ELL News Headlines

District 87 is launching a new curriculum for middle and high schoolers enrolled as English language learners — part of an effort to better serve the growing demographic group. The Bloomington district’s school board adopted the English 3-D program during its January meeting, and this week educators are exploring the newly-arrived materials.

These Take Five lists can help you with collection development, displays, reading lists, and more. This collection features new middle grade titles by authors that include Kelly Yang and Saadia Faruqi.

Missy Testerman has been teaching at Rogersville City School for 32 years. But for the past few years, she’s been teaching more children who weren’t born in the rural Appalachian community where the school is nestled. Some of the children are from Mexico and Honduras. Others are from India, China, and various Arabic-speaking nations. She heard stories about immigrant families braving dangerous routes to get to the United States.

“We’re very rural,” said Testerman, 54, who also directs the ESL program at the school. “But what we’ve seen here is that [Spanish-speaking immigrants] aren’t settling close to the [southern] border anymore … they’re coming to towns like ours.”

I’ve published numerous posts over the years in which teachers of many content areas have shared their most effective lessons. Here are some about connecting with ELL newcomers.

Dozens of people gathered for a hastily called vigil on Thursday night at Skywalk Memorial Park in Kansas City to honor Lopez-Galvan, the Shawnee mother of two and local radio DJ killed in the Chiefs parade shooting. “She was here to do good," one of her childhood friends said. It was held at Skywalk Memorial Park, right outside Children’s Mercy Hospital, where 12 victims — most of the them children — were taken on Wednesday in the aftermath of the shooting.

Immigrant students’ schoolwork and experience in the classroom often suffer in the presence of immigration enforcement — with 60% percent of teachers and school staff reporting poorer academic performance, and nearly half noting increased rates of bullying against these students, UCLA-based researchers found.

When Jorge Alaves looks around room 110 at Lindblom Math and Science Academy each Wednesday morning, he sees 36 versions of his teenage self: Latino boys with a lot of potential at a high school full of high-achieving students trying to figure out how to be successful after graduation.

Most days, Vanessa Cordova Ramirez wakes at 6 a.m. to take care of her little brother, walk the puppy, make breakfast, and tidy up her family's Queens apartment before heading to school. She's a planner. Otherwise, the 17-year-old says, she couldn't manage schoolwork, extracurriculars, two jobs, and family responsibilities. "Life is a little hectic," she admits. Cordova Ramirez is in her final semester at Williamsburg Preparatory High School, and already has acceptances from all five of her top college choices. Location – a college near her family in New York City – was top priority, she says. But next on the list? Affordability. In order to make this dream come true she needs federal financial aid and scholarships. It's a moment she's been planning for years. But last month, when Cordova Ramirez and her mom sat down with a counselor to fill out the FAFSA, the form that will determine how much assistance she'll receive, all they got was an error message. Her family is not alone. This rejection has been a common error for students with parents who don't have a Social Security number, says Kristin Azer, a college counselor at Williamsburg Prep. In reporting this story, NPR spoke with families, counselors and advocates who shared similar problems. Among those impacted are permanent residents, green card holders or undocumented parents without a Social Security number.

Today’s post, focused on expanding adolescents' vocabulary, is the fourth in a series offering strategies to support older students experiencing reading challenges.

We wrote recently about some of the reasons that may be keeping teachers from pursuing the bilingual educator route, despite the widespread need for teachers who can instruct English learners. We dug further into data from the National Center for Education Statistics to find out how the rate of English learners enrolled in public schools has changed over time.