501 Imagining and Moving beyond the ESL Bubble IMAGINING AND MOVING BEYOND THE ESL BUBBLE: OBSERVING CHANGES IN IDENTITY, POWER AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THROUGH THE ELL AMBASSADORS PROGRAM Steve Daniel Przymus University of Arizona Introduction On both sides of the U.S./Mexico border, new educational realities contin- ue to arise due to immigration and repatriation. How schools in the U.S. and Mexico react to students who do not speak the language of the schools presents a monumental challenge. In the United States, English Language Learners (ELLs) continue to be positioned at schools as immigrants and limited English proicient speakers. ELLs themselves oten reinforce this role by clinging to the insulation and isolation of what I call the ESL bub- ble. Participation only in English as a Second Language (ESL) newcomer classes and sheltered English instruction blocks, which is initially viewed as a positive refuge for immigrant students at school until they learn more English and become more acculturated, can limit these students’ impor- tant intercultural interpersonal interaction with other peers at school. his valuable interaction with non-ELLs is needed to promote language social- ization (Schiefelin & Ochs, 1986), positive identity formation (Norton, 2000), and accelerated academic success. In Mexico, an issue that is beginning to receive more atention by language acquisition researchers is the many challenges that repatriated students face. hese students, who have been educated in the U.S. and are now, in many cases due to deportation, atending school in Mexico,