As my family will be travelling to Rome in August, we heard that it would be better to join a tour guide to get into popular places of interest like the Vatican City and Colosseum to avoid the lineup. I have searched the internet but prefers recommendations from those who had used a tour guide before. Any recommendations for English speaking tour guide? By the way, there are 11 of us. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Thank your in advance for your response.

Ron in Rome has one of the best reputations for being a good tour guide.
http://www.roninrome.com/guide-service

We had a one day tour with Ron last month (family of 3) and we all rate it as our best day in Rome and among the best in our 3 weeks in Italy... I would certainly recommend his services.

Paula

Ron is great, and everyone raves about his tours, but you don't have to hire a guide to avoid the long lines. You can book timed-entry tickets to the Vatican Museums
http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/...ets/index.html
and tickets to the Colosseum at www.pierreci.it. You can also avoid the long ticket lines at the Colosseum if you buy the Roman Forum/Colosseum/Palatine Hill combo ticket at the Forum ticket office, where lines are short or non-existent.

Here is one option:

http://www.astheromansdo.com/

I've used Francesca Caruso, who has guided for Rick Steves. Her English is fluent, as her mother is American. And her prices are reasonable. You can find her e-mail address in my rome trip report from 2007.