Introduction We are seeing more and more children who come from an increasingly broad range of linguistic, cultural, religious, and academic backgrounds attending American schools. Many of these students are bilingual, and while some benefit from use of linguistic and social resources offered by their native community and by their American schools, others of them struggle because of miscommunication and cultural gaps that occur either at home or at school. The growing population of young English language learners (ELLs) in American schools creates an urgency for educators to understand, value, and support the wide array of students' native language practices as a way to support both the ELLs' first language and their native cultures and communities.
