ELL News Headlines

Two bills currently before the Michigan Senate would require state departments to provide translation services for people with limited English in most circumstances.

Dearborn, just west of Detroit, Mich., is a city often estimated to be at least half Arab American, with a general population of about 108,000. It's where author Ghassan Zeineddine set his debut collection of short stories, Dearborn.

Nestled between a nondescript section of route 40 and the Patapsco River in Catonsville, Md., lies a 33-acre plot of land owned by Baltimore City Public Schools. Called the Great Kids Farm, the land serves as an outdoor classroom for students in the urban district.

To get kids wielding academic and discipline-specific vocabulary, they need to observe words in context as they read, talk, and write about topics and concepts — and receive explicit instruction. Adapting strategies that work well for English learners can be a highly effective way to teach all students academic vocabulary, suggest educators Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton, authors of the recently published book Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals.

Research points to dual language immersion programs—where instruction is given in two languages with roughly equal shares of native speakers for both—as an ideal model for the nation’s growing English learner population. Yet researchers at The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, found that only about 16.5 percent of all English learners are enrolled in some form of a bilingual program, with 7.9 percent specifically in dual language immersion programs, according to state data from 2019-20. Part of the challenge of enrolling more English learners into these programs is the lack of bilingual staff in K-12 schools, as new research has found.

ccording to a 2018 study published by Frontiers of Public Health, spending time outdoors can aid people in a variety of categories: “attention and cognition, memory, stress and anxiety, sleep, emotional stability and self-perceived welfare or quality of life.” At San Diego State University, one space in particular, the turtle pond, has become a popular destination for students seeking solace from their academic lives.

Like many school counselors, Christina Tillery had trouble reaching kids during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2020-21 school year, only 100 out of 1800 students opted for in-person learning at her school, while her office remained in the building. Despite the challenges, Tillery used the opportunity to develop programming that could help her connect with students in new ways. Through many brainstorming sessions, she planned a bibliocounseling group, which she launched the next year.

About half of US Latinos who don’t speak Spanish have been shamed because of it, says a new study, noting that 54% of Latinos who speak no more than a little Spanish say another Latino has made them feel bad for it.

Read one book a day for Latinx Heritage Month, from September 15 to October 15, and every month after that. From migration and history to food and family, these works capture the many complexities and joys of the Latinx culture.