ELL News Headlines

So much of teaching a new language happens in the small moments: in the chatter among peers, in asking to use the bathroom. This year, with New York City public schools shuttered so frequently due to coronavirus cases, students had far fewer opportunities for these casual conversations and questions, said Rebecca Quiñones, a second grade dual-language teacher at P.S. 139 in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

High school librarian Lindsay Klemas writes, "As I taught with a baby strapped to my chest, my students showed me extraordinary empathy."

After making a major shift to remote learning at the beginning of the pandemic, some teachers had to adjust to another unfamiliar environment when their school buildings reopened: teaching students online and in-person at the same time. Engaging, monitoring and supporting two sets of students with very different needs is a complex juggling act that some teachers have described as their biggest challenge ever.

As the Biden administration continues to face questions about its response plan to stem the influx of migrants, Senior National Correspondent Amna Nawaz was on the southern border last night, watching as several people crossed into the United States. She reports on the ground realities from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas.

As the Department of Education releases $122 billion directly to states as part of the American Rescue Plan, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is encouraging states to make sure students who have been hit hardest by COVID-19 are provided with the resources and support they need.  American Rescue Plan funds can be used by SEAs and school districts to equitably expand opportunities for students who need the funds most, including students from low-income backgrounds, students of color, students with disabilities, English learners, students experiencing homelessness, and students with inadequate access to technology.

On Monday Christine Chen, of Boulder, packed her kids into the car and headed to grandma and grandpa's house. She hadn't seen her parents in weeks and wanted to have a face-to-face conversation about rising hate against people of Asian descent, including the elderly. Then word came of an active shooter at the King Soopers in South Boulder. The store is only a few blocks from her home. Chen realized she was going to have to have a conversation about violence with her kids, not just her parents. Rather than hearing from someone else, she told them "something bad happened in our neighborhood and we did not know very much information."

This is the final post in a nine-part series from Larry Ferlazzo on hybrid teaching.

Though it can seem daunting, getting students outdoors for even 30 minutes offers many benefits, during the pandemic and beyond. This checklist can help get you started.

Christine Rosalia and Becky Gould teach high school English to new immigrants in the South Bronx. In this article, they write, "Teaching writing remotely, we have observed the challenges of learning on the iPads. Try writing more than a tweet on a mobile device and you will quickly understand that it is not a machine designed to facilitate the writing process. These difficulties pose even higher barriers for English language learners in high school...The education department may have had good intentions of quickly putting more iPads in the hands of lower-income students. However, for older students, the workarounds needed to learn on a mobile device are the technological equivalent of making a house to live in with toothpicks."

The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation announced the winners of the 2021 Ezra Jack Keats Awards this week. The winner of the writer award is Tricia Elam Walker for Nana Akua Goes to School. Heidi Woodward Sheffield won the award for illustrator for Brick by Brick, which she also wrote.