ELL News Headlines

Recently, the cities of Dearborn and Hamtramck in Michigan, began providing ballots in Arabic for the first time in the state’s history.

Hazel Elementary School held a successful ESL (English as a second language) event on Oct. 27, providing an opportunity for the Hazel community to gain knowledge and obtain tools and resources to help their children succeed at school and at home.

At the start of school last year, Olga Cruz was worried to learn that Berkshire Hills Regional School District was about to hold its first three assemblies — one for each school — in Spanish. “I thought that maybe something bad was happening,” said Cruz, who has lived in Great Barrington for eight years. “I didn't think that it was because there was going to be support for [the kids] at school.” But that’s indeed what it was: A move by the district to better serve students and families of non-native English speakers.

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Education in collaboration with the School District of Osceola County (SDOC) has received a $1.8 million grant from the United States Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) for a five year project titled “PRAISE, Preparing for Readiness and Academic Improvement for pre-School English Learners.” PRAISE is designed to improve the quality of instruction for English language learners and enhance educators’ ability to support preschool English language learners’ readiness for kindergarten. FAU is one of 44 institutions  nationwide selected to receive this grant in 2022.

Samantha Sencer-Mura easily won her election Tuesday to represent south Minneapolis in the state House. She will be the first Japanese-American to serve in the Minnesota Legislature. In an interview before the election, she told Sahan Journal that funding education is a top priority. “Increasing teachers of color, funding full-service community schools, making sure that special education and English language learners are being supported: those are all things that teachers are asking for—begging for,” she said. “And I think, especially with everything that schools and teachers have been through over the last few years, I think those needs really need to be centered.”

Several Latinos made history in the midterm elections, even as votes were still being tallied Wednesday in many parts of the country. According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Latinos ran for top offices in 44 of the nation's 50 states, representing different political parties.

A University of Texas Permian Basin professor and a graduate student want to show the world what Mariachi mean to Hispanic culture and identity. “We actually want to make sure that our students feel proud of who they are,” Tomas Espinosa, assistant professor of ESL/Bilingual Education, said.

In a state where 2 in 5 public school students speak languages other than English at home, teachers need more collaborative and hands-on professional development to help bring California’s English learners to proficiency in English, educators and parents agreed during an EdSource roundtable on Thursday.

Schools across the country are working to address an increase in students’ and staff members’ mental health needs post-pandemic. Now, some have hired new administrators charged with making well-being a communitywide endeavor.

Three…two…one…LIFTOFF! The second annual STEAM Race to Space Reading Challenge launches Friday, encouraging children throughout Orange County to read books related to science, technology, the arts and math in exchange for some out-of-this world incentives.