About Colorín Colorado
Colorín Colorado is an award-winning public media project based at PBS station WETA in Washington, DC.
We are the nation’s leading website for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs), and our resources are regularly used in professional learning, pre-service, and family outreach programs across the country. Colorín Colorado has been providing free research-based information, activities, and advice to parents, schools, and communities around the country for more than two decades.
Learn more about our mission to serve ELLs as well as the team that makes Colorín Colorado possible below.
Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship PBS station in the nation's capital, and receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers. You can also learn more about our sister sites at WETA.
Library of Congress Literacy Awards Honoree
Colorín Colorado was recognized this year as a Library of Congress Literacy Awards Honoree. The Literacy Awards program is considered the most prestigious awards competition in the field of literacy, honoring projects that adopt innovative, effective strategies to promote literacy at the national and international level.
Our Mission
Colorín Colorado's mission is to support the long-term success of ELLs in school and beyond. As a trusted leader in addressing the urgent challenge of helping ELLs around the country succeed, we are on the front lines of preparing educators to teach ELLs – a population that makes up nearly 10% of K-12 students in the U.S. and continues to grow.
As demographics change nationwide, teaching ELLs has become a fact of life for schools everywhere: in big cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural communities.
Yet ELLs, who often come from low-income households and attend schools with limited resources, are among the most under-served students in our school system. Many teachers have received little or no training in how to work effectively with ELLs, how to accurately identify their students' abilities and academic needs, and how to communicate with ELL parents. A majority of teachers acknowledge that they need much more information and support in meeting the complex needs of these students and their families. Families, on the other hand, may be new to the U.S. school system, may not know their rights to access information in their home language, may not feel welcome at school, or may be juggling multiple jobs.
What does Colorín Colorado offer?
To support these educators and parents, Colorín Colorado offers free multimedia materials such as classroom videos, toolkits, research-based articles, multilingual tip sheets, newsletters, featured books and authors, and social media. We provide information about topics such as reading together at home, creating a welcoming classroom environment, and helping ELLs meet rigorous academic demands. Colorín Colorado is a bilingual website in English and Spanish -- and we offer basic parent content in several languages, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, and Hmong.
The site has become a lifeline for the teachers and parents of ELLs, and we hear every day from audience members telling us that we're making a difference, including this comment: "Colorín Colorado is a must for every teacher and administrator. It offers guidance, support and excellent strategies that teachers should use and that will benefit all students."
Our Reach
- Since our launch, we have logged more than 110 million pageviews and served 38 million unique visitors.
- In 2025, our users spent more than 25,000 hours watching our educational videos — in English as well as in other languages. Since launch, our YouTube channel has logged 8.5 million views for a total of 354,000 hours of watch time.
- Our deeply engaged ELL Facebook Group has 20,000 members.
Frequently Asked Questions
So you're not in Colorado?
No, we are based in Washington, DC. We have lots of friends in Colorado, though!
Can I share materials from Colorín Colorado with parents and colleagues?
Absolutely! We want to make our materials accessible to educators and parents in schools across the country. For more information, see our reprint policy.
How can I receive updates from Colorín Colorado?
You can find out about new resources, updates, and timely information from Colorín Colorado's newsletters and social media channels, listed below.
Does Colorín Colorado offer courses or certification programs?
No. Colorín Colorado does not offer English classes, professional development courses, or certification programs.
Our Name
The name "Colorín Colorado" comes from a playful phrase that is often said at the end of stories in Spanish-speaking countries: "¡Y Colorín Colorado, este cuento se ha acabado!" or "¡Y Colorín Colorado, este cuento se ha terminado!" (Colorín Colorado, the story has ended!) There's no equivalent in English, but the phrase is similar to "The End" or "...and they lived happily ever after," or "That's all, folks!"
The saying brings back happy childhood memories of storytelling and reading for generations of people from many different countries, as seen in this quote:
When I finish reading a story, I always say, "Colorín, Colorado," and the children finish the saying for me, "Este cuento se ha acabado." Great work. Please keep it up!
Muisician José-Luis Orozco shares the phrase here:
Social Media
Follow us and connect with Colorín Colorado on the following channels:
- Colorín Colorado's ELL Educator Group: Facebook group
- Colorín Colorado: Facebook
- Colorín Colorado: X
- Colorín Colorado: Instagram
- Colorín Colorado: Newsletters
Contact Us
Colorín Colorado
WETA Public Television
3939 Campbell Avenue
Arlington, VA 22206
E-mail: [email protected]
Note: Messages sent to Colorín Colorado become the property of WETA Learning Media. We reserve the right to excerpt or reprint comments on our sites in perpetuity at our sole discretion. We do not post last names or email addresses. If you would prefer your comments to be completely anonymous, please let us know in your message.
Reprint Policy
You are welcome to print copies of our materials for personal use or educational purposes as long as credit is given to Colorín Colorado and the author(s).
Material from our website may not be sold or used commercially. Permission to publish materials must be granted by the copyright holder.
Because we get our articles from a variety of sources, please check the bottom of the article for special reprint permissions or restrictions from the publisher.
If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected].
Welcome to our international visitors!
We also have a significant audience in Latin America and Spain looking for information about reading and language learning in Spanish, as well as an active audience in English-speaking countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia looking for information to support immigrant students - not to mention our audience around the world looking for information on language learning!
Donate to Colorín Colorado
Your donation helps sustain the work we do to support ELLs and their families in schools and communities across the country. Thank you for your support!