250 volunteers who have been screened and trained by the nonprofit to provide instructional and other school-based support. The volunteers often are parents, but others are community members and even retired teachers.

Chia, whose children graduated from PS 20, is a learning leader at two schools. With six languages in her repertoire, she also serves as a translator. “I’m teaching the kids and learning from them,” she said, while helping the PS 20 kindergartners learn Chinese calligraphy.

Zelada, a learning leader for three years, expanded her role at the school by becoming PTA president. English is her third language, so students don’t feel pressure when she works with them. “I tell the children, ‘I make mistakes; you can make mistakes; we’re going to solve it and learn together.’”

Learning leaders, including Chia and Zelada, also have been involved in the school’s Response to Intervention program, which identifies struggling students and provides interventions. “We had to get creative” to find ways to service all the students who need help with reading, said Jean Carroll, one of 12 teachers on the school’s Response to Intervention team.

Teacher Monique Lizcano, who coordinates the school’s 15 Learning Leaders volunteers, suggested they could help. Those interested are trained by the team, paired with a teacher-mentor and integrated into the Response to Intervention program. While in the classroom students sometimes are exposed to literature that’s beyond their level, in the small instruction teams they are empowered because the work meets them at their reading level and they are successful.

Last year, the program served 86 students. The school’s Response to Intervention team estimated that less than half that number would have received services without Learning Leaders.

“Response to Intervention is crucial because it means the difference between labeling children learning disabled or just helping them improve lagging skills,” said Cynthia DiBello, the assistant principal and supervisor for special education.

The school’s learning leaders are a veritable United Nations, many with college degrees from their native countries.

“We have a lot of parents from different countries,” said UFT Co-Chapter Leader Jill Maier. “This is a stepping stone for them to get started in America, but we need them more than they need us.”