ELL News Headlines

The College of Southern Idaho hosted a number of events on Monday, to kick off a weeklong celebration of the school's designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution. The school is Idaho’s first college or university to receive that designation, for schools where Hispanic students comprise at least 25% of the population. As part of the day’s events, Idaho Education News' Sami Edge moderated a panel discussion with CSI Hispanic students, to talk about their experiences with the Idaho education system and share their recommendations for how CSI and other colleges can best serve Hispanic youth.

A new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday requires all state-subsidized preschool programs to identify the languages children speak at home and the language spoken by program staff. The bill, AB 1363, authored by Assemblymember Luz Rivas, D-North Hollywood, requires preschool programs that receive state funds to serve low-income children to identify the language spoken at home of every child enrolled, as well as the languages used in the classroom and spoken by the preschool teachers.

In her debut novel-in-verse When We Make It, Elisabet Velasquez shares the story of Sarai, a first-generation Puerto Rican eighth grader living in Bushwick, Brooklyn, as she navigates family traumas, toxic masculinity, gentrification, and more. Velasquez talks with SLJ about weaving joy into the heaviness of life, helping young people feel heard, and how stories can give readers a mirror to see their reflections.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. In this case, it’s the mother of a talking cartoon named Mrs. Panda, invented by a highly regarded research professor in education at UC Riverside, Linda Ventriglia-Navarrette, Ph.D., who directs an early childhood initiative focused on English learners called Project Adalente Moving Forward.

From immigration and lucha libre to family high jinks and the first day of school, these stories illuminate the uniqueness and universality of the Latinx experience. Shine a light on them during Latinx Heritage Month, September 15–October 15, and beyond.

Veronica always wanted to give her daughter an education in the United States. This school year, she thought it would finally happen. Her daughter, 17, immigrated from Mexico this summer to live with her in New Hampshire. But when Veronica tried to register her daughter for school, the process became difficult because Veronica doesn't speak English. (NHPR isn’t using Veronica’s name or her daughter’s due to concerns about their immigration status.) Veronica says she had a hard time finding a translator and no one in her district offered her the contact information of a bilingual employee who could help. Their district does offer in-person or over-the-phone translation services, but the demand is high and the resources are scarce. And for people like Veronica, who don’t know how to use a computer, it is difficult to even know that these translation services exist.

Across the country, school and public libraries are dealing with the damage from natural disasters over the last few months. While storms brought deadly and destructive wind and flooding to the East Coast, the West Coast was once again battling multiple raging wildfires. SLJ checked in with just a few of the librarians to learn about their library recovery efforts as they also manage the personal impact of the storm.

When interviewing potential graduate students, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology Lorraine Benuto asks a question that often surprises them: Would they be interested in learning how to provide services in Spanish? Despite the fact that most students interviewing for a spot in her lab are native-Spanish speakers hoping to work with the Latinx population as clinicians and researchers, the question often catches them off guard. Benuto’s offer is unique. In most programs across the country, the hard work of translating not only the language, but the treatment, research, concepts and behavioral interventions in a way that maintains the evidence-based mechanisms while allowing for idiosyncratic adaptations that appropriately address the unique needs of a Latinx individual is left to the student to figure out on their own. It’s complicated work. And it’s one reason there is a deficit of Spanish-speaking providers in Nevada and across the country. The answer to Benuto’s question has so far been a resounding yes.

In this editorial, two district leaders for the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) write, "With the support of the SAISD Board of Trustees, Superintendent Pedro Martinez, and the Bilingual Redesign Committee, the SAISD Dual Language Department has had the privilege of collaborating with educators and parents who have brought the cultural richness of the San Antonio community into redesigning bilingual education. Together, district members and community stakeholders have shared their language and culture stories — remembering, reimagining, and reframing what bilingual education can look and feel like for their students and bridging the gap between students’ home and school lives."

There are about 12,000 refugees from Afghanistan staying at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. The federal government said about 400 of those guests will settle in Wisconsin long-term. The Milwaukee Public School district is preparing to welcome refugee students into their classrooms. "We are on standby and ready to welcome any students that come into our district," an MPS spokesperson told WISN 12 Wednesday.