ELL News Headlines

In August, Ruben Alonzo will open Excelencia Charter Academy. The elementary school will start with 120 seats for transitional K-1st grade, with an innovative teaching model for English learners. It will grow to serve grades K-5th grade. Alonzo said his vision for Excelencia grew out of his own experience, working hard in the Texas fields during summers and excelling in school the rest of the year.

Teachers and students may feel like they are limping across the finish line at the end of the school year. During the last quarter, when testing is finished and spring is in the air, teachers and students can be tempted to go on cruise control. However, this attitude can result in a loss of valuable learning and practice time, especially for English-language learners who benefit from as many language-learning opportunities as possible.

Children love playing games, particularly during school hours. Fun experiences are memorable to the brain, which has been shown to help information stick — an especially important component to ESL learning.

In this video, a 9th-grade world studies teacher introduces a seven-step process to help English-language learners learn new vocabulary. The process starts with repeating the word three times and ends with students discussing the meaning and usage of the word with a peer.

In Canadian public schools, the children of new immigrants do as well as native-born children within three years of arriving. There kids don't just get language and academic support; their home cultures are celebrated as they are integrated into classes. And strong social services and healthy education funding help too. Special correspondent Kavitha Cardoza of Education Week reports.

Across the country, many English-learners don't have access to the same high-quality math courses that their native English-speaking peers do. These five California districts offer a road map to change.

Some educators feel bilingualism is "too lofty a goal" for English-language learners with disabilities, an attitude that could limit the educational trajectory of an already underserved population, a new study found. During a seven-month ethnographic study, Sara Kangas, an applied linguist and assistant professor in Lehigh's College of Education, found that some educators did not prioritize language services for ELLs because they had low expectations for the students. "This underscores the necessity for teacher education programs to work towards systematically dismantling these perceptions through curricula," Kangas wrote in her study.

Ke'Shon Newman's brother was shot nine time on Chicago's South Side, where gun violence is a daily threat. Ke’Shon and his peers have met survivors from Parkland, FL in preparation for this weekend's march in Washington DC. (Hear more on this story from "The Daily" podcast.)

TESOL International Association, the organization for teachers who specialize in working with English-language learners, has released a set of six principles designed to improve the teaching and learning of English around the globe.

Since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico last year, more than 24,000 students have left for the U.S. mainland and more than 400 came to Hartford, Connecticut, where a third of residents identify as Puerto Rican. Now, Hartford is working to support the students amid a series of budget difficulties. Ivette Feliciano reports on the challenges facing the school system and students.