ELL News Headlines

The first scientific focus of NASA’s Perseverance rover is a rock named "Máaz" – the Diné (Navajo) word for "Mars." The rover’s team, in collaboration with the Diné Nation Office of the President and Vice President, has been naming features of scientific interest with words in the Diné language.

April is National Poetry Month. Of course, reading, writing, and performing poetry can and should be done any time of the year, but April encourages newbies and doubters to give verses a try. Audiobooks are a particularly effective medium for poetry, with well-chosen narrators enhancing and amplifying the written text; reluctant readers could especially benefit. Novels in verse often combine gorgeous words with affecting narratives, making these recent #OwnVoices titles revelatory this month and beyond.

A survey last month of educators by the EdWeek Research Center found that about two-thirds recalled there was one school-issued device for every middle and high school student before the pandemic. Another 42 percent said the same about elementary school kids. In the same survey, 90 percent of educators said there was at least one device for every middle and high schooler by March of 2021. An additional 84 percent said the same about elementary school students. That dramatic change is sure to impact teaching, learning, district operations, and school budgets long beyond the pandemic.

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra how the Biden administration is housing and handling the unaccompanied migrant children crossing the border.

Hundreds of migrant children are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border every day. Ultimately they will all be placed with sponsors in households around the U.S. until their immigration cases are heard. In recent years, Houston, Texas, has been the No. 1 destination for these teens. Houston Public Media's Elizabeth Trovall reports.

The experience of living through a pandemic, and the immediate and long-term mental health needs resulting from the last year, may be quite different for some students of color than for their white peers, educators say.

Radio B'alam is a streaming audio program reaching thousands of Mayan Guatemalans in the Bay Area who speak a language called Mam. The name of the show translates to Radio Jaguar, a historical reference to the Mam king who led his people up a mountain to escape Spanish invaders. The program's 27-year-old founder Henry Sales says his show's name and the historical reference are appropriate.

A record number of unaccompanied minors are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border and Border Patrol facilities are overwhelmed. Agencies are scrambling to find shelter for them, and they say they need more help. About 5,000 children are being held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in emergency influx shelters. What does their reality look like on the ground at the border? And what should the U.S. government do about it? Dulce Garcia, Leah Chavla and Caitlin Dickerson join us for the conversation.

It's been a year since teachers were handed an unprecedented request: Educate students in entirely new ways amid the backdrop of a pandemic. In this comic series, we'll illustrate one teacher's story each week from now until the end of the school year. This week, Lori Chavez, a middle school social studies teacher in Kewa Pueblo, N.M., discusses the importance of staying connected to your community during lockdown.

The Office of English Language Acquisition gave Larry Ferlazzo permission to reprint an updated map showing ELLs as a percentage of total student enrollment by local education agencies.