ELL News Headlines

Elizabeth Alonzo moved to Russellville, Ala. when she was in the 7th grade. She currently works as an English-learner aide at West Elementary primarily in 2nd grade classrooms. She is one of 10 new aides the Russellville city schools district hired to support the growing population of English learners. But the funding for these positions will run out in May 2024, since they are part of the district’s federal pandemic relief spending. A former English learner herself, Alonzo shares details of her work, the courses she’s taking to become a full-fledged teacher, and why support for English learners matters.

The U.S. Department of Education’s office of English language acquisition has updated its English-learner family toolkit for educators and families to use for guidance in meaningful family engagement.

Marlena Young-Jones has taught in Russellville City Schools for almost 11 years. Most of that time was spent as a 2nd grade general elementary teacher. In her last 2nd grade class at West Elementary, all 19 of her students were English learners. After that experience, she wanted to work more closely with these students as an English-as-a-second-language interventionist. Young-Jones shares why she loves helping English learners grow linguistically and academically, how the right mindset is needed to best support all students, and how the district, from which she graduated in 2002, has come a long way in supporting these students and her work.

Salvadoran American Finn Medrano knows firsthand the frustration students feel in a school where teachers don’t look like them and can’t understand their native language. He saw that same frustration in the eyes of the Latinx high school students in Photovoice for English Language Learners, a program in the recent Huguenot High School Summer Academy.

Feel Your Best Self (FYBS) is a free bilingual toolkit for kids that teaches 12 simple coping strategies to strengthen emotional well-being through the use of puppets, videos, and supporting materials. In this Q&A with Colorín Colorado, the FYBS team shares how the idea came about, why they wanted to make the materials in Spanish, and how schools are using the toolkit to support students.

In higher grades, multilingual students need to develop a grasp of academic English. Here’s how to help them acquire the skills they need.

For years, state and local education leaders have known of a shortage of certified bilingual educators who would be qualified to teach in dual language immersion schools. It’s why researchers at The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, recently published a report exploring sustainable pathways from across the country for helping more individuals get their certification to become bilingual teachers.

After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, tens of thousands of girls were banned from attending school beyond sixth grade. Many found a way to continue their studies through informal tutoring centers, but those too have come under increased scrutiny as the government continues to crack down on women and girls' access to education. As a group of girls in Kabul have been grappling with all this, they've formed a connection with some other teens half a world away in California. The two sets of students, through meetings on Zoom talking about their lives and goals, formed the Flowers for the Future club, now a branch of the Eileen Murphy Foundation.

Here’s the latest installment in a series on ways to help ELLs develop more English-speaking skills from Larry Ferlazzo.

The new character, named TJ, made his debut Sunday as part of a segment about showing confidence.