Recently I read the book Math for ELLs: As Easy as Uno, Dos, Tres. One of the biggest take-aways for me was the need to reframe the definition of a "ELL". In general ELLs, seemed to be seen through a deficit lens. It's about what students cannot do right now & what students still need to learn. This book provides background information and strategies to view students from an asset based perspective. One way to move this forward is to refer to ELLs as EBs. The term English Language Learner has the connotation that our students are missing something and that they are trying to gain something better. The term Emergent Bilingual (EB) sends the message that students' first language (L1) is beneficial and is something that should be maintained. The term Emergent Bilingual (EB) also shows that the goal for our students is not to replace their L1 with English (L2), but to have two languages that they can use to support their learning.
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