ELL News Headlines

I’m writing this blog on the floor of an empty house in Northwest Houston. Hurricane Harvey has finally moved off to the east. I teach students who have recently relocated to our city.  My NELD classes (Newcomer English Language Development) are students who were attending U.S. schools for only a few days when this hurricane struck. Many are coming from places of war, others have moved to Houston for a better life from Latin American countries and still, others have relocated here with family because my school is located in an Oil and Gas corridor. So what will I do for my class? I’m still deciding on all the particulars of the lessons but I know what my overarching theme will be for this first unit.

Juana la Iguana, an entertainment and learning platform that instills educational and global values to children in Spanish and English, has announced that it was selected by the prestigious Miami Children's Museum to debut its new musical, The Mystery of Musical Notes.

Joseph Maghamez is planning to spend the rest of his life in Canada, but he still doesn't want to waste any time. After arriving from Syria last year, Maghamez, 20, has been focused on getting into university as quickly as possible. "It was my first priority," he said in an interview with CBC Toronto. And next week, it will be a reality when Maghamez begins studying life sciences at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

Jose Gonzalez's parents brought him to the United States from Mexico just before his second birthday. In the 23 years since, he graduated high school with honors, earned an Ivy League degree, and received recognition from the Obama White House for his work teaching students in immigrant-filled Los Angeles charter schools. Now, Gonzalez faces a potentially cruel twist of fate: he could go from being lauded by the White House to being a target for deportation as part of President Donald Trump's widespread immigration crackdown.

The Trump administration announced Tuesday it would begin to unwind an Obama-era program that allows younger undocumented immigrants to live in the country without fear of deportation, calling the program unconstitutional but offering a partial delay to give Congress a chance to address the issue.

Responding to pleas from teachers, advocates, and students, the Philadelphia School District this year is implementing mandatory training in keeping the system’s tens of thousands of immigrant children safe and supported in the current political climate. Every school-based employee, from principal to cafeteria worker, is to receive instruction in everything from what information to release if immigration agents arrive at a school (none) to how to communicate with parents who speak another language.

Some immigrant parents in South Carolina are forgoing health care services for their children, including immunizations, for fear they will be separated from their families and deported, one South Carolina public health advocate said. 

More than a million students are now affected by the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in some way, according to the Texas Education Agency, as the remnants of the storm shifted east and its devastating effects on the education community continue.  That number is expected to grow.

California now leads all other states in refugee resettlement, according to State Department figures. But San Diego County — which took in the most refugees in the state last fiscal year — has long been a destination for people escaping war or persecution in their home countries. More than 3,000 refugees resettled in San Diego County during federal fiscal 2016, leading some in the community to question whether area schools — many already operating with limited resources — would be able to deliver on the refugee dream of a quality education for all in America.

Brandon McElveen's Ford F150 pickup is lifted up about six inches. He says that's just the style in the South, but this week, "it's come in handy" for driving through up to four feet of water. McElveen's a counselor at the KIPP Explore Academy elementary school in Houston. Within hours of the flooding this week, he began getting calls and messages asking for help. One was from a family with two girls on the middle school softball team he also coaches. With his truck and a borrowed kayak, he estimates he's helped more than 20 people to safety.