It is not unusual for conversations about bilingual learners to focus on the challenges and figuring out how to help these students. It is often a deficit based approach and the focus is on trying to "fix" a problem. A more effective way to support student learning is to take an asset based approach. Our bilingual learners have "bilingual superpowers" that they can use to take ownership of their own learning & teachers can activate in order to lower students' affective filter and maximize their learning. Many of our emerging bilingual students are simultaneous bilingual students because they have been exposed to more than one language by the time they are three years old. These students enter school with some BICS (basic personal interpersonal communication skills) and have a foundation in their Language 1 to gain CALP (cognitive academic language proficiency) in their Language 2 (English).
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