ELL News Headlines

In a study published in Psychological Science, the journal of the Association for Psychological Science, Pascale Engel de Abreu of the University of Luxembourg and her colleagues examine the effects of bilingualism on the executive functioning of low-income children. "Low-income children represent a vulnerable population," says Engel de Abreu. "Studying cognitive processes in this population is of great societal importance and represents a significant advancement in our understanding of childhood development."

A young DACA recipient from Virginia will join dozens of other Dreamers at the State of the Union address Tuesday night as the White House and members of Congress remain in a standoff over the fate of the more than 1 million undocumented young immigrants. 

A group of Democrats in Congress has introduced a bill designed to remedy the national shortage of teachers who work with English-language learners. The Reaching English Learners Act would create a grant program under Title II of the Higher Education Act, the part of the law that governs teacher preparation, to pave the way for colleges and school districts to develop curricula for aspiring ELL teachers.

Of the 690,000 undocumented immigrants now facing an uncertain future as Congress and President Trump wrangle over the DACA program are about 8,800 school teachers. The real possibility that they'll be deported if the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is allowed to expire has put enormous stress on them.

Alaska Native languages are in a "linguistic emergency" and most are predicted to be extinct or dormant by the end of the 21st century unless action is taken to save them, according to a new report out this month from a state body.

If recent best-seller lists are any indication, biographies of women written for children are a very hot commodity. It's also worth noting the sheer number of them being published by large and small publishers and the subjects they are opting to highlight. Gone are the days when kids would learn about the same six female historical figures over and over again. Those women haven't disappeared from our books or history, nor should they. But at the same time, it's marvelous to consider which women have become the standard bearers for the next generation of young readers.

The federal government shutdown has come to an end, but the debate on Capitol Hill over the fate of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children has not.

Sixty-two students from Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR) are getting ready to arrive on campus by mid-January. They’re choosing classes and – almost as importantly – buying winter coats and long underwear online. For one semester, UPR students will leave behind the devastation of Hurricane Maria to study at Cornell. While several universities have offered UPR students in-state tuition, Cornell is one of only four offering one semester of free tuition, room and board; the others are Tulane University, New York University and Brown University.

The University of Illinois Extension and the Boys and Girls Club of the Mississippi Valley gives eighth grade Latino students and their parents an opportunity to explore education and career goals. Sally Galindo and her son are taking part in the next five weeks of the program that will help them prepare for the future.

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with Kevin Jennings, president of the Tenement Museum in New York City, about why the phrase "legal immigration" does not apply to early immigrants to the U.S., who came to this country before immigration laws were enacted.