Drama and ELL Education Credit: The Orange County Register Copyright Freedom Communications, Inc.

Aug 5, 1999 Foroud Beigi sometimes forgets he is teaching English. The drama teacher from Iran just teaches his students how to act, and the English comes out of them. It is a unique approach for an English as a Second Language class. "To me, they just happen to be ESL students," he said Wednesday. "I don't treat them as ESL students. I treat them as actors." The results can be striking. "I didn't even know how to say hello," said Alicia Miller, 25, of Brea, who's taken Beigi's acting classes for two years and now speaks English quite fluently. After six months of acting, she was able to skip five levels of traditional ESL classes offered at the School of Continuing Education in the North Orange County Community College District. Beigi brought the program to the district's Wilshire campus in Fullerton two years ago. "He goes way beyond what he's paid to do," said Lori Hastings, the district's ESL coordinator. "He instills his passion into the students." In theater, you must speak clearly, enunciate and understand the emotion behind the words, she said. So she encouraged Beigi to combine his degrees in theater and linguistics to create the class, called Wilshire Players. Hastings is aware of no similar programs that are free, like Be igi's. ESL classes thrive in Orange County. Census figures and private polls have found that 25 percent to 50 percent of the 370,000 Hispanic adults in Orange County speak little or no English. In Beigi's district alone, 13,000 adults take ESL classes each year. About 50 attend Beigi's classes, which are offered four times a year. Most of Beigi's students are immigrants. They arrive in class without high school diplomas, without cars, without jobs, without citizenship. One woman rides her bike an hour to get to class. A young man was walking two hours from Brea - until Beigi found out and arranged to pick him up. "It's theater. It's family," he said as explanation.

He also helps them apply for student visas and jobs. He tutors them in other classes. He helps them fill out citizenship applications. His class runs three days a week, but Beigi spends three more days each week in rehearsals. "They become more than students," he said. "They become friends." One such friend is Miller, who arrived from Mexico City 2 1/2 years ago. She'll receive her high school diploma this summer and begin courses at Fullerton College this fall. The first time she performed, her hands were moist with sweat and her voice trembled so badly that she was afraid to speak. By last season, she performed in all three plays during the class performance. This, despite an overriding fear that she would forget her lines. "He made me cry, but he told me that if I want to do something, I can do it," she said. "He told me so many things that made me feel more confident. I used to say I cannot study for college, but now I feel better. He trusts you can do more than you're doing." Beigi was born in Tehran. He spent much of his childhood in the United States, but returned to Iran after getting a doctorate in theater. He created and directed a theater department at Shiraz University for eight years until the regime of Ayatollah Khomeini cracked down on his program for its failure to perform pro-government plays. "If you apologized and professed your sins, you would be OK," he said. "I was physically thrown out." Beigi and his wife returned to the United States. He teaches traditional ESL classes at the Wilshire campus and at Santa Ana Community College. He can be tough on students. During Wednesday's rehearsal, he paced back and forth. His voice deepened. It was as if he were in a trance - watching, interrupting, an alter-ego to the soft-spoken man in the classroom setting. He let no one off easy. "If he's taking your money, what are you going to do?" he asked one actress, during a scene in which she fought with her boyfriend. "You didn't fight for it. You've got to fight for it. Be physical. Be loud, because there's nothing left." For hours, it went on. "You have to go into the play and understand the feelings, emotions, the situations," said lead actor Marco Granados, 23, of Anaheim, who moved here from Mexico seven months ago. "You can learn English at school, but real English you learn outside. Theater class is, for me, real life."