ELL News Headlines

The Newark Board of Education approved a resolution that outlined the district's obligations to meet the needs of students who are learning English. The district also promised to implement "steps to find and engage" English learners "who lost contact with district schools during the pandemic," especially its youngest students, those who lacked internet access, and older students who are at risk of dropping out, the resolution states.

As students, teachers and parents across the U.S. seek to find some sense of normalcy or stability two years into a global pandemic, the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs investigates how they are doing so in "Our New Normal: How Teens Are Redefining School Life."

Katie Miller is an English language teacher and department chair at Tuscarora High School in Frederick County and past president of Maryland TESOL (Teachers of English as a Second Language). She writes about her experience with ELLs in this blog post.

New Mexico’s culturally and linguistically diverse population drew Magdalena Pando from Texas in August 2017, and New Mexico State University’s postdoctoral research opportunities for its students has helped her remain a vital asset to NMSU’s College of Health, Education and Social Transformation.

One of the scariest things I’ve done was to leave my role as a language specialist and accept a secondary social studies position. It was scary to leave the shelter of the familiar to explore the wilds of the unknown.

A once-in-a-lifetime manuscript. That was Jason Chin’s first thought when he read author Andrea Wang’s Watercress. Chin's work earned the 2022 Caldecott Medal winner for Watercress, which was also named a Newbery Honor title.

Upon hearing that her debut novel, Firekeeper’s Daughter, won the 2022 Michael L. Printz Award, Angeline Boulley’s thoughts went immediately to other Native and marginalized creators. Through her tears, Boulley told the Printz committee, “I know what this means.”

School Library Journal has compiled their reviews of the books that won Youth Media Awards this year, including winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, American Indian Youth Literature Honors, Pura Belpré Awards, and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.

Larry Ferlazzo's new question-of-the-week is: "What are you doing — or trying to do — to sustain your morale and the morale of your students in the face of Omicron? What are you doing—or trying to do—to sustain any kind of learning momentum you had built up before the winter break?" Teachers Bill Ivey, Sarah Cooper, and Amber Chandler share their thoughts during this first week back from winter break.

E.L.L. students are invited to write a 50-word story using our recent vocabulary words. Send us yours by Jan. 31.