One of my biggest pet peeves is when educators refer to bilingual students that receive instruction primarily in Spanish as "monolinguals". It has a negative connotation, because it is saying that those bilingual students have not gained the necessary English proficiency to leave Spanish behind. Sometimes these students have only been in this country 1-2 years, and they are expected to know English at the same academic level as their peers! Furthermore, calling one of our bilingual students "monolingual" sends the message that the goal is not for students to be "bilingual", but rather transition to English quickly. When I hear that term being used, I remind them that our students are "emerging bilingual" students that will learn English with the support of their Spanish. Students will learn English, but it should not be at the expense of losing their Spanish.
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