ELL News Headlines

In February, Montana state Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway proposed a bill that would have banned social-emotional learning in schools, arguing that the lessons that emphasize regulation of emotions, healthy relationships, and empathy violated parents’ right to direct their own children’s upbringing. However, by the end of the Feb. 27 education committee hearing on the bill, during which educators, lawmakers, and parents lined up to speak in opposition, Sheldon-Galloway, a Republican, had changed her mind. The committee ultimately tabled the bill, but the discussion highlighted three intertwined themes: Confusion over what comprises social and emotional learning; the political backlash it’s generated in recent years, linked to other political lightning rods like critical race theory; and finally, how the opposition softens once it’s explained.

The State Seal of Biliteracy was adopted by California in 2012. High school graduates can receive the gold seal on their high school diploma or transcript if they demonstrate proficiency in English and another language. Yet many students, particularly English learners, don’t receive the state seal of biliteracy, even though they are bilingual, because there aren’t enough options to show students are proficient in English, according to some advocates and district and county officials. A bill currently in the Legislature, Assembly Bill 370, aims to change that.

Amanda Marie Rosas (she/her) teaches Spanish and Women's Studies at Visitation High School in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. She writes, "Working as a World Languages teacher, my job is to erase the pressures of perfectionism that impede our students’ progress toward language fluency and proficiency. I want to create a learning environment that embraces and affirms the humanity of each student and prioritizes our relationships with one another. Learning a new language is often challenging, and being vulnerable enough to make pronunciation, verb conjugation or listening comprehension mistakes can be embarrassing, especially for a student being evaluated based on their ability to learn it. Yet, if learning a new language is going to stick, being bold enough to take risks is essential."

or years, Suyapa Jaqueline Trejo watched her community dwindle as many of her neighbors looked for a better life in the U.S. When she was elected mayor in 2021, she began to think of ways to seek help from those who had left Macuelizo, a municipality of about 40,000 that's made up of several villages in northwest Honduras.

NPR' Sacha Pfeiffer asks Camille Hatcher, a nurse at Lake Nixon Summer Day Camp in Little Rock, Ark., about how she's protecting campers from extreme heat.

About 41 million urban residents experience higher temperatures because of the ‘heat island effect,’ according to an analysis.

A new national monument dedicated to the murdered teenager Emmett Till and his mother honors three sites critical to Till's story, and central to the birth of America's civil rights movement. The announcement comes in the middle of a heated debate over how best to teach children about race and American history. Laura Barrón-López reports.

Heavy precipitation caused epic flooding in the Central Valley earlier this year, causing catastrophic damage to homes and crops. Months later, the region is still recovering.

Recently arrived migrant families on Chicago’s West Side will get help with enrolling in school, receiving free school supplies, signing up for public benefits, and getting vaccinated at a new “welcome center” run by Chicago Public Schools and the city. 

When teachers and other authority figures in school constantly mispronounce students’ names, it can seriously affect their mental health and sense of identity. Names represent an individual’s identity, heritage, and culture, and taking the trouble to pronounce them correctly is one way teachers can show respect for students and their families. “When we empower our students’ voices and honor the language and cultural assets that they bring to schools, we will actualize our vision of creating an inclusive and respectful learning environment,” said Kelly Wylie, the director of the public affairs department for the Santa Clara County Office of Education, where thousands of students and teachers have taken a pledge to respect the names and identities of the county’s students, who speak more than 60 languages.