A group of 20 children sat on a colorful rug in front of Teresa Ruvalcaba, waiting for the magic to happen.

Ruvalcaba, a kindergarten teacher at Montalvo School in Ventura, was about to make their imaginations fly by reading a book about spring.

"Llegó la primavera, la nieve se derrite, la tierra está fresca y las plantas florecen." ("Spring is here, the snow melts, the earth is fresh and plants bloom.")

Ruvalcaba teaches the class mostly in Spanish. Sounding out words, reading books and writing have made her students' Spanish bloom.

"I became a teacher because I think teachers have a very powerful impact in the lives of young children," she said. "My mission as a teacher is to touch the souls of the children and help them develop very positive internal assets — like motivation, self-esteem, hope, faith and believing in themselves."

Ruvalcaba has been selected as California's two-way bilingual immersion teacher of the year by the California Association for Bilingual Education. She will be recognized June 30 at the 16th annual national Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Program Conference in Newport Beach.

"She is strongly committed and passionate in creating opportunities for students to be proficient in two languages, and this is what they need to be successful in their future," said Marcia Vargas, executive director of the Two-Way California Association for Bilingual Education, an affiliate of the group honoring Ruvalcaba.

Two-way immersion programs are designed to teach a second language to English speakers, and English to those with a different primary language. Classes are a mix of students from different ethnic backgrounds. In a Spanish-English immersion program, they are taught primarily in Spanish in kindergarten and first grade, with a gradual increase in English until a 50-50 balance is reached in fifth grade.

Currently, 220 of Montalvo's 400 students are enrolled in the voluntary program.

Principal Michele Dean said Ruvalcaba is a strong advocate for the program. She enrolled her own children in it.

Dean, who nominated Ruvalcaba for the award, said the teacher has helped coordinate programs such as Read Across America and the Cesar Chavez Coin Drive.

"She is persistent. Children absolutely adore her," Dean said. "She is very personal with the kids, she knows who they are, their strengths and challenges, and she has extremely high expectations for them."

Ruvalcaba also is accessible to parents, Dean said.

Ruvalcaba was born in Santa Paula and moved to Mexico for her primary schooling. She came back to the United States when she was 11 and had to learn English. She has been a teacher for 12 years, eight of them at Montalvo.

"When I'm teaching in my primary language, everything is natural," she said. "I have fun teaching in Spanish, and I feel I can share my own experiences with my students."

Ruvalcaba said she believes in the program as a teacher and mother because she has seen the progress in her own children.

"When my daughter started the program, she had very limited English, and now she is fluent in both languages and she is overachieving in both languages," she said.

Ruvalcaba incorporates thematic lessons that make the learning more fun for the students. "When you bring literature that has characters of different ethnicities, I think students can relate to them and get inspired," she said.

Jennifer Martinez, 5, said she enjoys being in Ruvalcaba's class. "I like this class because I read books and write in Spanish," Jennifer said. "I like Ms. Ruvalcaba because she makes the class fun."

Joshua Maier, 6, said his Spanish has improved. "I like her class because I'm learning Spanish. I really love her," Joshua said.

"This is our future," Ruvalcaba said. "We live in a global society and multicultural society. This class represents a mini-society, and the students in the real world will be working with people from different ethnicities and racial backgrounds."