ELL News Headlines

This has been a harrowing year for the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who have put down stakes in Houston. Stepped-up enforcement of immigration measures put many on edge over deportations, while Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed one of the nation’s most punitive laws against cities that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. President Trump has amplified his harsh line on illegal immigration and renewed his promise to build a border wall. Then came the chaos of Hurricane Harvey. Sowing confusion and fear among some people here, more than two dozen Border Patrol agents from a special operations detachment in South Texas arrived in Houston with a dozen vessels to help with the emergency relief effort. But Manuel Padilla Jr., a chief patrol agent with the agency, found it necessary to go on the local Univision news in Houston to reassure people in Spanish that the agents were here to save the lives of people endangered by the storm, not to check their documents.

Getting back into the classroom after spending the summer in Spain with a group of Iowa State University students always reinforces for Chad Gasta the benefits of a language immersion program. Gasta, a professor and chair of world languages and cultures, co-directs "ISU on the Mediterranean," Iowa State's largest study abroad program, which offers courses and research opportunities in Spanish, engineering, business and biology. To make it a truly immersive experience, classes are taught in Spanish and English, and students live with host families during their six weeks in Spain. Gasta says it makes for some interesting translations initially, but students welcome the opportunity to interact and communicate with native speakers.

On what was supposed to be the first day of school in some Texas districts, the state with the nation's second-largest K-12 student population was in educational crisis Monday, with hundreds of thousands of families reeling from the effects of Hurricane Harvey. Teachers, students and parents were unsure when classes would be in session, and who, exactly, would be reporting to which schools, when opening bells finally ring.

More Latino students at Utah's Park City High School are better prepared for college thanks to a popular summer school program. Reporter Carolyn Murray has more.

The 2017-18 school year has started in many places across the country, and federal data shows that every state is dealing with shortages of teachers in key subject areas. Some are having trouble finding substitute teachers, too.

The outcome of a new study being conducted by a local researcher at UNM could eventually help teachers better instruct students who struggle with math – specifically, those students who learned English as a second language.

Here is a guide to some of the new and forthcoming children's books about Muslim refugees, ranging from picture books for toddlers and early readers to young adult novels.

It all started with a Thanksgiving dinner last November, when Sloane Davidson hosted a family of Syrian refugees to share in the great American tradition of roast turkey, cranberry sauce, and pecan pie. The two families kept in touch, and soon Davidson invited them to more of her family gatherings. That friendship has now grown into something bigger: Hello Neighbor, a mentorship program that matches American families with refugee and immigrant families who have recently arrived in the United States.

A federal judge has ruled that Arizona's ban on ethnic studies courses was motivated by racial discrimination. The state violated students' constitutional rights "because both enactment and enforcement were motivated by racial animus," Judge A. Wallace Tashima wrote in a ruling issued Tuesday.

Every school day just over 80,000 foreign-speaking students show up for school throughout Connecticut That’s one in seven students. As part of its recent exploration of issues surrounding English-language learners, the Connecticut Mirror wanted to hear what these students feel is helping them. Here are a few of their stories.