Friday, April 17, 1998 | 11:13 a.m.
Enrique Garcia read his lines with confidence and passion as he walked across the stage addressing a group of poor migrant workers.
Garcia's role as Cesar Chavez in a performance of "Cesar Chavez, Viva la Causa," at Twin Lakes Elementary School Thursday night was part of a readers theater performance, in which actors read the lines rather than memorized them.
There were no stumbles, nor hesitations, despite the fact that years, maybe even months ago, these actors spoke or read very little English, if any at all.
The 20 fourth- and fifth-graders, who performed the play honoring the leader of Southern California's migrant worker movement in the 1960s and 1970s, were part of the school's "English Language Learners" program.
"They did great. We're very proud," said Donald Houldcroft, their teacher in the ELL program. "We know where they've come from. Five or six years ago they knew very little English."
Houldcroft said some of the students have only been in the program a year or two.
There are five teachers at Twin Lakes Elementary who specialize in working with children in grades kindergarten through fifth. The kids learn the same material as the rest of the students.
"It's not a bilingual school, but an English as Second Language school," Houldcroft said. "Everything is taught in English. Some people debate whether bilingual or ESL is more effective, but we feel ESL works best for them."
The play, followed by performances of the Twin Lakes chorus and the Twin Lakes percussion ensemble, was part of "Family Literacy Night," an event to promote the family literacy program.
The program encourages literacy in the entire family, and involves parent training nights, where parents can learn how to improve their children's reading skills, computer skills and also offers English as a second language classes for parents.
Pat Lavenhar, facilitator for the English Learner's program, said that Family Literacy is for families of all languages and backgrounds, adding that there are about 53 different languages in the school district.
Lavanhar said that 125 of the 537 students at Twin Lakes Elementary are in English as a Second Language programs.
"The students are at various levels and need to pass a reading and writing test," she said. "The students fall into three categories, non-English, limited English and competent English.
"It's possible that their oral skills are wonderful, but their academic language may not be at that level."
As of April 1, according to officials with the English Learners program, 20,792 students were enrolled.
Lavanhar said it takes one to two years to teach the students basic interpersonal skills and five to 10 years to teach cognitive, academic skills.
"If they are literate in their first language then they can usually transfer quicker," she said.
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