NEW WORLD OPENS UP TO PROGRAM'S ADULT STUDENTS.

Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer

NEWHALL -The last time Alberto Valencia picked up a book to read was 10 years ago, while training in Mexico to become a mechanic.

But when he came to the United States in search of work, he found himself in survival mode, closing himself off to everything except keeping a job. It wasn't until his little daughter began school that he found he couldn't help her with her homework.

``She would come home and bring her homework and I didn't understand it,'' said the 30-year-old, who works as a busboy in a local restaurant. ``The most important thing for me was getting help to help my child.''

Four months ago, Valencia enrolled in the Even Start Family Literacy program at McGrath Elementary School in the Newhall School District. The multifaceted English as a Second Language program includes parenting classes to help mothers and fathers become a valuable link in their children's education.

The program has helped Valencia communicate at work, he says, leading to feeling less stressed and frustrated at home.

If his wife doesn't have the time, he'll even braid his 8-year-old daughter's hair to help her get ready for school.

``I was stained with the machista ways,'' he said of the machismo attitude associated with Latino culture. ``I was the kind of guy that was always yelling. When I came here, the teacher said, you'll see. In a few months you'll lose that.''

And he did, Valencia said. He learned to pull back from confrontation and tell himself to calm down, and to help around the house.

``Sometimes, if my wife and I are having a discussion in which we start yelling, I'll stop and say calm down, calm down to myself,'' Valencia said. ``It surprises my wife. She will look at me and I can tell she's thinking, who is this man?''

On a recent weekday at McGrath Elementary School, instructor Lucia Esquivel holds her hand close to her face and tells her students if they pronounce a hard P correctly, they will feel their breath on their palms.

``Pay-Per'' she says carefully.

Up to 50 parents in the class watch her.

They are shy at first, but when one student does it, another follows, and then another and soon the whole class is full of people holding their hands to their faces and making the ``puh'' sound, feeling their breath on their palms.

On the surface, Esquivel's class seems like any other ESL course. But on a deeper level, the class works as a bridge between Latino parents and a country they have stepped into, but never had the chance to understand. On that bridge, Esquivel says, her students learn much about themselves.

``I have seen them grow in different ways,'' said Esquivel, who has taught ESL for 14 years. ``At first, they are very afraid to learn the language because they think they will never learn it anyway. But once they are in my hands, it becomes an opportunity to open their eyes and lift their self-esteem.''

Esquivel's si se puede, or can-do attitude, has had a profound influence on her students, some of whom say that when they came to the United States, they thought they would stay here only a few years to work. But years turn to decades, and some parents became trapped in that survival mode.

``I try to tell them, look at how brave you are for coming here, for facing isolation and discrimination,' '' Esquivel said. ``I tell them to feel good about themselves, for sacrificing for their children. I tell them, there's nothing wrong with cleaning, but there are better jobs out there. When you go to another country, you have to build yourself up again, even though you are an adult.''

The parenting classes also serve to reteach gender roles inside the home, Esquivel said.

``The women feel like they are doing something when they come to class,'' Esquivel said. ``They don't feel frustrated anymore because they are leaving the house instead of staying indoors all day cleaning and changing diapers.''

Her students say that Esquivel teaches the class with so much patience, they can't help but want to learn.

``I have never seen our instructor get angry,'' Valencia said. ``Sometimes, she puts her hands to her head if we don't do something. But in my school (in Mexico), they would smack you on the head.''

Others have gained self-confidence because of the program. Each English word they learn, they find, gets them closer to more opportunities.

``I'm ashamed to say I've been here for 18 years,'' said Carmina Vergoonen, a 37-year-old mother of three children, two of whom attend McGrath.

``People come with the illusion that they will stay here only two or three years,'' she said. ``But those small years turn to 18 years and then you realize, I've learned nothing. The problem is we learn to conform with being marginalized. But we're in a country where we need to get ahead.''

Vergoonen said within just four months of taking the English class, she has become motivated to leave the house, she has gained enough confidence to find a job of her own, and has learned to spend more time with her children, such as reading bedtime stories to them.

``I don't even watch news in Spanish anymore, or watch Spanish television,'' she said. ``And if I'm feeling sick, my children will say, 'Come on, Mommy, we're going to school.'''

Inside the classroom, some mothers bring children in strollers. Many here are from rural villages, where going to school was a privilege rather than a right. The students learn from each other, too, since the class is diverse, with some students hailing from Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia, among other countries.

Araceli Mendez, 27, was a teacher in her native Mexico. Her husband was a traffic officer.

When she came to the United States, she figured she was going to stay for three years. But then her 6-year-old son became more involved in school, earning certificates of outstanding achievement and playing soccer. She wants to stay for him, she said.

``I still remember my first applause in class for saying something in English correctly,'' she said. ``It was the first time someone applauded me.''

Mendez said she has a new goal: to return to college.

``I just know that when my son goes to college, I'll be there with him,'' she said. ``We're going to go to college together.''

Susan Abram, [phone]

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com